Another dash home, another pile of things to sort out. Managed to get my car into the garage, and had the back brakes repaired, fortunately under £100. Finally, 23rd July, managed to pick up Harry Potter 7, started reading 7.30pm, finished 3.30am (well, I had to find out, and no, I won’t be writing any spoilers (although watch out for some in the link), although I’m not quite sure what I think of the ending…). Right, well there might be some more to add here, but otherwise my plans before headi [View Full Entry]

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Arrived at Sean & Izzy’s house just as the boys were being put to bed - they’re not quite sure who “that lady” is, but happy enough! Chilled out with some food, a chat and some TV (bit of Eastenders and something strange, can’t remember what it was, but it involved the woman from the BT adverts). Friday got up early to head into Birmingham itself, trusting that my GPS would get me to the Thai Embassy at One, Victoria Square. It did - expensive parking there, £2.40 for [View Full Entry]

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Sunday, up pretty early to get on the road to Manchester, but seems like a nice day for it… she says until about half-way up someone tips a bucket out upstairs and it does not let up. Traffic on the motorway is down to 50mph, with very poor visibility. Quite tiring to drive into… at Sandbach I decided I wanted to pull off even though there was only about half-hour to go, and aquaplaned rather close to a concrete wall! Got over that, and headed to Stockport to catch up with Tam and Andy for 2pm lunch… ended up with a [View Full Entry]

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This was a great couple of weeks, as we finally, finally have broadband, and wireless broadband at that, so not quite sure where the weeks disappeared, but lots of 4am finishes as I worked my way through a number of things that had been piling up, and did lots of trip research. Got plenty of time on Facebook which I find great for keeping in touch, and making me feel that I am not entirely isolated in the middle of the country. Asked i-to-i for the monies back, and then came up with my ultimate RTW trip. Decided to go for [View Full Entry]

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In all the years I have lived in Winchester, I’ve never really made an effort to go to the Hat Fair, but this time I was there at the right time, so we went in on Saturday, meeting Paula over a Cornish Pasty. Plenty going on in the city centre, and, it’s classic, I stand still for 5 minutes (this was literally) and run into 5 people I know, and keep bumping into people as I move around… I love Winchester! Got to see a Unicyclist, the veg [View Full Entry]

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Got caught in a bit of traffic, so a bit longer to reach Ed’s than expected, so he was starving by the time I turned up, so we headed straight out, on foot, to Frankie & Benny’s for a very nice meal (I seem to keep saying that, there’s lots of nice food everywhere I go), with a bit of wine, and another good catch up - our family really doesn’t see each other than often! Back to the house for a bit of a look on Facebook and caught up with Hannah’s wedding pictures - lots of them! Then cr [View Full Entry]

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The children were very excited to see me, bouncing all over the place, as soon as Rob walked in the door “Daddy, Aunty Bex is here”! Had a very nice meal courtesy of Bea, and a chance to catch up. Had a look over the new house - work in progress, looks like there’s plenty to do… Crashed out early with a bit more Harry Potter - getting there! Next day, rang i-to-i, found out that the Vietnam TEFL programme had been pulled for good, which was a bit of a downer. I decided I didn’t want to make a decision [View Full Entry]

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Beautiful, my GPS expired at Exeter, so had to do the final bit on my own. Had a pretty reasonable journey on the way down, especially considering I had been sent pretty close to Glastonbury! Got stuck for ages on the road not that far from the Eden Project, but eventually found my way to Penzance and down a narrow, potted track - impressive looking building! Managed to park, and made way inside to be greeted by enthusiastic Jon Laurie, our trainer for the weekend with Travellers' Tales… people were either [View Full Entry]

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Saturday 16th: Awoke and ready in time, a good run down to Dover (yes, Dover!) meeting Linda and Jim at the services and then on the ferry in plenty of time. I don’t particularly like sitting inside on the ferry, so headed off to find the outside after a quick look in the “duty free”. Decided to get some mini perfumes on the way back to meet the Hitchens, having seen Calais slowly approaching from the distance, and also picked up some Euros! Then drove back across (and I was right about one bit it was not far from Le Havre) [View Full Entry]

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Another brief stop-over in Winchester, catching up with Karen, re-reading Harry Potter, going onto Campus to enable downloading of all my emails! Caught up with Helen, and went round to Jon & Kate’s for dinner - lovely - it was hard work, we were experimented on with chocolate meringue… I’ll take that kind of experimentation any day! Into town to pick up some more travel bits and pieces, then out to Jeanette’s for a BBQ, which was relaxing, fun, and a chance to catch up with people! Off to the Hitchens late Friday evening, ready f [View Full Entry]

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