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An informal shot
Trying to get a good shot of all the boys together was impossible. A big Hi to all my friends.
It is difficult to think that two weeks have gone by since I returned to Australia and said good bye to so many people. It was a fantastic trip made all the better with everyone making me feel so welcome. I know many of you had a little chuckle about my planned itinerary and thought I was a little too organized but as it turned out it enabled me to see and do so very much and cram a lot into a few days. It was not until I reached my brothers house in Windsor on the evening we flew to Hong Kong that I suddenly ‘hit the wall’ and felt absolutely shattered and felt that I had been on an emotional roller coaster and it had just stopped! I felt I could sleep for a week… a good way to be on a long haul flight as you know you will sleep with little effort, although I have never had much of a problem in that department before!
It was mixed feelings and emotions that greeted me when I walked passed our old house and spied into the front window but
Friends reunite
An evening supper at Nikki's house with girl friends. somehow the fact that it no longer felt like ‘home’ and that someone else was living there I had no longing or desire to still be living there. ‘Home’ now is here, even though we don’t have our familiar belongings around us we all refer to Murphy mansions Mark II as our ‘home’ now. I guess it was a bit like Dr Who traveling through time and visiting a moment in time that is frozen in our memories, so much seems to have remained the same and our friends and family are continuing along their given paths and we have taken a detour and branched off on a different line!
How I loved all our chats catching up on every-ones news and listening to your future plans and hopes, everyone spoilt me with wonderful meals and delicious desserts; Paul’s Meringue Fruit Special was a sight for sore eyes as was my sister in laws chocolate cake! Yummy!! I ate too much and enjoyed every mouthful and now have to go on a serious diet, a lady who lunches and drinks coffee all day long very quickly puts on the pounds!
I have so many wonderful memories from my
Four in the bed
Birthday cards and pressies on Dads birthday visit and look back fondly at all the great moments. Nikki and I went to Dublin to celebrate her birthday and walked around the streets on a bitterly wet and windy day dodging rain and puddles and seeking refuse in coffee shops and museums. The funniest thing was watching Nikki dry her shoes back at the hotel with a hair-dryer! We also enjoyed a little bit of retail therapy, all good girl trips out should have one of those, along with a traditional Irish Meal and Music.
The trip to Poland with Alex, Anne, Cieran and Dominic was also another highlight of the trip especially meeting up with Cieran after eight months apart. It was just the best moment spotting him waiting for us at the airport after so long. The weather could not have been better and the sun shone with blue skies all the time, the city of Krakow was amazing and offered photo shots on every corner, a beautiful old city steeped in history and many of the buildings having survived both wars all had their own stories to tell. We wondered the streets in the Old Medieval Quarter and the Jewish Quarter along with the
Nikki and Hilary in Dublin
A photo call in the garden in between the rain! Castle and Ghetto south of the river. We even managed a trip to the Salt Mines and Auschwitz, a sobering place for anyone and a stark reminder of the horrors of the holocaust, some images will remain with me forever.
Another highlight of my visit was lunch at Ask when Helen and I met up with friends from Priors Court School for lunch, we sat for hours chatting and laughing it was wonderful. Then in the evening Nikki invited all the girls around for supper at her house to catch up on everyone’s news, it was like deja-vu a year on when we all got together at Iris’s before I left for Aus.
Meeting up with family for pub lunches when Seb and Tristan arrived was also lovely as we were able to chat over a pub meal about our thoughts and future plans along with updating our photo album with the latest snap shot!
Returning also highlighted other issues that still are not resolved and still cause heart ache and sadness and time had to be spent building up a better understanding behind our move to Brisbane and finding coping strategies to cope with the
Helen and Nick
A reunion at Ask for lunch with colleagues from Priors Court School huge distances we have between us for the rest of the year. My heart ached especially having to say good bye to my parents whose health is failing and who find the everyday chores in life harder to do. I wish there was an easy answer to make the hurt go a way and I guess it will be something that they will never really come to terms with. I shall just have to come over to the UK more often and visit as much as I can. My brother and sister in law are great and visit often with gorgeous Isabel, we just need to work on implementing some support structure to cover all eventualities.
Thank you once again to everyone who got in touch with me whilst over in the UK once again I have so many wonderful memories, Libby and Tim for their Alfresco hospitality, Denise and Debbie for an interesting luncheon conversation, Alison for dropping in after a four day course in Basingstoke on a detour home, Teresa and Stuart for your impromptu visit with the children, Marcel and Zuzanna for sharing your wedding photos with me, Audrey and Harry for the delicious meal and
At the foot of the Castle, Krakow
A walk along the river to the castle amongst the cherry blossom trees. London Irish shirts, Beccy for your wonderful chat sitting at the kitchen table over looking your beautiful garden, to Lucy and her news about becoming a grandma in October and Jacky, who helped me research for mobile hairdressers and gourmet food suppliers who deliver to the home! Most of all though to Cieran who introduced us to the lovely Stacy and took us into his home in Plymouth, slept 5 of us in one room and then took us to his college studios for a photo shoot, all such fun.
I think I need another holiday to recover from this one!! I would not have missed any of it for the world.
Thank you everyone, here’s to the next one?! Perhaps we will be entertaining some of you very soon in Brisbane?
Lots of love Hilary x
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