Sunny Scunny and the BIG surprise!!

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Welcome to Sunny Scunny!! We've now been in England for just over a week, and it was time to surprise Mischa's Nana on her 80th birthday with our arrival.....but it wasn't all as planned!!
So, Monday 1st December is Mischa's nana's birthday, so the plan the night before was to go up with Jeff and Lara and Cam to celebrate and surprise her all in one go, but when we woke up the morning we were going to leave, we woke to icy roads, closed motorways and not much chance of making it up in the car. We were still planning on going and staying for a few nights though, so we managed to find a way using the trains, only changing trains twice. It was also a lot quicker than normal, so we headed off to try and get up there before they shut down. The first train went well, then the second train was a bit late, but then when we arrived at Sheffield, we arrived to a lot of cancelled trains. After 3 previous Scunthorpe trains were cancelled, we eventually heard a train going there on another platform, and so jumped on, hoping that it would still leave. Luckily for us, it did!! And so we arrived at the train station, planning on getting a cab to the house. But, as there was more ice and snow than anything else, no taxi's were running, so it was finding a public bus (lucky it was running!!) and then walking down snow covered streets to the house. We loved it!! Jumping through the snow, coming up to our knees. And then, when we arrived, Mischa's nana was stunned that we were there!! (She recognised Jess before Mischa!!) It was great!! The rest of the day was pretty much spent inside, keeping warm, and then having some takeaway Chinese that was delivered in the middle of a blizzard!! Another day done, and we are officially over half-way on our trip!!
Thursday 2nd December and Friday 3rd December
We stayed at Mischa's Nana and Pete's place for Thursday and Friday, not doing too much as it was very cold, but lots of snow. We did play out in the snow a fair bit, going for walks throwing plenty of snow-balls at each other, sliding around (on our feet) on the roads covered with 5cms of ice, we went to the local hill to slide down it on a plastic bag (with Mischa making a meal of a knee attempt and instead somersaulting down the hill), having a fair few hot chocolates, making a giant snow man the traditional way (rolling a snow ball around the snow, compacting it and then rolling it again - takes forever!!), doing some snow angels and in the end, having a load of fun. We also went into town a few times, including into Scunthorpe, but most of the shops were shut (or about too) and it was just so slippery!! The whole of England was shutting down, and unfortunately, this meant on Friday (the night of the party!!), everyone from all over couldn't make it, the peas' and pies' got stuck somewhere, the band couldn't get through and even family couldn't get there. By the end of the day though, we had managed to organise someone to cook some curry and kept the DJ for a bit longer than usual, so we headed off to celebrate!! The day before, there were 130 people coming, but impressively 60 people managed to make it!! Including the other surprise, which was Lara and Cam were in the country too!! So Nana had a wonderful night, with dancing, curry and cake (what more could you want??) We had booked a number of rooms at the local Travelodge, so ended up there at midnight, and off we went to bed, ready to head back to Lichfield in the morning for the last couple of days in England!!

Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th December
This morning was very much a sleep-in, before dropping Lara and Cam at Nana's place for an extra night (that changed quickly though) and then after a cuppa and some goodbye's, we headed off back to Lichfield. It was beautiful driving through the snow covered fields, and as we headed south, the snow was still there, you could just see more and more grass coming through, and then we got to traditional English weather, rain and cloud. By the time we got back to Jeff's place, there was a phone call to say that trains were cancelled from Scunthorpe for Sunday, so Lara and Cam were on the train already back to Lichfield. So we waited for them, and when they finally arrived, we all headed off (Lara, Cam, Jeff, Heather, Des, Mischa and Jess) off to find somewhere to eat on a Saturday night. We eventually ended back at Wetherspoons Pub. Then, it was a nice stoll back, watched the final of I'm a Celebrity....Get Me Out of Here, some football highlights and by then it was midnight, so off to bed!!
Sunday started much the same as all other days, with a sleep-in, followed by a bit of getting ready for packing, a nice walk into town to grab a European phrasebook for the next two weeks and then a nice big lunch back at home. Lara and Des were going to a 'Meat Loaf concert in Birmingham, so we said goodbye to them, and now we are just about to get ready to pack for the next part of our adventure!! We have a flight tomorrow morning at 6:45am to Paris, and after that it is Italy for a week and then Austria for a week, but we will update you on those days as we go, as we have LOADS planned!! Goodbye, enjoy!!

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