Scotland holiday - day 2

Tuesday 10 August

Our hotel room had a very high bath which I was reluctant to climb in and out of with my sore toe, so I asked hubby to get the shower head down so I could wash my hair. I carefully laid it pointing down then reached across to activate the button and whoosh.....I was now soaked and couldn't avoid the giant fountain which came high enough to hit the ceiling! I guess the shower head had spun round but all I could do was hold up a towel in front of me and shout for hubby! We did laugh a lot but he must despair and think "What she done now?"

After breakfast and checking out of our room we were back on the road. As English Heritage members I was looking out for the logo on all the brown local interest road signs and so we headed to Pickering Castle which entertained us for about half an hour. Back at the car we made a quick cup of tea and checked emails etc on the laptop with out mobile internet connection (so clever) then back on the road heading up to Scotland and our friends checking out at least three more supermarkets on the way, but no paprika!

We arrived at FriendA's about 6:30pm ish and said hi to her chap K and also to FriendE and her granddaughterJ who are also staying. Dinner and eventually very late to bed with lots of talk of early up the next day to catch the tide to go razor clam hunting! We were on the day bed in the lounge.
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Scotland Holiday - day 1

Monday 9th August 2010

Two points to note before I start, firstly FriendA we are visiting had asked if we could bring a speciality paprika she can't get where she lives, and secondly I had dropped a full jar of peanut butter on my toe last Friday morning (think it's broken and very bruised OUCH!).

Left home about 10:30am, quick stop at Tesco for petrol and paprika, no luck again on the paprika. Hubby has already tried Sainsbury's and Asda. Driving north until we were ready to stop for some lunch...
NEARLY found the English Heritage site near Peterborough, saw all the signs but couldn't find the road in, so we headed back
NEARLY to the part of the river with lots of boats on that I had seen from the road in but we never found that spot again
NEARLY had lunch in a Ramada Hotel on their terrace, but eventually found a pub over-looking a small rowing lake (with no-one rowing) and had a nice lunch. then back in the car and up to Yorkshire. I suggested we head into town but we headed straight for the coast and in to Bridlington.

Eventually we parked and
NEARLY stayed in a lovely 4* hotel, they only had a suit available and offered it to us for the price of a standard double but decided it was too expensive. Bridlington wasn't in favour either, so we drove on to Filey.
NEARLY parked outside a nice hotel, legally parked but it wasn't in a bay so drove quite a way to find a bay and walked back (my poor toe). We checked into the Downcliffe House Hotel and our room was on the second floor (no lift and sore toe) and in fact the price was only £20 cheaper than the rejected 'suite'!

We settled into our room and decided to go out for a walk and find a place for dinner. As the weather had been quite changeable I suggested I grab the umbrella out of the car - "Nah you won't need it" says hubby! We walked along the prom but there was nothing more than a bag of chips to be had there so we decided to walk up into the town, yes up lots of steps and a big slope. Then just as we got to the top and before we got a glimpse of any high street the heavens opened and the heaviest shower hit us. We got soaked, I had a nylon shopping bag on my head some of the time and we'd even ran into a red phone box to shelter from the worst of it!!! When we got back it was all our wet clothes off, kettle and TV on.....then I stubbed my poorly toe on the bloody suitcase which was open on the floor ouch ouch ouch! So we ate crisps and kitkats while I cried into my tea :o(

Managed to hobble down to the bar for a short while, but had to go barefoot!
If this is the start it's going to be a loooooong holiday!
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The power of hugs........

For anyone on any of the social networking sites you'll understand just what I mean when I say how amazingly powerful they can be. 


My big SisterM is really poorly right now and without saying why I changed my status on facebook to 
 needs family and friends to share a big GROUP HUG today!
and within the day my page was full of hugs. I feel so special knowing I'm loved and supported by so many!
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Yes I'm a hoarder...

There are definitely some things that mean more than just what they are! Take a wedding present for example. We were given a very fashionable coffee set as a wedding gift 37 years ago. Since then we have had four homes, two children and three grandchildren, so it's inevitable that there are now just 3 cups to go with the six saucers.

Well I do clear out stuff every once in a while but if it can't be donated to a charity shop for resale or added to the various recycling programs in this area then it just has to hit the bin......but not a wedding present eh?

So I just had to find another purpose....

And another family gathering......

With my mum, dad, aunts and uncles all gone now it's not easy keeping up with what is happening to who in the world of cousins......and in my family there are a lot of them! So my CousinS decided to host a get-together (family from my mum's side) at her house, which was yesterday!

We were all asked to bring food for the table and we took some folding garden chairs too and drove to Edgeware (just under two hours from here). The gathering had to be in her garden as she lives in a small flat so we all kept everything crossed for good weather and it worked. Though lots couldn't make it there were in total 36 of us, a few of which (3 children and 2 partners) I'd never met before, so it was great having a good catch up gossip. I calculated down the generations and decided that little A and her big sister F are my 6th cousins (or should I say 'cousins 6 times removed' or does that mean something totally different?).

CousinB kept reminding everyone that I was her bridesmaid and that was 48 years ago! Thanks B.

The adults all kept moving around so I guess we all got to talk to everyone, I know I did. All the children seemed to be enjoying themselves but I was too busy to see if they were mixing with each other. LittleOne certainly got lots of attention from the children he knows and the ones he doesn't know too. Shame our girls couldn't be there as they were with their dad this weekend (went to collect them afterwards) hopefully they will be next time.

Took plenty of photos and today I shared them with everyone. I hope they share theirs soon. Also hope that all the promises of 'must do this again' happen in the not too distant future.

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Did it again....

Had such a lovely time Sunday that I decided to do it again, with the 'Tuesday girls' - BBQ that is. Also because I had bought far too much food for Sunday that it helped to use up the leftovers!

There were actually all five of us, which I think is the first time this year that we have all made it out together! Lots of laughter, lots of news to catch up with, lots of drink (for those not driving) and a warm night right through till the end.

They all said they enjoyed it, and I did too!

A sunny, yummy, chatty, baby cuddling, munching, laughing, hugging day....I'm exhausted!!!

So lovely to see everyone and the sun never stopped shining :o)

Sister S and her lot got here early (as usual) and I hadn't even showered yet, but with family it doesn't matter. Niece V brought her boyfriend that we were meeting for the first time and he seemed really nice. Very tall which is always funny as our family are particularly short and Sister S is the shortest of all so was telling us what a shock it was when she met him for the first time. We are a mad bunch when we get together but he managed to cope with us so he got the thumbs up from me!

My darling daughter and her lot arrived next. They should have been late arrivals but they had been camping for the past 3 days not sleeping much and Olympian had County Squad training this morning so they were all up early for the hour drive to get there but she ended up too exhausted to do the full session so they pulled her out and came home. Darling daughter still managed to arrive with a box full of Gluten/Wheat free cakes she had baked last night, while unpacking all their camping stuff.

Then came nieces and nephews with great nieces and great nephews too many to name plus a dog. Closely followed by Sister P and her husband plus their dog too.

Hubby manned the BBQ and I spent a lot of time in the kitchen, but when everyone said they were full to bursting I realised I'd bought far too much food as usual, but will never admit that to hubby who had said so three shopping lists before!

So with tired children, those that have school tomorrow and two that fly to Egypt on holiday in the morning but haven't packed yet, they all gradually left. Hubby went bowling and after a bit more clearing up I'm now on the lounger in the garden with a mug of tea and my laptop.

I'll sleep well tonight :o)

All in the prep...

Got lots of family coming tomorrow for a BBQ - should have been 30 but now down to 26 of us!

So of course I had to do some serious housework today! All shiny now and yes I'm feeling just a little bit smug :o)

I know I gave up being a working woman but should have thought it through more when I gave up my weekly cleaner!!!

Zakynthos 2010

Tuesday 29^th June – Tuesday 6^th July

Our holiday was a great relax. Just four of us, hubby and me and Friends L&K. L and I have been friends since school days and she married a west London boy like I did, so they have always got on really well with each other too. We went back to the Clio Hotel, Alykes where we went two years ago but it was the fifth year in a row for L&K! Run by a lovely family who can't do enough to make everyone feel welcome! We hired a car just one day and drove around the island visiting the beauty spots and went to the beach for just a few hours another day but most of the time we lazed by the pool or wandered around the tacky souvenir shops or mostly finding different places to eat and drink............all at a snail's pace as it was around 36C most of the time!

On the day we arrived we wandered into town for our evening meal and met “Muscles” again. He’s a young guy who works the beach all day and pulls people into the restaurant all evening. When L&K first met him his English wasn’t very good (Albanian I think) so used to talk to them for ages to improve. He’s an uncontrollable flirt which makes him adorable and of course he got his nickname as it looks like he works out all the time! After eating we decided to just relax back at the hotel but they had a quiz night about to start as we got there…..so we joined in and won!

I really love Greek food but didn’t fancy too many hot dinners in such hot weather so had lots of salads, although couldn’t resist the lamb with oregano and garlic one night and sardines one lunchtime. I’ll never starve!!!

Our hotel hosted a Greek night. L&K were amazed as it has always been advertised but every previous year not happened during their holiday. Lots of lovely BBQ’d food followed by traditional Greek dancers, who kept getting us all to join in, followed by disco of some very old 60’s music. A really good night and more than enough exercise to cancel out our lazy week.

All too soon it was time to pack and head home. Only negative things to report was the very poor internet connection I got on my phone from their wifi but so long as I could let our daughter know we were OK I didn’t really care, and the other thing was insect bites which we all suffered with. Apart from that it was great and we told L&K that we’d love to do it again with them another year, perhaps avoiding July and August as they get a bit too hot.

Wanna come with us next time?

SATC2 - our epilogue.....

Following on from a very successful American series "Sex and the City" and the first feature film of the same name, this week has seen the UK premier of "Sex and the City 2". I've never actually watched any of the series or seen the film but my group of girl friends used to laugh at how we could have been characters.

The group of us that used to work together and then stayed in touch by going out together every Tuesday are all very different but round the table at the pub each week we looked forward to hearing about each other's news.

Now, those that used to shop with great extravagance and get excited telling us about each purchase are divorced or job-less so never have a penny spare.

Now, those that had interesting jobs and mixed with a variety of people daily can these days be seen at home with grandchildren. Not a bad thing and great fun for those involved but not so good as stories to share.

Now, those that used to have affairs and giggle and blush through the telling of their secretive antics have settled down with new partners.

And now, even the pub we had used for years is out of favour. Actually most of us have always hated that pub but I guess now our tolerance of each other has worn thin.

So perhaps it is the end of "Sex and the City" for us and possibly coming to the end of our regular Tuesday gatherings as we drift apart. I'm sure we will all remain friends even though we won't see each other regularly, but such a shame we will never be characters in "The Golden Girls".

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