London Calling

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Our London Adventures

It has been 16 days and not only have we been in the same country and city but we have slept in the same bed for all 16 days, what a novel concept for the wondering travelers.

Not surprisingly, we have not had a moments rest, well that is not entirely true as a good friend of ours got us addicted... to.....The West Wing...Even though we ran around like the blue ass flies, we still managed to get through one and a half series..

Nathan Lucas Freeman - Aah he's so cute

Now apart from seeing Steve's parents, and of course all our friends, the person we wanted to see the most was the newest member of the family - Nathan. On our first day back he brought his mother and came to visit and spend the afternoon with us. He was naturally very cute, but also well behaved as he happily played on his play mat whilst Stephen half read the paper and half played with him. He even stayed awake for part of the family Friday night dinner.

Operation Hen

There are certain tasks one has to complete as a bridesmaid. Jan's first task when she got back, was to organise Lara's Hen weekend, which was to occur on the 9/10th Feb. So with not much time on her hands, off she went into "Operation Hen Weekend mode". Together with a little help from some friends, 13 girls were summoned together in Belsize Park, to eat some food, drink some alcohol and dress Lara in silly hen gear. Unfortunately due to the fire in Camden (we had nothing to do with it, we promise) we did not have the opportunity to show Lara off in her gorgeous hen outfit, but nevertheless fun was had by all.

Seeing friends

We spent most of our time in London eating out at every opportunity in order to catch up with friends, (not good for the waist line or the wallet). We were very lucky to see most of them, even if it was only for a few hours at a time. We are sorry if we did not manage to catch up with you. We will be available on skype while in SA, if you want our details, please let us know.

Jan at the gym

As most of you know Jan is a bit of a gym addict and after all the walking and hiking we had been doing in various countries, she had to maintain her level of fitness. So on day 1 of arrival back in the country, we walked to virgin active, with Nathan and Leigh in tow, where she signed up for a month, even though we were only going to be in the country just over two weeks. So in order to make the membership worth it, she literally had to go every day. And yes that is what she did, either first thing in the morning or before dinner at night, in fact during the whole time we were in London, she only missed going twice.

Steve at the auction

On the first Monday back in the UK, Stephen decided that the best way to catch up with all his work colleagues, was to go to the auction and help out. If he had received £5 for every time he was told he lost weight or was looking thin, he would have been able to go traveling for the rest of the year. Clearly work life had kept him nice and plump, but no worries a little bit of home cooking did the trick too. It was a very surreal experience for him as he had now been replaced and he kept wanting to tell someone how to do his job.

Mini toe Operation

Steve had been having some trouble with his big toe during out trip, it actually was rather gross, as puss was coming out of it. Although it had not gone green and we figured it did not need to be chopped off, he did have to do something to fix the situation. So a trip to the Podiatrist for a slice and dice of his ingrown toenail and all was fixed. However he is not allowed to run for two weeks and is banned from the beach for at least a week. Oh well, Jan will just have to get a suntan all on her own. (Please notice the lack of sympathy!)

Sunny South Africa

Well we have now arrived in Sunny South Africa, or should I say, Cape Town. We are staying at Jan's aunt, right on the beachfront, what could be more wonderful.

Well till our next blog, which will include all our African Adventures.

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