Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Wednesday 3 June – To the Gantry!



Current location: Sydney
11.11pm, Fast asleep, thanks to jetlag. I think I made it to about 9pm, which was pretty good going for me. I only made it that late because I was out for dinner with my lovely friend Clare, who has been house-sitting/job-sitting for us/me while we've been away. We went for a swanky dinner to catch up (as she flies out of Oz tomorrow, back to the UK via a few holiday destinations!) and had the yummiest food at the Gantry. We couldn't decide between loads of options, so ended up having them all! The chef used to be Victoria Beckham's private chef, and there was a salad (of course) on the menu that he created for her. It was good! As were the scallops, potatoes, sweet potato, and four other dishes I've forgotten (the downfall of leaving it so late to do my blogging!). Thanks Posh Spice, loving your salad!

Sunday 1 June – Back Down Under


Current location: Gatwick

11.11am, At the airport! Time to fly back to wintery Australia. Glad I had my travel buddy Andy with me to pass the time and help the sadness turn into excitement! 

Sunday 31 May – Last supper



Current location: Balham, London
11.11pm, Having after-dinner drinks with Kate and Jim. It's our last night tonight, and although we're so sad to leave, we've had the BEST time here. What a mix of family, friends, celebrations, holidays, beaches, cities, exploring and love. We really couldn't have asked for a better trip. 


This morning we drove back (admittedly a bit hungover) from Ipswich, then went straight to the pub, where we hung for the next six hours. Lots of our friends came to have a roast and a drink with us, and it was ace just to have a final catch-up with various people and soak up the love. We really are lucky to have such wonderful people in our lives. It was sad saying bye to everyone, but we are so blessed to know they'll be in our hearts until we see them next, and in our lives forever. 

Saturday 30 May – Vic gets married!









Current location: Ipswich, Suffolk
11.11am, Checking into our hotel and getting ready uber-fast. This morning we drove to Ipswich, then got picked up by a coach at midday to take us to the church for Vic and Tim's wedding. It was in the most beautiful countryside about an hour north of Ipswich, and the sun was shining down in all its glory. For some serendipitous reason, every sunny day we've had this holiday has been on the day of one of our friend's weddings. I'm so glad!

The wedding was in the most gorgeous little chapel, which sloped upwards and had so much English charm to it! Vic looked absolutely stunning, and the two of them had the loveliest ceremony. We all then hopped back on the bus to take us to the reception venue, which was surrounded by an expanse of hills and fields, and couldn't have looked more picturesque if it tried! The drinks were flowing, as were the awesome canapes (seriously, the food at this wedding was next level amazing!), and we gathered our friends to take advantage of the lawn games. We had such a fun few hours playing, and posing for photos, and laughing, and just relaxing and enjoying ourselves with our beautiful friends. 


When we went inside, it was time for more delish food (seriously, amazing) and my fave bit: speeches! These ones didn't disappoint, with not only laughter and tears but also an audience-participation game! Dinner was fun and funny and yummy, then we went to play in the photobooth, take more pictures and dance our socks off. SUCH a fun wedding, ending with me sleeping the whole way home on the bus. Congrats you wonderful couple, and thanks for having us!

Friday 29 May – Duvets and dinner












Current location: Palmers Green, London
11.11am, Snuggling under a duvet on Potts' couch. Me, her and Will were having a duvet morning, watching Britain's Got Talent, eating sweets and drinking tea. Potts and I managed to move ourselves after lunch, and headed down to Balham to see my sister, Ella and Jake, where we spent the afternoon potato-print painting, baking and walking through 'jungles' (the park). Such a fun afternoon and the kids though Sarah was the queen of potato-printing (she is). 

We got ready in the evening, and went in to Central London for what was supposed to be a uni reunion, but ended up being us girls going out for dinner. Which was really fun and so yummy; we went to Soho Joes and gorged on pizza and wine. Delicioso! We managed a couple more wines in the pub before we all put our sensible-have-to-get-up-early hats on and headed home to bed. 

Thursday 28 May – Welsh wonders










Current location: Port Talbot
11.11am, At the crematorium. We went to visit where my grandad Archie was cremated, and the graves of Nana and Grampy, who are buried together. I only really remember my nana (as I was five when Grampy died, and Grandad Archie died before I was born), but it’s always such a special place to go with my family. This time, Grandma was telling me stories of how she and my grandad met, about 60 years ago! Amazing. 

We went to the seafront to have more tea and cake with Grandma (loving how much tea and cake we’ve managed to squeeze in!) before Andy and I drove back to London. I went straight to Sarah Potts’ house, where she was waiting with open arms. We went on a lovely walk, and then came home, met Catdog and opened a bottle of champers as Catdog had just found out she got a new job! We went out for the most amazing, massive Greek dinner to celebrate, and just soak up the awesomeness of just being together again. It probably doesn’t need to be said, but I love my friends and family!

Wednesday 27 May – West to Wales


Current location: Bath
11.11am, Shopping. Claire and I took the opportunity of being in an (albeit small) city to go shopping, while there were lots of adults on hand to keep an eye on the children in the park. After we all got back to the park, we went our separate ways, with the Pyrahs going back to Cornwall, the Rees’ Pieces going back to London, Matt back to Gloucestershire, and the rest of us (Mum, Dad, Claire, Louis, Andy and I) to Wales. 

We went straight to see my grandma, and had tea and cake with her for an hour or so, and then we went to stay at my Auntie Pat and Uncle Den’s house. We had such a fun night, ordering Chinese, drinking wine and catching up on all the Welsh goss with some of my fave Welsh rellies!

Saturday, June 27, 2015

Tuesday 26 May – Biking in Bath





















Current location: Bath, England
11.11am, Walking. Or on a bus, I'm not really sure. Today our mega group of 16 split into two... half into town to see some clowns and go to some parks, and the other half to hire bikes and ride along the canal. I was in the bike gang, along with Andy, Mum, Claire, Matt, Louis and Vinny. We went to the bike hire place, and found they had no kids' bikes or bike seats... and apparently there were no more bike hire places in the city. So, we gave up. For about five minutes, until I decided to call some not-in-the-city places and figure out if we could get to somewhere that did have bikes for us. We found somewhere a bus ride and walk away, so off we went.

After we got off the bike, we had about an hour's walk, which was mostly beautiful, but also some of which was a bit scary down steep roads. But mostly beautiful. By the time we got to the bike hire place on the canal, it was lunchtime, so we ate some lunch then hopped on our two wheels and off we went. It was Louis' first time on a bike (on the back of a bike counts, right?) and he loved it! We rode along a beautiful route by the canal, through the countryside. It was so gorgeous, and we all had the best time! We stopped in a pub a few kms away, for an ice cream and/or a shandy, then rode back to the beginning. Such a fun and funny few hours. By the time we got back, we were pretty tired and a bit reluctant to do the hour's walk back up the hill, but Mum, ever-resourceful Mum, managed to convinced a private bus company to take us back to town.

We arrived back at the house just as the others were arriving from their day of fun too, so the boys went off to get pizzas for tea, and the rest of us fed the kids and got them into bed ready for another lovely night of chatting and wine and just being together.