Our Happy Easter & how close it was to a scene from Texas Chainsaw Massacre! Highlights incl. The joys of house hunting!!

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Happy Easter everyone!! Hope you all had a lovely long weekend.

Well we are just back from a weekend away visiting some of Susan & Derek’s friends in Newcastle. After a long week of getting up at 5:30am every morning and not getting home until after 7pm it was nice to have a long weekend. Friday it was nice just to relax a little a do some boring things like washing, etc. Also spoke to family and friends from OZ, which was nice. Picked Kate up from work Friday night and headed out to Newcastle with S & D. Stopped somewhere just over the border (can’t remember the name) and got a fish supper, humungous bit of fish EVER, couldn’t even eat it all, VERY yummy though. Got to Pam & Dave’s around 8. Pam and Dave live on a farm, yes that’s right a farm!! Bet you never thought you’d see us 2 city slickers out on a farm, yep neither did we!! Pam & Dave were lovely (different accent again, very broad and they call Newcastle folk 'Jordies'). The weather was nice, didn’t really see much of Newcastle though, Saturday we were up early as we were heading to ‘The Metro’ - the biggest shopping town in the whole of Britain! This place was massive beyond belief; I don’t think we have anything like it in Australia. It has over 10,000 car spaces, it’s own in built amusement park, 2 or 3 shops of everything (which makes it so much easier to get lost), it was crazy - sucked the energy right out of me and ended up with a headache, although the headache might be from my back which is suffering from sleeping on every bed but my own at home %-( It was an experience, didn’t really buy too much, got a couple of VERY WARM sleeping bags - pic attached - and a speaker for my ipod. Kate got a couple of good bargains, we did, however, have possibly the best dessert I have ever tasted, will now have to starve myself for the next few months after this weekend because all we did was eat! It was a warm Apple Caramel Pie, there was also some oversized scones with jam and cream involved from a place called sweet sensations. Oh and did get to see and pat the cutest little lambs and baby goats you’ve ever seen - sooooooo CUTE!! Derek also owns a dog whistle which he has so kindly taken to using and yelling at Kate & I to heel, this includes whilst at the shops and early on Sunday mornings to hurry up and come down to brekky…. Soon he will be sending my dad invoices for keeping and training fees!! Not funny, LOL!!

After we were all shopped out and could walk no longer (that’s enough shopping for me for the next year), we stopped in a little town called ‘Morpeth’ and checked out the town a little, grabbed ourselves a pint and then picked up some Chinese to take back to Pam and Dave’s to sit by the fire with and a bottle of red wine or 2. They thought the Chinese was great but compared to some of the Chinese I’ve had back home it was pretty ordinary. This morning we had a big fresh cooked brekky with very yummy eggs, lol, from one of the chickens right outside the door, can soooo taste the difference! So it was bye bye to Pam, Dave and animals and onto their local butcher (also on a farm, I know, scary hey). Derek had been and gotten meat from this butcher before (VERY FRESH) and suppose to be good, we just didn’t want to drive by our meat along the way, LOL. So we park next to the pond and walk into the ‘butcher shop’ and they are a very strange looking couple, he has 2 eyes that look in separate directions and hands the size of baseball gloves and she has a bit of a limp and google eyes like those black google eyed goldfishes! So all of the orders Derek had from friends and stuff (500 quid worth) wasn’t ready yet, including half a lamb!! It was absolutely freezing and windy and the son comes up on his tractor with a sheep and stops for a chat and invites us in for coffee…. OMG…. This is where I really start thinking chainsaw massacre, dark and dingy farm house, he also had a limp, and I was just waiting for the butcher to walk out with a chainsaw with blood all over his apron, I was just thankful it was daylight so I would have seen him coming. Was sooooo glad to get in the car to begin our journey home!! We did have a good laugh about it though, will possibly have nightmares tonight! The car trip home gave me enough time to feel a little homesick as I knew everyone was at my parents back home for my little bro’s 18th and heading out to party! The Texas Chainsaw farm just didn’t seem to compare at the time, LOL.

So we stopped in at Susan and Derek’s for a quick check of the e-mail and a quick visit to see the puppies, came home and was so not hungry after all the crap we have eaten this wkend. Also saw that the pies lost by a measly 10 points - not to bad but a loss is a loss, can’t wait to watch some footy, I know its sad, but I do miss it big time!! This soccer thing is just so crap! Also have arranged to check out a couple of places for accommodation tomorrow, Thursday night wasn’t very successful, we missed the first one because we were late and the second one was some old Spanish woman who couldn’t speak much Engrish and the fact that the pirate light on the oven didn’t work and that it smelt so bad kinda put me off a little, who’d a thunk?? Oh and it also may have been that the bathroom was the size of a toilet and it was to share with god knows how many other people. So alas, hopefully tomorrow is a little more successful. One of them may cost us a small fortune but we’ll see what it looks and smells like first - it’s all part of the adventure, it’s all part of the adventure %-) Oh and not to scare our parents or anything but they may feel better with us actually living in Edinburgh considering a guy was murdered just around the corner from here yesterday %-/ Oh and booked tickets to see the ‘Pink’ concert perform at Edinburgh Castle, how cool?? Should be good, going with Kirsty and friend Joe.

Well, once again I’ve managed to dribble on and on, and I’m tired and don’t have to work tomorrow but do have the joy of some more house hunting - Kate should probably be lucky she is working - I’m not sure which one’s worst!. Happy Easter to all and to all a good night xoxoxoxo

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