Wednesday Evening - Ascot Ball

Mom managed to find me in the library and her hair looks great. By that time it was tea time again. We decided to go to the Queen’s Grill for tea and had the Ceylon tea. We realized that we could order any tea we wanted. We had some mini sandwiches and followed it up with a scone. I will miss the scones! We had just about finished our second cup of tea when a couple spoke to us and they were leaving. We found out their names are Ian and Lynn and they are the most delightful couple from Leeds. They had mentioned the seas being rough and me being seasick yesterday and Lynn remarked that they had heard about “the young American girl who was quite sea sick yesterday.” I guess the word gets around. We talked with them for about 30 minutes and were getting ready to leave when Gordon, my dance partner from Tuesday’s class stopped by. His wife was in the spa, so he had opted to come down for tea. He is originally from Glasgow, but now lives in Portsmouth. After about an additional hour, we came up to our room where canapés awaited us. Mom got interested in the movie “13 Going on 30”, and I had to shower and dress for dinner.
Where do I begin with this evening’s events. First we met with our table neighbors, the Holdens from Charlottesville, VA for a cocktail before dinner. They are on their way to visit their 2 sons who both live in London. They are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. After a lovely time there we headed over for dinner. For appetizer’s mom had the seafood symphony (trio) and I had the caviar, followed by a salad for both of us and then the duck a l’orange which was “finished” table-side by Erdal. Then of course we had the baked Alaska with cherries Morelle that was flambéd. We could not have asked for a more wonderful dinner. We were on our way to the Ascot Ball, and who else but Ian and Lynn were coming off of the elevator on the way to the lounge. They said that it was boring and to join then in the lounge for a cocktail. We met BBC Journalist/Politician Martin Bell on the way in – quite a nice fellow. We also met up with another couple and the 6 of us sat around for hours talking. It was so much fun. We finally had to call it quits as 1, the lounge was closing and 2, we are losing another hour this evening. We are now back, I’m blogging. I know this journal will be something that we will look back on for years to come. Still some rough seas tonight and mom said it is pouring down rain – I guess that equate to good sleeping weather. On that note, good night.

PS – I had to come downstairs to post and it is pouring down tonight! I have more video to post, but due to the weather the connection isn't very good tonight...