Tigerlilly - Lobsang Rampa

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The place we were bound for was on the way to London, past
Walton-on-Thames and Esher, not very far from Kingston-on-
Thames, and Sorption which was slightly closer and smaller.
The nearest big place for shopping was Kingston-on-Thames
where the big department store of Bentall's was a great attrac-
tion. These days we are so used to the mammoth shopping
centers that a place such as Bentall's might almost go un-
noticed.
It was something of an upheaval for us as we had spent such
a long time at Weybridge but we were not sorry to be leaving.
Apart from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, then Princess,
passing through the edge of our town, and all the activities of
the war, very little remains in my mind. Our car had been sold
so we had to resort to a rental service, but we had very few
items to take with us, other than clothing but even that was
quite sparse. The greatest wrench was for the Tiger who was
now leaving the only home he had ever known, and he had
never left the place even for a night. He was obviously quite
upset and on the day of leaving I had to call on a neighbor
with a message and I was delayed because she wanted to chat.
On my return I found Tiger Cat had almost, if not quite,
suffered a seizure, and was most upset. Fortunately Carl was
with him and I am sure he managed the matter better than I
would have been able. It was going to be a real hardship to be
without a big garden, nice and clean surroundings, and have to
be shut up within two rooms, not even ‘communicating’ but
due to various circumstances there was no alternative.
The landlady at Thames Ditton seemed very anxious to
91