So after leaving Catherine at Heathrow airport reunited with her parents and sister who were very pleased to see her again after 2 years away, off I went to find my bus to get back to the hotel. I found it very quickly got straight back to the airport and was relieved to see that my car was still there! Always a good start, it still had all it's windows, wheels and I gave a little woop of delight as I turned the key and the engine started first time, now I just had to stay awake for the journey home.
But it wouldn't move, I reversed, it moved an inch and stopped. I put it in first, moved a little, then stopped again. I got out looked around the car, kicked a few tyres and got in to try again. I repeated this routine quite a few times, I looked under the car, I kicked it a little more and I started to get a little stressed about what I was going to do- I just wanted to get home and was getting very tired after already having travelled for the last 17 hours.
I then couldn't find my phone, I panicked, I panicked a little more, I looked around and under the car and panicked. Then I decided to go into the hotel, borrow the phone and ring the breakdown. I managed that but not without tears, when the guy told me it was going to be up to 3 hours I cried, I cried when he asked for a contact number and I told him I'd lost my mobile, I cried again when I gave the phone back to the man at the hotel reception, then I retreated to my car to cry some more and wait the 3 hours...
When I got back to the car, I looked under the car next to me and saw my phone!! One less thing to cry about. I then rang the breakdown people to tell them I now had my mobile and they could call me on that, they then said it would be 1.5 hours for someone to get to me. I rang Sally to kill some time and then getting off the phone the breakdown man rang me and said he would be 30 mins!! So finally he arrived, took a wrench to one of the nuts on the wheel and 2 seconds later it was all fixed, maybe if I'd just kicked a little harder and more targeted I might have achieve that myself a few hours earlier.
Anyway finally I was on my way home, after a lovely 2 weeks in Brazil, slightly more drama (and crying) in the hours after landing than I would have liked and I was back on the road, now to plan the next holiday.
Sunday, 4 April 2010
Another flight or three?
Thursday morning we were up early for the eighth flight of my trip back to Belo Horizonte. We had some instructions from the travel agent lady to ask for her friend at the airport and he would let us have all our bags on the flight without having to pay excess baggage - and it worked! Apparently in Brazil it's all about who you know and if you are a friend of a friend of a travel agent it can be quite useful when you are about 3 bags over your luggage limit.
Arriving in Belo we were straight back to the same hotel we'd been in twice already so we were recognised when we arrived in reception. We had a walk down to the supermarket for a few last minute things to squeeze into the suitcase.
Friday was lovely and sunny so we took the opportunity to have a last day of sunbathing - always a mistake.... Mum said make sure you don't get sunburned before the flight back, and we did. Mine although painful was at least on the tops of my feet, whereas Catherine burnt the back of her legs which made sitting down fairly uncomfortable. The only relief we had for the pain that evening was to try and cool down with cans from the fridge!
Suddenly it was Saturday and time to get back to the airport - although as the flight was at 11.55pm - we managed to persuade the hotel to let us stay in our room until 5pm instead of checking out at 2pm so that we could just get to the airport and have a leisurely dinner while killing time before check in.
The flights home were relatively trouble free - and much easier travelling with someone who spoke both English and Portuguese! But after another two flights and a few hours at Lisbon in between it was nice to land in Heathrow on Sunday afternoon. All I had to do then was get back to the car and drive home - which turned out to be as easy as I thought...
Arriving in Belo we were straight back to the same hotel we'd been in twice already so we were recognised when we arrived in reception. We had a walk down to the supermarket for a few last minute things to squeeze into the suitcase.
Friday was lovely and sunny so we took the opportunity to have a last day of sunbathing - always a mistake.... Mum said make sure you don't get sunburned before the flight back, and we did. Mine although painful was at least on the tops of my feet, whereas Catherine burnt the back of her legs which made sitting down fairly uncomfortable. The only relief we had for the pain that evening was to try and cool down with cans from the fridge!
Suddenly it was Saturday and time to get back to the airport - although as the flight was at 11.55pm - we managed to persuade the hotel to let us stay in our room until 5pm instead of checking out at 2pm so that we could just get to the airport and have a leisurely dinner while killing time before check in.
The flights home were relatively trouble free - and much easier travelling with someone who spoke both English and Portuguese! But after another two flights and a few hours at Lisbon in between it was nice to land in Heathrow on Sunday afternoon. All I had to do then was get back to the car and drive home - which turned out to be as easy as I thought...
Thursday, 1 April 2010
Packing and Goodbyes
Tuesday we were going to go shopping but as we'd been to the shopping mall on Sunday and Monday we decided we'd had enough of shopping and I was happy to sunbathe while Catherine started to think about her packing and sorting out the rest of her house before leaving. We had a walk up to the children's nursery where Catherine has been helping out and teaching some English to the children of the students and staff. The kids were all very keen to point out their pictures on the wall and tell me the words in English for some of the things that they had drawn.
The rest of the day generally consisted of me lying in the hammock reading! We had a brief dinner and went upstairs for the evening to see Erika, bake brownies and eat them with ice cream and watch a film.
Wednesday and the packing really started, Catherine pulled everything out of cupboards, drawers and wardrobes onto the bed in a huge pile and then produced two bags to fill. I took one look at the pile and the bags and decided the best thing to do would be to take the larger bag and use it to pack my things in and let Catherine use my suitcase. Somehow (and I put this down to my superior packing skills) we managed to fit everything in - almost, monkey only just made it. I did manage to roll and squeeze things into tiny corners, every bag and shoe had as many things packed inside them as possible. The suitcase was almost entirely full of presents and Brazilian things to bring home for people with a very small bag for clothes. The rest of the clothes were then taken up to the girls dormitory to be distributed.
Catherine had invited people to pop down to the house around tea time where lots of people came to say goodbye. We thought it was then going to be a fairly quiet evening and as we sat in the house at 10pm having out nightly cup of tea we heard some noise out of the window, a little knock on the door and then a guitar strumming. Opening the door there were about 15 of the students all singing goodbye to Catherine - again it was so lovely to see how much they were going to miss her.
The rest of the day generally consisted of me lying in the hammock reading! We had a brief dinner and went upstairs for the evening to see Erika, bake brownies and eat them with ice cream and watch a film.
Wednesday and the packing really started, Catherine pulled everything out of cupboards, drawers and wardrobes onto the bed in a huge pile and then produced two bags to fill. I took one look at the pile and the bags and decided the best thing to do would be to take the larger bag and use it to pack my things in and let Catherine use my suitcase. Somehow (and I put this down to my superior packing skills) we managed to fit everything in - almost, monkey only just made it. I did manage to roll and squeeze things into tiny corners, every bag and shoe had as many things packed inside them as possible. The suitcase was almost entirely full of presents and Brazilian things to bring home for people with a very small bag for clothes. The rest of the clothes were then taken up to the girls dormitory to be distributed.Catherine had invited people to pop down to the house around tea time where lots of people came to say goodbye. We thought it was then going to be a fairly quiet evening and as we sat in the house at 10pm having out nightly cup of tea we heard some noise out of the window, a little knock on the door and then a guitar strumming. Opening the door there were about 15 of the students all singing goodbye to Catherine - again it was so lovely to see how much they were going to miss her.
Monday, 29 March 2010
Food, Food and a surprise
Sunday started with church, two hours of Portuguese that I didn't understand but Catherine did a great job as my interpreter for the service. We followed the Sunday plan that Catherine and Joanna have followed for months and went onto the shopping centre for lunch and then to all the shops that they always visit. This time though Catherine was taking pictures of everywhere to remember places so we just looked like tourists (even more than I would have done anyway).
Monday was a busy day, or rather it was planned to be a busy day but in Brazil style we had no idea if everything we thought was happening would actually happen. We started with a Venezulan breakfast with Lizete, Roberto and Fernando, with some great corn pancakes and banana cake. For lunch we went to the other shopping centre (there are only two) to go the the churrascaria - the Brazilian BBQ. I'd heard of these because Sal & Rob have been to one a few times, I managed fine getting the salad and sides, but was a bit more wary of the meat. While your little token on the table is green they keep bringing more meat to the table and you turn it to red when you've had enough. The lamb was amazing, some of the others I decided not to try, like the one with cheese melted all through it and what I think were chicken hearts.
We didn't have too much after the large breakfast and we knew that there was going to be Pizza for tea for Catherine's despedida (farewell party). This kept being described to me as Catherine's surprise, which seemed strange to keep referring to it as that when she'd known about it for a while. Their pizza is good but it doesn't have any type of tomato sauce on which is just wrong. Anyway the evening was good, some of the girls sang a song, as did the two African boys, and the staff did a sketch of Catherine's English class and there was a lovely film of people saying goodbye. It was lovely to see where Catherine's been for the last two years, but it was so great to see how much they have appreciated her being there as well.
Monday was a busy day, or rather it was planned to be a busy day but in Brazil style we had no idea if everything we thought was happening would actually happen. We started with a Venezulan breakfast with Lizete, Roberto and Fernando, with some great corn pancakes and banana cake. For lunch we went to the other shopping centre (there are only two) to go the the churrascaria - the Brazilian BBQ. I'd heard of these because Sal & Rob have been to one a few times, I managed fine getting the salad and sides, but was a bit more wary of the meat. While your little token on the table is green they keep bringing more meat to the table and you turn it to red when you've had enough. The lamb was amazing, some of the others I decided not to try, like the one with cheese melted all through it and what I think were chicken hearts.
We didn't have too much after the large breakfast and we knew that there was going to be Pizza for tea for Catherine's despedida (farewell party). This kept being described to me as Catherine's surprise, which seemed strange to keep referring to it as that when she'd known about it for a while. Their pizza is good but it doesn't have any type of tomato sauce on which is just wrong. Anyway the evening was good, some of the girls sang a song, as did the two African boys, and the staff did a sketch of Catherine's English class and there was a lovely film of people saying goodbye. It was lovely to see where Catherine's been for the last two years, but it was so great to see how much they have appreciated her being there as well.
Wednesday, 24 March 2010
Cataratas do Iguacu
Another cloudy morning first thing so we decided to go to the Bird Park before heading to the falls this morning. It was on the way and would mean giving the weather another hour to start to clear, our tour guide collected us from the hotel and as the previous day was really helpful (apart from the not speaking english part). It was a good hour to walk round and the birds were amazing. Catherine made some friends with the toucans as they seemed to like flying close to her head and trying to eat her shoes. I was happy keeping my distance and taking the photos.
We'd been told that there was a butterfly section which as usual didn't fill me with such excitement with my irrational fear of butterflies but I survived that one without being attacked. One section the tour guide had warned us that the macaws will sometimes try to get glasses, earrings etc. so we'd prepared for that before going round the whole park - just in case - and then decided just to not go through that section instead!
After that it was finally time to get to the falls. The cloud was clearing so by the time we'd got to the entrance, paid, waited for our guide to register that he was there for the day and drive us to the start of the path it was starting to look a lot brighter. The view from the start of the path was amazing so we were really looking forward to getting to the other end to see the main part. The majority of the falls are actually on the Argentina side but that means from the Brazil side you see a lot more of the panorama of the falls.
As you walk along the path there are so many different sections to see and the sound just gets so much greater as you reach the main part. We'd had instructions from the guide where to go, but he appeared part way down just to make sure that we were ok. Once you get to the main part then the path goes right along in front of the falls - this is the wet bit! We'd rolled trousers up, put the rain macs on and shielded the cameras but still came back absolutely soaked! The view is just fantastic though, well worth the visit if anyone wants a holiday somewhere I'd definitely recommend it. There's a vote a the moment for the new seven wonders of nature and the falls get my vote (but then I've only visited a few of the finalists).
We stayed around for some lunch after we'd seen everything we wanted to. I kept my (irrational) fear of butterflies in check as one decided that the flowers on Catherine's bag that I was carrying obviously looked very life like and kept landing on it. After all that excitement and persuading the tour guide that we were quite happy with a day of sunbathing at the hotel on Thursday and we didn't want to pay to go any where else, it was another dinner at the hotel in the evening, again followed by music from the Italian group of tourists that were also staying in the hotel for what could only be described as quite amusing rather than talented entertainment.
We'd been told that there was a butterfly section which as usual didn't fill me with such excitement with my irrational fear of butterflies but I survived that one without being attacked. One section the tour guide had warned us that the macaws will sometimes try to get glasses, earrings etc. so we'd prepared for that before going round the whole park - just in case - and then decided just to not go through that section instead!
After that it was finally time to get to the falls. The cloud was clearing so by the time we'd got to the entrance, paid, waited for our guide to register that he was there for the day and drive us to the start of the path it was starting to look a lot brighter. The view from the start of the path was amazing so we were really looking forward to getting to the other end to see the main part. The majority of the falls are actually on the Argentina side but that means from the Brazil side you see a lot more of the panorama of the falls.
As you walk along the path there are so many different sections to see and the sound just gets so much greater as you reach the main part. We'd had instructions from the guide where to go, but he appeared part way down just to make sure that we were ok. Once you get to the main part then the path goes right along in front of the falls - this is the wet bit! We'd rolled trousers up, put the rain macs on and shielded the cameras but still came back absolutely soaked! The view is just fantastic though, well worth the visit if anyone wants a holiday somewhere I'd definitely recommend it. There's a vote a the moment for the new seven wonders of nature and the falls get my vote (but then I've only visited a few of the finalists).
We stayed around for some lunch after we'd seen everything we wanted to. I kept my (irrational) fear of butterflies in check as one decided that the flowers on Catherine's bag that I was carrying obviously looked very life like and kept landing on it. After all that excitement and persuading the tour guide that we were quite happy with a day of sunbathing at the hotel on Thursday and we didn't want to pay to go any where else, it was another dinner at the hotel in the evening, again followed by music from the Italian group of tourists that were also staying in the hotel for what could only be described as quite amusing rather than talented entertainment.
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
Argentina!
After the visit to the Dam we were back at the hotel before lunchtime, with the plan of going to the Waterfalls being put back a day to see if the weather would improve. So we decided that we might as well have another trip on the evening rather than just staying at the hotel for the rest of the day, in bad weather. And where else to go but an evening in Argentina, we were so close to the border it seemed a shame not to visit.
As you head over the river the bridge is painted green and yellow on one side and blue and white on the other to mark where the border is. We got to the border point and handed over our passports and I got stamped out of Brazil, Catherine has a temporary Brazil ID card and it was easier for her to travel using that rather than her British passport. That meant that when we got to the Argentinian side, they kindly stamped my passport and she didn't get one! There was an argument that being able to pass the border as a Brazilian citizen was better but I argued that there's no proof that she was in Argentina without a stamp!
We didn't really plan to do much when we got there, it was more just the opportunity to say that we'd been that we were happy about. So we had a wander up the shopping street that the guide had taken us to and went to the restaurant that he recommended. I was told off for ordering Pork chops and not steak in Argentina, but I did try a bit of Catherine's so I can at least say that I had authentic Argentinian steak. After 3 days of getting used to listening to Portuguese it was strange having to change to trying to understand Spanish instead. Thankfully Catherine has been learning a little so we managed to order ice cream before we left.
As you head over the river the bridge is painted green and yellow on one side and blue and white on the other to mark where the border is. We got to the border point and handed over our passports and I got stamped out of Brazil, Catherine has a temporary Brazil ID card and it was easier for her to travel using that rather than her British passport. That meant that when we got to the Argentinian side, they kindly stamped my passport and she didn't get one! There was an argument that being able to pass the border as a Brazilian citizen was better but I argued that there's no proof that she was in Argentina without a stamp!
We didn't really plan to do much when we got there, it was more just the opportunity to say that we'd been that we were happy about. So we had a wander up the shopping street that the guide had taken us to and went to the restaurant that he recommended. I was told off for ordering Pork chops and not steak in Argentina, but I did try a bit of Catherine's so I can at least say that I had authentic Argentinian steak. After 3 days of getting used to listening to Portuguese it was strange having to change to trying to understand Spanish instead. Thankfully Catherine has been learning a little so we managed to order ice cream before we left.
Belo Horizonte to Foz du Iguassu
This was the start of my Brazil holiday and my 1st of 3 to Belo Horizonte. Catherine found me at the airport and we checked in at the Hotel, thankfully it was fine, if not we wouldn't have looked forward to the other two stays. The first day was thunder, lightning and torrential rain at times, not what I had been promised in Brazil but as it was the first day it didn't matter too much, we spent most of the day catching up anyway so just stayed around the hotel for the day.
It was an early flight the next morning to Foz du Iguassu and we were met at the airport by our tour guide for the week and taken to the airport. Not as nice as the other hotel but then it was a little older so I suppose to be expected. The weather still wasn't too good but I was hopeful for it getting better within a few days. The following day our tour guide arrived to collect us at 8.30, because the weather wasn't so good we set of for the Itaipu Hydroelectric Dam first. Catherine hadn't been so bothered about going to see it but it was part of the package so didn't seem any point in not going. I found it was quite interesting but probably because I was also thinking, Dad would like this! After a short video we set off in the bus to drive towards the Dam. It's located at the border of Brazil and Paraguay and provides about 20% of the energy needed in Brazil and 80% in Paraguay.
The weather still hadn't improved so the trip was almost completely in the rain but it meant that because there had been so much rain that the slip way was open which made for some good pictures - but also meant there was also more spray to wet us when we were out of the bus.
As we did drive over the dam to the other side then we think that counts as being on Paraguayan land so therefore that is my claim for being in another country!
It was an early flight the next morning to Foz du Iguassu and we were met at the airport by our tour guide for the week and taken to the airport. Not as nice as the other hotel but then it was a little older so I suppose to be expected. The weather still wasn't too good but I was hopeful for it getting better within a few days. The following day our tour guide arrived to collect us at 8.30, because the weather wasn't so good we set of for the Itaipu Hydroelectric Dam first. Catherine hadn't been so bothered about going to see it but it was part of the package so didn't seem any point in not going. I found it was quite interesting but probably because I was also thinking, Dad would like this! After a short video we set off in the bus to drive towards the Dam. It's located at the border of Brazil and Paraguay and provides about 20% of the energy needed in Brazil and 80% in Paraguay.
The weather still hadn't improved so the trip was almost completely in the rain but it meant that because there had been so much rain that the slip way was open which made for some good pictures - but also meant there was also more spray to wet us when we were out of the bus.
As we did drive over the dam to the other side then we think that counts as being on Paraguayan land so therefore that is my claim for being in another country!
Saturday, 20 March 2010
March 2010, the start of holiday
Almost up to date....
So in the first half of March Mum & Dad came to stay for a weekend. We had thoughts of being very busy and almost boarded out the loft and replaced the vinyl in the kitchen but in the end we just replaced the toilet seat :)
Finally it came time for my holiday. I'd booked a hotel at Heathrow for the Friday night due to the early flight the next day and somewhere to leave the car for the two weeks but hadn't booked the Friday off work, which was a mistake. So I worked through til about 1.30pm and left early to get home swap my work bag for my suitcase and set off for Heathrow.
I knew that driving down to London on a Friday night was never going to be a good idea but there wasn't much that I could do about that. Thankfully most of the journey down, although the news reports were full of incidents on the M1 they were all on the northbound side so it was just the M25 to tackle. As expected it was bad and that last part of the journey took about 1.5 hours to get round to the hotel but I thought being in my room by 7.30pm wasn't too bad.
An early start the next morning and I was at the airport for 5.45pm, if I'd arrived half an hour later I wouldn't have had to queue up for most of that time but I managed to arrive at the same time as a lot of others, including a very large party of Japanese who took up all the space at the self check in machines so I managed to sneak onto when they weren't looking. As I was on the same flight as Helga's Mum, Rosa, I waited for them to arrive and check in before going through security and meeting her at the gate. I was a little concerned about the communications problems ( me not speaking Portuguese, Rosa not speaking English) but generally it seemed to go ok. Rosa kept talking to me and I kept saying I didn't understand before getting to the point where I just had to guess at what she was saying and try to give a response. This worked quite well for a while and we managed to pass the 3 hours together waiting for the connection in Lisbon. The problem was once we got to Belo Horizonte, Rosa was looking for the person collecting her and I was looking for Catherine, she went one direction, I stayed where I was and never saw her again. I did get in touch with Helga though and she assured me that Rosa got home safely!
So in the first half of March Mum & Dad came to stay for a weekend. We had thoughts of being very busy and almost boarded out the loft and replaced the vinyl in the kitchen but in the end we just replaced the toilet seat :)
Finally it came time for my holiday. I'd booked a hotel at Heathrow for the Friday night due to the early flight the next day and somewhere to leave the car for the two weeks but hadn't booked the Friday off work, which was a mistake. So I worked through til about 1.30pm and left early to get home swap my work bag for my suitcase and set off for Heathrow.
I knew that driving down to London on a Friday night was never going to be a good idea but there wasn't much that I could do about that. Thankfully most of the journey down, although the news reports were full of incidents on the M1 they were all on the northbound side so it was just the M25 to tackle. As expected it was bad and that last part of the journey took about 1.5 hours to get round to the hotel but I thought being in my room by 7.30pm wasn't too bad.
An early start the next morning and I was at the airport for 5.45pm, if I'd arrived half an hour later I wouldn't have had to queue up for most of that time but I managed to arrive at the same time as a lot of others, including a very large party of Japanese who took up all the space at the self check in machines so I managed to sneak onto when they weren't looking. As I was on the same flight as Helga's Mum, Rosa, I waited for them to arrive and check in before going through security and meeting her at the gate. I was a little concerned about the communications problems ( me not speaking Portuguese, Rosa not speaking English) but generally it seemed to go ok. Rosa kept talking to me and I kept saying I didn't understand before getting to the point where I just had to guess at what she was saying and try to give a response. This worked quite well for a while and we managed to pass the 3 hours together waiting for the connection in Lisbon. The problem was once we got to Belo Horizonte, Rosa was looking for the person collecting her and I was looking for Catherine, she went one direction, I stayed where I was and never saw her again. I did get in touch with Helga though and she assured me that Rosa got home safely!
Foz du Iguassu to Belo Horizonte to Montes Claros
After a day of sunbathing at the hotel it was time to pack up on the Friday and head back to the airport and back to Belo Horizonte. Our tour guide from the week took us back to the airport and even though we'd managed to fly there already he left us with instructions of where to go and what we had to do, like we didn't know that we had to check in...
The flight this time went via Rio de Janeiro, the only landmark that I'd wanted to see there was Christ the Redeemer (Big Jesus on a hill) I spent all the time we were descending to the airport trying to find it and not succeeding and then it was too dark when we set off again to keep looking. Will have to go back to see that one another time. We got back to Belo Horizonte and to the same hotel again, this time it was just an overnight stay and then to the smaller Pampulha airport in the morning for another early flight. It's either an 8 hour bus journey or a 1 hour flight to Montes Claros and I'm so pleased we did the latter.
We were met at Montes Claros by Sara, an American from the college, so it was nice to be understood again and not to have everything translated for a journey. We unpacked back at Catherine's and had a quick look around and met a few people. The Brazilians like to hug people so when they were introduced to me they looked a bit hesitant - having met western people who aren't quite so keen to hug strangers - before Catherine would say 'she's happy to be hugged' then I'd suddenly have arms wrapped round me.
We weren't sure whether to go out in the evening as Catherine was feeling ill from the flight but decided we would as it was her friend Lizete's birthday. There were nine of us including two children and the joke on the way there was that with three nationalities and three languages between us all, we still couldn't find our way! We made it to the burger place we were going to for food and I've never had such a good burger. Everything comes in the bun, meat, salad, sweetcorn, crisps, sauce and it tasted good. After we went to the shopping centre for an hour, it seems to be the place to go to on a Saturday night - and definitely worth a trip for some ice cream!
The flight this time went via Rio de Janeiro, the only landmark that I'd wanted to see there was Christ the Redeemer (Big Jesus on a hill) I spent all the time we were descending to the airport trying to find it and not succeeding and then it was too dark when we set off again to keep looking. Will have to go back to see that one another time. We got back to Belo Horizonte and to the same hotel again, this time it was just an overnight stay and then to the smaller Pampulha airport in the morning for another early flight. It's either an 8 hour bus journey or a 1 hour flight to Montes Claros and I'm so pleased we did the latter.
We were met at Montes Claros by Sara, an American from the college, so it was nice to be understood again and not to have everything translated for a journey. We unpacked back at Catherine's and had a quick look around and met a few people. The Brazilians like to hug people so when they were introduced to me they looked a bit hesitant - having met western people who aren't quite so keen to hug strangers - before Catherine would say 'she's happy to be hugged' then I'd suddenly have arms wrapped round me.
We weren't sure whether to go out in the evening as Catherine was feeling ill from the flight but decided we would as it was her friend Lizete's birthday. There were nine of us including two children and the joke on the way there was that with three nationalities and three languages between us all, we still couldn't find our way! We made it to the burger place we were going to for food and I've never had such a good burger. Everything comes in the bun, meat, salad, sweetcorn, crisps, sauce and it tasted good. After we went to the shopping centre for an hour, it seems to be the place to go to on a Saturday night - and definitely worth a trip for some ice cream!
Sunday, 28 February 2010
February 10
Either not much happened in February or I didn't keep my calendar up to date. I'm hoping it's the latter and not that I didn't have anything to do.
I do remember going over to the Lavers after a Huddersfield work day mid week and finding out that we were all going to be up in Stockton at the weekend. Mum & I went to Northallerton Saturday morning to order picture frames and then met Dad for lunch at the lovely Roots Farm Shop. Saturday night Vicky, Charlie and I went out for drinks, in true old woman style we also had chips and were home by 10.30pm!
At the end of the month we went to see Beauty and the Beast in York. As always with York Light Opera it was well done, it's not one of my favourite on stage musicals but I did find myself singing along to a lot of it and the actor playing the Beast was really good.
And that was February.
I do remember going over to the Lavers after a Huddersfield work day mid week and finding out that we were all going to be up in Stockton at the weekend. Mum & I went to Northallerton Saturday morning to order picture frames and then met Dad for lunch at the lovely Roots Farm Shop. Saturday night Vicky, Charlie and I went out for drinks, in true old woman style we also had chips and were home by 10.30pm!
At the end of the month we went to see Beauty and the Beast in York. As always with York Light Opera it was well done, it's not one of my favourite on stage musicals but I did find myself singing along to a lot of it and the actor playing the Beast was really good.
And that was February.
Sunday, 31 January 2010
January 10
As there had been so much snow in December it stopped me visiting the Lavers to meet Isaac when he was born, despite my attempt to get there after 3 hours driving in the snow I decided the more sensible option was to turn back home. So I re-planned my visit for 2nd January and again the snow tried to thwart me! This time after a quick call from Charlie before setting off we changed plans and I went to get the train instead which was definitely a better idea than driving. It was a lovely day seeing Isaac, building snowmen and throwing snowballs up at the house.
Most of January was tied up with working, from December we had recruited someone temporarily to cover my day job for me so that I could work on the planning for the restructure, ready for announcing the first part at the end of January. It made it much easier for me to be able to pass everything else over and just work on the restructure.
At the end of the month I managed to get a day off to get down to Sal & Rob's for the weekend. I'd booked to fly down as it seemed probably the same cost as driving but a lot less hassle. By the time I was on the plane on the Thursday after a day at work I was again pleased not to be driving so much. It was a lovely relaxing weekend, we had some house things to do, wait for deliveries, view all the plans for the decorating and watch films in the cinema room downstairs.
In January I also had my injections in preparation for my trip to Brazil. For all the travelling that I've done I've never had to have vaccinnations for anywhere that I've been, which meant that I had to have all the booster shots as well. So I went for most of them on one day Tetanus, Diptheria and Polio in one shot in one arm, Typhoid and Hepititus A in the other. Then a few days later Yellow Fever (for a price) that was the only one I was worried about but of course the actual injection was no worse than the others and I didn't feel too ill after it. Now just to get to March for the holiday!
Most of January was tied up with working, from December we had recruited someone temporarily to cover my day job for me so that I could work on the planning for the restructure, ready for announcing the first part at the end of January. It made it much easier for me to be able to pass everything else over and just work on the restructure.
At the end of the month I managed to get a day off to get down to Sal & Rob's for the weekend. I'd booked to fly down as it seemed probably the same cost as driving but a lot less hassle. By the time I was on the plane on the Thursday after a day at work I was again pleased not to be driving so much. It was a lovely relaxing weekend, we had some house things to do, wait for deliveries, view all the plans for the decorating and watch films in the cinema room downstairs.
In January I also had my injections in preparation for my trip to Brazil. For all the travelling that I've done I've never had to have vaccinnations for anywhere that I've been, which meant that I had to have all the booster shots as well. So I went for most of them on one day Tetanus, Diptheria and Polio in one shot in one arm, Typhoid and Hepititus A in the other. Then a few days later Yellow Fever (for a price) that was the only one I was worried about but of course the actual injection was no worse than the others and I didn't feel too ill after it. Now just to get to March for the holiday!
Friday, 1 January 2010
Christmas 09
I finished work on 23rd December this year and because of the snow decided to get straight up to Mum & Dad's that day rather than wait until Christmas Eve. It was definitely a good decision as it snowed again overnight and was much worse for travelling in.
Christmas Day was just going to be the three of us but with various visits to church, Sandra's and Joan & Albert's with all their family, there wasn't much time when it was just us. Boxing Day we went for another dinner at Bill and Margo's then Sal & Rob arrived on 27th from the Lakes. We had a visit from Sarah and Jon one afternoon before Sal & Rob headed back to Southampton to their new house, having owned it for 2 weeks they'd only spent less than 24 hours in there. I had another couple of days catching up with people, crashing Mark & Carlie's House Group Christmas Dinner and seeing Joanne and Catherine.
Robert and Laraine arrived to stay for a few days over New Year and I took until New Year's Eve to decide that I would stay another night and spend the evening at the Toops. Definitely my kind of New Year's, food, quiz, games and home by 12.45am.
Christmas Day was just going to be the three of us but with various visits to church, Sandra's and Joan & Albert's with all their family, there wasn't much time when it was just us. Boxing Day we went for another dinner at Bill and Margo's then Sal & Rob arrived on 27th from the Lakes. We had a visit from Sarah and Jon one afternoon before Sal & Rob headed back to Southampton to their new house, having owned it for 2 weeks they'd only spent less than 24 hours in there. I had another couple of days catching up with people, crashing Mark & Carlie's House Group Christmas Dinner and seeing Joanne and Catherine.
Robert and Laraine arrived to stay for a few days over New Year and I took until New Year's Eve to decide that I would stay another night and spend the evening at the Toops. Definitely my kind of New Year's, food, quiz, games and home by 12.45am.
Thursday, 24 December 2009
December 09
December as usual was generally filled with Christmas things starting with the Reflect Fundraisers of a Craft Fair and a Carol concert. I volunteered to help at the craft fair, which I thought would be helping in the kitchen but turned out to be standing in the middle of Stonegate with a very large sign and occasionally shouting 'craft fair, coffee and cakes'. I think I knew this before but it turns out I'm not very good at shouting, so I didn't do that bit so often but more gently persuaded people to go in for the cakes! One lady did come back out and say it had been a very good recommendation so I must have been doing a half decent sales pitch.
The same evening was the Carol Concert so after a quick change it was out to the URC to help set up. The concert was really good, Hannah had found some willing music student volunteers to make up the choir who were all fantastic. Definitely feeling more Christmassy now, although by this point I think my Christmas tree has been up for a week already.
A week before Christmas was the work Christmas Party. There isn't much to report from that, good meal at the Queen's Hotel in Leeds followed by a disco. It took me a long time to get my head around having all this from 1pm but then by 5pm I was back on the train to York :)
The last pre-Christmas event was the old peoples Christmas meal at church, I was there at 9.30am peeling sprouts, wrapping pigs in blankets, mixing stuffing ready for lunch at 1pm. I think we were 5 or 10 mins late but generally it all seemed to go quite smoothly and there were no complaints with the food.
The same evening was the Carol Concert so after a quick change it was out to the URC to help set up. The concert was really good, Hannah had found some willing music student volunteers to make up the choir who were all fantastic. Definitely feeling more Christmassy now, although by this point I think my Christmas tree has been up for a week already.
A week before Christmas was the work Christmas Party. There isn't much to report from that, good meal at the Queen's Hotel in Leeds followed by a disco. It took me a long time to get my head around having all this from 1pm but then by 5pm I was back on the train to York :)
The last pre-Christmas event was the old peoples Christmas meal at church, I was there at 9.30am peeling sprouts, wrapping pigs in blankets, mixing stuffing ready for lunch at 1pm. I think we were 5 or 10 mins late but generally it all seemed to go quite smoothly and there were no complaints with the food.
Monday, 30 November 2009
November 09
November seems like it was pretty quiet. The usual work and travelling, Saturday nights critiquing Strictly Come Dancing with Gillian and Naomi, a catch up dinner with Susie and Emily from my old work - although I don't think I was so well at this one and ended up being sick at the restaurant and going home early. Went to see High Society, done by an amateur group in York. I also had someone come do a valuation on my house and I went to view another house, having had the idea put in my head that I might think about moving I decided to look into it a bit. I decided not to do anything more about it then but haven't completely dismissed the idea. That seems to sum up November.
Sunday, 1 November 2009
October Musicals
At the end of October Sal and I had another musicals weekend in London so I decided that needed a whole post of it's own.
We both travelled to London on the Friday after work, my train got in a bit later than Sal so after the initial confusion of where we were meeting (why does there need to be 2 H&M's so close to each other but in opposite directions from the exit of the tube?), we found each other and dropped my bags off at the hotel. We decided not to bother with dinner until after the show so headed straight off to the Price Edward Theatre to see Jersey Boys. Sal had seen it before but really wanted me to see it as well and I really enjoyed it. There were moments when the woman next to me became quite distracting by insisting on singing along, which wouldn't have been so bad if she'd had been in tune, but still it didn't spoil it.
Saturday we had a shopping trip for my Christmas present and was successful in getting me a lovely new handbag which I was allowed to start using straight away. Then the afternoon was a showing on Billy Elliott, another good show. The language in it is really blue which the family in front obviously hadn't realised having brought what looked to be a 13 year old daughter and much younger son with them. But amazing dancing in this one.
Saturday night I think was my favourite for the weekend, La Cage Aux Folles with John Barrowman in a role that seemed absolutely perfect for him. If he hadn't been in it, it probably might not have made it onto our list for this weekend but I'm glad it did, good singing dancing and very funny. And even a little mouse running down the stairs before it started!
Now what to see next time...
We both travelled to London on the Friday after work, my train got in a bit later than Sal so after the initial confusion of where we were meeting (why does there need to be 2 H&M's so close to each other but in opposite directions from the exit of the tube?), we found each other and dropped my bags off at the hotel. We decided not to bother with dinner until after the show so headed straight off to the Price Edward Theatre to see Jersey Boys. Sal had seen it before but really wanted me to see it as well and I really enjoyed it. There were moments when the woman next to me became quite distracting by insisting on singing along, which wouldn't have been so bad if she'd had been in tune, but still it didn't spoil it.
Saturday we had a shopping trip for my Christmas present and was successful in getting me a lovely new handbag which I was allowed to start using straight away. Then the afternoon was a showing on Billy Elliott, another good show. The language in it is really blue which the family in front obviously hadn't realised having brought what looked to be a 13 year old daughter and much younger son with them. But amazing dancing in this one.
Saturday night I think was my favourite for the weekend, La Cage Aux Folles with John Barrowman in a role that seemed absolutely perfect for him. If he hadn't been in it, it probably might not have made it onto our list for this weekend but I'm glad it did, good singing dancing and very funny. And even a little mouse running down the stairs before it started!
Now what to see next time...
Saturday, 31 October 2009
October 09
October started with Dad's 65th Birthday. I met Mum, Dad, Sandra, Joan and Albert in Richmond after work on the Friday, having been in Huddersfield that day and we had a lovely dinner before going to the theatre. It was a West Country Theatre production called Home on the Range and the three actresses in it were very good and as seems to be common with their productions, very good use of very few props.
Saturday was the Amazing Praise concert, this year foolishly, I didn't start practicing until a week before and had a crisis of confidence and almost pulled out of it. Mum and I spent some time on the morning clearly marking the notes that I was going to play and which I was going to ignore. I think it worked quite well and I managed to get through it without too much embarrassment, thankfully there were two other cellists there so I managed to hide behind them. Next year must learn to say no, or have something already booked in for that weekend....
I finally had a week off work in October, having been the only one not to take much time off work over summer this was the first opportunity to take more than a day off at once. After I'd booked it in I needed to decide what to do with it so I of course, looked at who I could go visit and decided that Madrid in October would be nice so I set off to stay with Vicky for 3 nights. After arriving on the Saturday we went out for Ice Cream and cinema. Sunday was mainly sightseeing, trip on the funicular railway. There was a birthday party that Vicky wanted to go to for twins of a girl who had been helped by the pregnancy crisis service in Madrid that she volunteers as so we spent a couple of hours there. My main conversation was with a 5 month old girl as no one else spoke English but we were fine until someone else came for a cuddle with her and then I was left to play toys on my own. Monday Vicky was working for some of the time so I wandered round the gardens, read my book in the sun and then Tuesday morning we went to the cathedral and the royal palace.
I spent the rest of the week at Mum and Dad's, getting to catch up with quite a few people - dinner with Vicky and Ben and lunch with Carlie and Noah before joining them for Helen and Paul's Wedding. I think officially that makes me a wedding crasher but no one seemed to mind!
Saturday was the Amazing Praise concert, this year foolishly, I didn't start practicing until a week before and had a crisis of confidence and almost pulled out of it. Mum and I spent some time on the morning clearly marking the notes that I was going to play and which I was going to ignore. I think it worked quite well and I managed to get through it without too much embarrassment, thankfully there were two other cellists there so I managed to hide behind them. Next year must learn to say no, or have something already booked in for that weekend....
I finally had a week off work in October, having been the only one not to take much time off work over summer this was the first opportunity to take more than a day off at once. After I'd booked it in I needed to decide what to do with it so I of course, looked at who I could go visit and decided that Madrid in October would be nice so I set off to stay with Vicky for 3 nights. After arriving on the Saturday we went out for Ice Cream and cinema. Sunday was mainly sightseeing, trip on the funicular railway. There was a birthday party that Vicky wanted to go to for twins of a girl who had been helped by the pregnancy crisis service in Madrid that she volunteers as so we spent a couple of hours there. My main conversation was with a 5 month old girl as no one else spoke English but we were fine until someone else came for a cuddle with her and then I was left to play toys on my own. Monday Vicky was working for some of the time so I wandered round the gardens, read my book in the sun and then Tuesday morning we went to the cathedral and the royal palace.
I spent the rest of the week at Mum and Dad's, getting to catch up with quite a few people - dinner with Vicky and Ben and lunch with Carlie and Noah before joining them for Helen and Paul's Wedding. I think officially that makes me a wedding crasher but no one seemed to mind!
Wednesday, 30 September 2009
September 09
So in trying to get my blog back up to date I've decided just to have a look at my diary and see what I did each month and try and remember the highlights. Probably won't be all that interesting but we'll give it a go for now.
So September, I went for a weekend to Sal's. Always a good weekend, this time we went up to London for a day on the Saturday to see Les Mis, my fourth time, Sal's sixth I think. Of the six of us that were there I think we'd seen it 22 times between us by the time it was finished. Great show as ever.
The following weekend we had a girls evening out to Harewood House to see Grease as a drive in movie. We did the same 2 years before at York Racecourse (much more convenient for getting to but Harewood wasn't too far). After a slight rearranging of cars when we first got there and ignoring the stewards waving us in so that we could get all three cars together and not park behind the tallest 4x4 there, we settled in for some food first. It was a good evening for the film and as always involved a lot of singing along - still surprised at how much of it I can quote only watching it every few years!
The rest of the month seems to have been filled with the usual work, travelling around Yorkshire, fitting in a visit to the Lavers when on a Huddersfield work day, and the start of Strictly Come Dancing seems to have marked the start of many Saturday evenings with Naomi and Gillian passing commentary on the dances - in my no so expert opinion.
Now onto October....
So September, I went for a weekend to Sal's. Always a good weekend, this time we went up to London for a day on the Saturday to see Les Mis, my fourth time, Sal's sixth I think. Of the six of us that were there I think we'd seen it 22 times between us by the time it was finished. Great show as ever.
The following weekend we had a girls evening out to Harewood House to see Grease as a drive in movie. We did the same 2 years before at York Racecourse (much more convenient for getting to but Harewood wasn't too far). After a slight rearranging of cars when we first got there and ignoring the stewards waving us in so that we could get all three cars together and not park behind the tallest 4x4 there, we settled in for some food first. It was a good evening for the film and as always involved a lot of singing along - still surprised at how much of it I can quote only watching it every few years!
The rest of the month seems to have been filled with the usual work, travelling around Yorkshire, fitting in a visit to the Lavers when on a Huddersfield work day, and the start of Strictly Come Dancing seems to have marked the start of many Saturday evenings with Naomi and Gillian passing commentary on the dances - in my no so expert opinion.
Now onto October....
Monday, 31 August 2009
Queuing
Isn't it funny how we queue when there's no need to. After a weekend at Mum & Dad's I planned my drive home via Tesco for food and fuel. When I arrived in the car park all the shoppers were standing outside the shop as the fire alarm was ringing. Unlike many other people I sensibly stayed in the car and waited until people started moving in - it was raining at the time as well. But others decided to get out of their cars and wait in the rain and seemed strangely drawn to what would appear to be the back of the queue so that they weren't cutting in the front when people were eventually allowed back in. I was waiting about 15 mins in my lovely warm car with music to pass the time. Once they were allowed back in though it was chaos as everyone started their shopping at the same time and moved around at roughly the same pace, while others searched for which aisle they had abandoned their trolleys in when the alarm had started! It reminded me that online shopping and delivery looks a very attractive alternative.
Sunday, 30 August 2009
No Wellies!
After a very muddy weekend last year at North 08, we were back for another year at North 09. I once again took advantage of Mum and Dad living close by to the event and drove the 10 mins from the house to Coul Beck Farm for Saturday and Sunday rather than pitching a tent for the weekend.
I started off the bank holiday weekend with a lovely evening on Friday with Mark, Carlie and Noah, who I haven't seen enough of over the past year so it was great to spend the whole evening with them. Then it was off to the farm for two days. The weather was fine so there was no need for the wellies that had been so essential last year. This year I was just a visitor and not a helper so after doing children's work for the last three years I was looking forward to break and just being in the adult meetings. The morning meetings David Stroud leader of Christ Church London spoke and in the evening Jeremy Simpkins from Jubilee Church, Teesside, both following the theme of the weekend of Transformation of our lives, our churches and our cities and towns. These were also supported by the afternoon seminars of which I went to hear Arnold Bell speaking on being transformed through the Word on Sunday afternoon.
It's been a great weekend, listening to some really good speakers who are so passionate about seeing the churches grow in the UK and across the world, and it's been a great chance to spend time with some friends from church and get to know people better.
I started off the bank holiday weekend with a lovely evening on Friday with Mark, Carlie and Noah, who I haven't seen enough of over the past year so it was great to spend the whole evening with them. Then it was off to the farm for two days. The weather was fine so there was no need for the wellies that had been so essential last year. This year I was just a visitor and not a helper so after doing children's work for the last three years I was looking forward to break and just being in the adult meetings. The morning meetings David Stroud leader of Christ Church London spoke and in the evening Jeremy Simpkins from Jubilee Church, Teesside, both following the theme of the weekend of Transformation of our lives, our churches and our cities and towns. These were also supported by the afternoon seminars of which I went to hear Arnold Bell speaking on being transformed through the Word on Sunday afternoon.
It's been a great weekend, listening to some really good speakers who are so passionate about seeing the churches grow in the UK and across the world, and it's been a great chance to spend time with some friends from church and get to know people better.
Monday, 17 August 2009
Birthday things
I've had another lovely birthday weekend. Similar to last year, Sally arrived on Thursday evening and we had a lot planned. Friday morning was the most relaxing couple of hours at Harrogate Turkish Baths. I think we undid any good detoxing that had been done by going to Betty's for lunch and over-indulging in an Afternoon Tea, if only I'd not eaten the last little cake...
Saturday lunchtime followed the same indulgence with a visit to Cafe Concerto before Sarah arrived (early amazingly!) from Stockton. It was another afternoon at the pottery painting studio, Sal again taking twice as long as I do, making sure her design is perfectly placed and painted. You can tell in the finished items that I should have spent a bit more time in making sure that I'd put enough paint on my mug! I was pleased though when Ruth came round after I'd collected the glazed finished products and asked where I'd bought my new mug from! Only spoilt by showing her the gold blob in the bottom where the star went wrong so I just painted the whole circle on the bottom leaving it looking like something has died in the bottom of the mug.
Saturday night I had some of the girls around, after my usual panic about having people in my house it was a lovely evening of food, drink and chatting. The whole weekend was then finished off with a visit from Mum & Dad on Sunday for my birthday, another lovely lunch out at The White Swan at Deighton (will start diet again soon...) and a lazy afternoon watching the athletics, a great birthday again!
Saturday lunchtime followed the same indulgence with a visit to Cafe Concerto before Sarah arrived (early amazingly!) from Stockton. It was another afternoon at the pottery painting studio, Sal again taking twice as long as I do, making sure her design is perfectly placed and painted. You can tell in the finished items that I should have spent a bit more time in making sure that I'd put enough paint on my mug! I was pleased though when Ruth came round after I'd collected the glazed finished products and asked where I'd bought my new mug from! Only spoilt by showing her the gold blob in the bottom where the star went wrong so I just painted the whole circle on the bottom leaving it looking like something has died in the bottom of the mug.
Saturday night I had some of the girls around, after my usual panic about having people in my house it was a lovely evening of food, drink and chatting. The whole weekend was then finished off with a visit from Mum & Dad on Sunday for my birthday, another lovely lunch out at The White Swan at Deighton (will start diet again soon...) and a lazy afternoon watching the athletics, a great birthday again!
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