We started the day in style with breakfast outside on the patio in the fresh air, listening to the birds sing. First location for the day was Cividale, the closest town to Carlo’s house in Torreano. Cividale is what I’d describe as a typical Italian town, perhaps mainly for the architecture but also the narrow walkways between the tall very old buildings, with their shutters and flower boxes. They had recently done some restoration work on the town and found on one building that under the surface was ancient paintings on the walls, probably dating back 100s of years. After looking through the town we walked down the ‘Devil’s Bridge’, a grand old stone bridge over the beautiful Natisone River. The river was stunning, with steep cliffs down to the very clear blue water below. We ... read more

The week started off well, with Brendan cooking the flat a yummy dinner, and also being cheap-movie-Tuesday, we all went down to the ‘Muppet Theatre’ at the Notting Hill for a movie. However… it was Thursday that turned out to be THEE eventful day…. On my way to work it started snowing - very exciting! plus I also managed to catch my early train - a great start to the day :) I went to the supermarket after work, and got my basket full of goodies, but when I got to the checkout, I found my handbag had opened and realised my wallet had been stolen!! I couldn’t believe it! - I looked everywhere around the supermarket and couldn’t find it! - with no thanks to the rather unhelpful security guy. Leah came down to help ... read more

We got up early on Friday morning, and caught the bus down to Paddington Station. We grabbed a few supplies for the trip and found Beth plus the rest of our tour group, bumping into Klaus on the way (on a different tour). We started on our journey to Holyhead in Wales, picking up Nicola (friend from our Edinburgh trip) and some others. We only just caught the 2.15pm ferry sailing to Dublin Port, which if we had missed, we would have had to wait for the next sailing in the morning!. The boat trip took about 3.5 - 4 hours, which we spent eating, watching cricket and wandering around the large ship, and bumped into Klaus a few times. We arrived in Ireland without any passport control (!?), and drove into central Dublin to our ... read more

With both Irene and I having Birthday’s so close, it was party season at the Chippenham house! On Wednesday it was Irene’s birthday, so Leah and I gave her an early morning wake up call, singing ‘Happy Birthday!’ with a chocolate cake, candles, balloons and party poppers! The next logical step was to go up stairs and have the chocolate cake for breakfast. After such a sugar-filled morning, I was surprised when Michael said that I had been so quiet at work this morning that he thought I was out on site today! I meet Leah after work, and we got dolled up to meet Irene and friends in Covent Garden for her birthday dinner at the lovely Sofra restaurant, trying more random food, not really knowing what was what. I was very adventurous while ... read more

Before I knew it, the infamous day had arrived. I’m officially 25! However, I don’t appear to be having a quarter life crisis yet, so I guess ‘so far so good’. I woke up early on Friday (like 5.30am! - perhaps something to do with all the chocolate from the night before) and waited for my family phone call from NZ to wish me happy birthday. I spent the morning opening my cards and presents from various corners of the world, each thing delight to receive. It’s nice to know at least some people haven’t forgotten your existence! :) I made my way to work with all my baked goodies, and of course went to The Bell for our Friday Thai intake. I left work early to meet Leah at Victoria Train Station to catch the ... read more