Meet the family...

Steve and I have been to Derbyshire over the start of the Easter weekend to see my family. Good old Travelodge put us up again for 2 nights. You can't really beat them at £29 per night for the room - and although it is basic the rooms are comfortable, clean and equipped with everything we need. And no I'm not being paid to say that (good idea though). We drove up on Thursday morning on hassle free roads and dry weather - even though the forecast promised rain and snow. We were obviously being smiled upon. First we went to Lisa's and offloaded all her stuff - some things that we don't need to take to Cyprus and she does need eg a patio table and chairs, a food processor, cookery books, a camera. We also took clothes and bits and pieces for the children and their birthday presents for later on in the year. It is actually Lisa's birthday today as I write and she is sharing the day with Louise, Mark and the children at Louise's house. After Steve and I walked to collect Caleb from school and brought him back home we got ready and met up with Louise, Mark, Neev and Aiden at The Castlewood pub for a meal together. That was lovely and the kids were able to play in their indoor madhouse as I call it so everyone was happy.

Tehya HAD to take her green goblin with her (she is heavily into Spiderman and has to watch it daily. Lisa calls it her nanny as it watches over Tehya while she does her domestic goddess bit). Teyha calls it her geen gobbin and loves it - although she refuses to take it to bed with her as its scary - she is only 2 after all. Caleb is the eldest of the grandchildren and the most hyper. He is a labrador that needs to be exercised to work off his surplus energy. Saying that he is a very sensitive boy and loves affection. I have a wonderful family.

Steve and I returned to Lisa's for a while before leaving her to a peaceful evening while we retreated to the Travelodge for the night.

The following morning we breakfasted at Lisa's and we took her shopping to a frantically busy Tesco's after which Steve and I went to visit Louise and family at her house. We offloaded Louise's goodies and their birthday presents for later in the year and she cooked us a lovely meal. Neev, Aiden and I played some board games which was great fun. They are lovely children and play very well together. Neev is a real little lady and acts very grown up compared to the others. She is heavily into fashion and the fashionable film and TV things - High School Musical etc. Aiden is heavily into cars same as Caleb - boys will be boys. They are a very close knit family and a joy to be with.

After another night in the Travelodge Steve and I visited Lisa again and took her and the children round to Louise's where we stayed for a while before heading home on the M1. We have brought Caleb back to Surrey with us for a few days and I will take him back to Derbyshire on Tuesday and stay with the girls until Friday. This will give us some time together before we leave these grey, cold shores. It was a lovely weekend and one to remember.... A selection of pics is attached from the weekend. The one of me with the two girls is one for me to treasure. I can't remember the last time we had a photo taken together so it is particularly precious to me.

And more meals...

During the week I met up with some former work colleagues that are now friends and we had a Thai meal together as the "famous five". That is what I called us when we met up periodically to put the world to rights. We were all managers with Social Services and understood what that meant - enough said I think before I begin to rant on political issues. Thats not where I want to go on here. Anyway - four of us met up - Patsy where were you? Diane - who worked with me at St. Peters Hospital and was a great mentor and ally of mine, Carey - who used to be my manager then moved on with her role until she saw sense and left to open up a care Home in Bognor Regis. She is thriving there thankfully. And then there is Barbara - the only one of us still working for Social Services and biding her time. We had a lovely evening catching up with all the news and putting the world to rights as usual. They are a great group of ladies and I hope they all come out to Cyprus to visit. Their picture is here for all to see - much to their embarrassment.

Before we met up Steve and I stacked the car to the roof with all the things for the girls as we were leaving for Derbyshire the next morning - more of that to come later. Thankfully Diane, as organised and helpful as ever, agreed to collect me from home and take me to meet the others. Steve needed the car to attend his Pilates class in the evening. We went to The White Hart pub in Addlestone and ate a very enjoyable Thai meal - that was until later when my stomach suffered - I haven't had the time or inclination to find out if the others suffered yet - I hope not ladies. never mind - that is the last meal we will have together as a group - that sounds very final and it is. Unless you all want to come out as a holiday party and we can have another meal out there.

Meals galore!!

Time is really passing quickly now and we are on course to say goodbye to everyone and have our final meetings with them all. Last Saturday Steve and I went to Winchester to meet up with Chris and Lynne for a farewell meal. Steve and I stayed at a Travelodge, preferring to keep the pennies for our future travels and life, but Chris and Lynne splashed out on a town centre hotel. They have recently bought a beautiful new home in Poole, including games room and swimming pool and are really living the life. They look really happy and long may it last. Unfortunately we do not appear to have a photo of them together - shame on us all. We have pics of them seperately and so this is how I have decided to represent them on this blog - sorry Chris and Lynne but we really must address this issue and take some pics of you as a loving couple. Sadly we forgot to take the camera to Winchester - I prefer to think its because there is so much to think of these days. The alternate view of early onset dementia is not to be considered at this stage - no matter how accurate it may be.

Anyway we had a lovely drive to Winchester, shopped in some "boutiques" aka charity shops - bought some lovely things too. Then we retreated to our hotel room with the newspaper for a sit down before the evening meal. We met up with Chris and Lynne in a wine bar and had an apperitif before going to a Nepalese restaurant where we nearly took up residence. The food was very good and the service was great. The bill was even more acceptable - I still think they must have forgotten to charge us for something but then again we won't argue the point. We left as the waiters were setting up camp for the night (they must have thought we were going to stay for breakfast). After a nights sleep at the Travelodge and a breakfast in the Little Chef (we know how to live) we set off home again.

I also forgot to mention that I had a long lunch with Judith as well. She used to be Dean's partner until last August when they parted company. They had spent a week with us in Cyprus in July and I really got to know Judith better and grew to like her a lot. She is a very open, intelligent, confident lady with a great sense of humour - and this despite her having drawn out treatment for breast cancer throughout the previous year. Unfortunately for Judith and Dean their relationship did not prove as successful as her treatment - but thats life and they are still friends which is great. Judith and I met up in Fego's in Sunningdale for a lunch. I must have been practising for future Cyprus lunches as we stayed there for nearly 5 hours!! We did have a lot to catch up on. I have added a picture of Judith too for posterity.

More meals to come yet - watch this space.......

Time is flying by

We have achieved so much and that is really satisfying and reassuring. The last thing we want is last minute problems and pressures. Where do I start?

Well the garage has been cleared which may seem a short sentence in itself but goes no way to describe the work involved. As we live in rented, furnished accommodation the owners have some of their belongings in the garage and we have gradually added ours as time went on - as you do. So not only did we have to sort through all our stuff we had to identify the owners stuff too and restack it again in the garage. Then we divided the things into those we will keep and take with us, things that are sellable on ebay and others that we could offer on the freecycle network. Then there were things that we could offer to our families of course. We have been very productive with our sales on ebay thankfully and the local residents have benefited from other things that we have given them via freecycle. The car was packed with things for the dump and dutifully disposed of and the spare bedroom contains lots of things to give to family. Now the garage is neat and tidy and there is room to move in there at last.

Steve acted on impulse one evening and placed a wanted ad on the freecycle network for a caravan awning. I thought that was an impossible request but lo and behold someone gave us one - and as a bonus gave us a caravan cover as well. We spent a sunny but windy Saturday trying to make a frame from the poles provided for the awning and get it erected. It was in lovely condition and would have been great to provide extra space and sunshade for us but I am sad to say it was too small for Esmerelda. As the cover was the same size that was useless to us too. The previous owner did not want it returned to him so it went for sale on ebay and we got £45 for them both - more money for the meze funds. Well - it was a good idea while it lasted.

We have no free weekends between now and when we depart these cold shores on May 1st. Each one is booked with visits to family and friends to say our fond farewells and leave our forwarding details in the hope that they will come over to see us. This coming weekend we are going to Winchester - which is roughly half way between us and Chris and Lynne who have recently moved down to Poole in Dorset. Chris is an old police colleague of Steve's as well as his dear friend. Lynne, his partner is of course also a friend and they both came out to Cyprus for our wedding. We will have a meal with them on Saturday evening and mark the occasion on this blog no doubt. The following weekend, Easter, we are travelling to Derbyshire for two nights to visit my daughters and grandchildren. We are taking them for a meal too and no doubt tiring ourselves out with them all - but we love it. Then we are bringing Caleb, my eldest grandson, back to Surrey with us for a few days before I take him back home and spend a few days with them all while Steve goes back to work. As we won't see them again this year we shall take birthday cards and presents with us - how organised are we?? After that we are going to Southampton to see Steve's father, sister and niece and then we have times booked with friends before we set off. Its all go but at least we are ticking all of the boxes of things to do.

Paperwork - driving licences, birth and marriage certs, bank and wage slips, utility bills etc etc are being scanned to the computer and stored on a datastick. That is very boring work but at least they will be safe. That datastick will go everywhere with us because the papers will go one the container - we hope to survive to the other end of the journey. The laptop is stored with our favourite music and we have some great Skype headphones and a webcam to keep in touch with family.

We have moved on with the planning of the journey and are well into the third month of travelling now. So far we are going to the Netherlands, then to Germany, on to Austria and into Chech Rep as Steve wants to see Prague. After that we are coming back through Austria and into Switzerland, then down through the Italian lakes to Venice and on down the leg of Italy to catch a ferry to Greece. We have decided against the Adriatic coast as it would involve driving though Serbia - with the problems between them and Kosovo our relaxing journey may take on a different atmosphere - so we decided against it. A shame as it is supposed to be very beautiful. Maybe another time.

So our time has been used very effectively as you can see - not long now thankfully as Steve is wilting and more than ready for a break. At least he has six days off over Easter - that will give him the rest he needs to take him through the final weeks of work.
And so it goes on......