It's been quite a while since my last post, realised I have been very lax on doing this blog, and because it's been so long, have had trouble trying to remember what happened since the end of October. All I can say is thank goodness I take lots of photos, it's the only way I can put what we have been up to in some sort of order. So here goes......
October 25th was the day of our son's 50th birthday party. The actual date of his birthday was the16th October, but as it was mid-week, and we wanted to have all the family together to give him his big surprise, that was the only date when everyone was available. The difficulty in keeping it secret was very challenging, especially as the grand children knew but had to keep quiet. The planning had started at the beginning of this year, a week's trip to Alicante, Spain with us all, and included was his best friend Dan and wife Alison. To reveal the surprise, I had purchased a personalised scratch card with "YOU AND THE FAMILY ARE OFF TO SPAIN". His face was a picture when he revealed the message.
What he didn't know was the flight was very early the next day and taxis had been arranged to pick us all up at 3 am! Not sure quite how he took this information, especially as the usual JD and coke was hidden so he couldn't get too drunk! Packing had to be done, and he had several emails to send to his office explaining why he was away, (although his wife Iwona had already booked a week's holiday for him and had sworn the boss to secrecy!) So as birthday parties go, getting us all to bed by 10 pm was unheard of, and he strongly objected to that, wanting to continue to party until the wee hours. A few hours sleep was necessary, though, it would be a long day ahead.
Alicante was lovely and the accommodation excellent, with each family having their own separate apartments within a single very large building.
Each family had hired cars, great to head off in different directions if we so wished. The week's holiday went by all too quickly, and amazed that all the kids got on and none of the family members fell out. Maybe this could become an annual event, it would be wonderful if that happened.
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| Bottom of the photo and holding the beer bottle is Dan, to the R is Alison, then Kev, Thomas, Oliver, Oscar, Colin, Iwona, her mum Vwacha, Christine and finally Josh. |
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| Tennis tournament. Dan won, Colin 2nd and me third....yeah....No one took a photo of me playing. Typical! |
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| Just some of the Spanish roads!!!! |
November 6th my Brother Andre/Andy and partner Sally arrived from Oz. They were to stay with our son, him having the most room out of all of us. 2nd night he decided he was going to be the chef for the BBQ.
Our plan was to drive them wherever they wanted to go and to take Sally on a three-day cruise on FS. During that time, my brother would be in Reading at the crucible doing an advanced course on coaching as a National Billiards Coach through the WPBSA (Official World Governing Body of Snooker and Billiards) This from the web
- Official Role: He is on the Snooker and Billiards NSW committee, which promotes and manages billiards in the state.
- Coaching: He runs junior coaching sessions and organizes introductory "Try Snooker" events for children.
- Local Club Involvement: He has a significant role with the Hornsby RSL Snooker Club.
And check out this from the web. Scroll down, he is the fifth board member.
https://www.snookernsw.com/board-members
Needless to say, I am extremely proud to be his twin sister.
Three weeks has flown by. In that time we went to Bletchley Park, Warwick Castle, took Sally away for three days, and once my brother returned drove to Clarkson's Diddly Squat Farm in Oxfordshire. Several days were spent taking Toffee out to different locations, then back to Bletchley to the museum of computing, (no time when we were there earlier) Took them to Nottingham Castle, Woburn Safari Park and finally 2 days in London to see the lights and all the touristy places. Few...no wonder we were all exhausted! Today (26th) we dropped them both at Terminal 2 for their flight back to Oz. Tearful goodbyes as we don't know when or if we will see them again. Thank goodness for Zoom and Teams calls.
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| Trying to code break. |
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| Raptors display |
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| Sally |
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| Ian |
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| Andre |
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| Unusual visitor |
Diddly Squat
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| Could almost be Toffee |
Nottingham Castle
Safari Park
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| A wild black squirrel! |
And finally to London. Booked into the hotel, a very basic budget hotel! Hardly room to swing a cat, and the shower was separate from the toilet and opened into the bedroom! Took the tube to Piccadilly Circus on the first night, and walked 3 miles looking at the lights. Our son Colin met us and took us to a restaurant he knew in Soho. 2nd day walked 8.3 miles, 21,000 steps going from one attraction to another. My new knee felt fine. Shame my other knee is now complaining bitterly!
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| View from the Hotel Ibis in Hounslow. Two parrots sitting on the opposite balcony. Planes came over every couple of minutes until about 11.30 pm. They started again at 4 am! |
We are now out of the marina and moored opposite the water point at Peartree. Not sure how long we will stay, the Buckby Flight doesn't reopen from the winter stoppage until the 19th December so we are stuck this side of Braunston for a while yet.
