Can you tell us what time the 11.30 train to Glasgow leaves?

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Yikes, I think I may now be seven weeks behind in this travel blog, so there could be a fair bit of catching up to do. That Joey is a bad influence on me! My sincerest apologies to those who have had to find other ways to procrastinate.

Well, after finishing our South American trip with a week in Brazil we flew to London, where I spent four days before meeting up with mother dearest. Highlights include:

- A couple of nights with Claire Bridge which, of course, involved some traditional Team Bridge dancing.
- Spending a day with Elise and Row (who have been living in London for about a year) at the Borough food markets.
- Seeing all the standard tourist attractions, including: Trafalgar Square, West End, Notting Hill, Hyde Park, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey (where Tucky and I even attended a mass - we're so holy!).

The next day when Tucky and I went to the airport to meet Joey, we made a sign with her name on it. It nearly resulted in us picking up the wrong Joey! It wasn't long before an Asian woman approached us and told us she was Joey. We told her she wasn't the right Joey, but she seemed quite insistent that she should come with us. Clearly she also had the nicknames - Joey Joey, J-train, J-Dog, J-Unit, J-Dizzle, J-Phine and a certain one which I won't write, but if you ask the real Joey she may tell you - which we had added to the sign.

Clearly she wasn't the only Joey having problems. Ours, when we finally found her, was obviously a little tired from the long trip. When we asked her how she was feeling she replied, 'I'm fuggered!' Not sure if that was a combination of two words or just a tired slurring of her speech, but she couldn't seem to understand why Tucky and I were looking at her so strangely. After dinner with Tucky we said goodbye to her as she, unfortunately, had to stay in London and begin her job hunting the next day. Luckily she quickly found some bar work just out of London.

The next day only got better in terms of classic Joey quotes. As we were waiting at the train station, she felt the need to ask the woman at the information desk, 'can you tell us what time the 11.30 train to Glasgow leaves?' In Glasgow we met up with some Irish Neeson relatives - Conor and Ann, and their five kids Ciaran, Eimear, Declan, Eoin and Maeve - who were all in Glasgow for Eimear's university graduation. We had a sensational time with them and they were amazingly welcoming and hospitable. The best bits of Scotland include:

- Howell girls and the Neesons going wild at AC/DC! Angus Young sure knows how to put on a show. Was a fantastic night out amongst a massive crowd of - very attractive and ridiculously tattoed - avid AC/DC fans. Made even better by the fact that another Neeson relo (cousin of these Neesons) is the lead singer in the support band, The Answer.
- All heading out again two days later to see The Answer solo show and having a rather large night.
- Days out sightseeing in Glasgow. We thought we were coping pretty well with the Scottish accent until we both misheard Sauchiehall St. as Sucky Ho St. That soon became part of our vocabulary, however, and we had a great time picking out Sucky Hoes (anyone skankily dressed) for the rest of the trip.
- A couple of day trips out of Glasgow led by Conor, the world's greatest tour guide. One day we drove around the very beautiful area of Loch Lomond and up to Glen Coe, and the other to Stirling where we went to a really interesting museum dedicated to William Wallace.
- Hearing Johnny Farnham's You're the Voice in the gift shop at Stirling Castle (the bagpipe solo is quite appropriate).

I absolutely loved Scotland - it's so amazingly green and beautiful. Will definitely have to head back there at some stage to see the Highlands and do some walking. Same with Ireland, where we headed next...

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Photos

Chris goes to church at Westminster Abbey
Don't think we were meant to be taking photos...

Statue in Glasgow
The locals put the traffic cone on his head so often that the police have given up on taking it down

Comments

[Cate85]

did you see any hairy coos?
looks awesome brig, i think we did loch lomond and stirling when we were there, we didn't get to glasgow, we based in edinborough which was ace and i absolutely loved it too. peace and word to your mother x

[Yvette]

Finally, she is alive!!!!!!!!!!! Missed your blogs girl. Joey is back and I'll annoy her later with all the gory details. Keep having fun. Miss you heaps.