Best of the British

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At the end of October, Jamie and I took a trip back to the UK to see his family. His mum had a very special birthday coming up and we wanted to be there to celebrate with her. And if you're going to go all that way, you may as well make it into a proper holiday!

We flew into London, and caught the train straight down to Cornwall to spend some time with Jamie's brother Ben and his girlfriend Shell. They've just bought a house in Truro, and we were very excited to be their guests. They have a lovely pad right down by the river - we were very jealous of their new home! Jamie and I are getting a bit closer to settling down these days and I'm quite envious of anyone who has more than one set of sheets!

Jamie's mum and Ken also came down to Truro for a few days, so we spent our time exploring the local beaches, and chilling at Ben & Shell's house. It was fantastic! Shell and Ben were fantastic hosts and we felt right at home.

We also spent a few days at their dad's house in Bissoe, which was lovely and spent time hiking along the old coastal paths. We had a night out in Truro with Shell and Ben, where I managed to disgrace myself by drinking too much and rolling around in the mud (unintentionally) on the way home. I woke up with mud in my hair and a new resolve to NEVER drink again. Although in my defense, it was a very steep hill, and I was wearing heels!! If I'd known we'd be going cross country, I would have worn something more sensible...

After a week in Cornwall, we travelled up to Southampton for the birthday celebrations. Wendy's birthday was on the Wednesday, so we had a lovely day with just the family, and then on Saturday it was the big party. Ken set up a gazebo in the back garden, and the boys (Jamie, Ben & Ken) spent the days before the big event in the "man cave" working on a special birthday surprise. We got a bit nervous when the words "fireworks, petrol, and blast deflector shield" were used in the same sentence, but it all turned out well on the day, and nobody lost any limbs, which is always a good thing on birthdays. They had built a wooden frame to hold 50 fireworks, which they planned to let off in one big simultanous display. In the end there were 3 displays, but it was pretty impressive.

Later in the week, Ben, Shell, Jamie and I decided to spend a day exploring in London. We got up obscenely early (6am!) and caught the bus from Southampton. While Ben, Shell and I dozed on the bus, Jamie set about designing the most efficient itinerary he could - "Jamie's Whirlwind Tour of London - How to See All of London in a Day". He was true to his word and we did manage to see almost everything - Buckingham Palace, Downing Street, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, Westminster Cathedral, Big Ben, Tate Gallery, London Eye, Covent Garden, Millenium Bridge, Oxford Street...it was a whirlwind, but a whole lot of fun as well. The highlight was probably the Tate Gallery, where Jamie got told off on 3 separate occasions by gallery staff...

After a week or so in Southampton, it was off to Dublin to see my best friend Amy...

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