Moat House Northampton

With time rapidly dwindling I went down to Banbury way this afternoon to visit my brother et famille before I leave, taking the opportunity to say goobye to two young nephews - one of whom was able to appreciate some of the implications of what I am doing, "But what if you get sick?" he asked. :-)

Back up to Stoke in the late evening. Last day of preparations tomorrow.

... now in Northampton, tomorrow we leave for Dover, and on Friday morning we board the ferry for France. Hurrah! If all goes according to plan :-) We'll let you know how we get on of course.

Having got our hands back on everything we own, we're now able to upload some pictures we took of our time in Norfolk, in case anyone fancies a look. They're below.

Hopefully the next entry will come from France, please cross fingers for us.

... The main line heading to the aiport was diverted, and of course all the signs detailing how to get there were in French! So with my shaky French,and some lovely people's shaky English,a lot of pushing, shoving and general stress we got to the airport!

Which takes me to now, we got back into Luton about 10pm, and we're staying at a nearby hotel overnight. Long bath and big brekkie tomorrow, before heading back into London. We're hoping to drop ...

... I was in need of cough medicine, and we needed another suitcase for all our stuff! Of course we managed to buy other stuff, but not surprising. Milton Keynes is similar to Chaddy or Chermside in terms of size - you can buy everything from there!

Yummy tapas for lunch, then we headed home for a bit of r&r before heading out for the night with Aunty Sue and ...

... pancakes and strong coffee until opening time. I would reccomend anyone go to the Heineken experience - Josh and i were a bit 'oh it's another brewery' but it really is fantastic. Lost of interactive displays, memorabilia and a ride where you 'become the beer' and go through the brewing process - you stand on a moving platform that jerks and rolls and even sprays water at you! You also get a couple of free Heinekens - Josh rated it as better than the ...

... various freaks and oddities on the bus - like the man who had to go into the toilet within half an hour of leaving and have a ciggie - so the bus driver pulled over and said if it happened again he would kick everyone off the bus!

We got back to London around 7am, grabbed a quick artery hardening brekkie and onto the next bus down to Luton, where my family was from. Uncle Jim (my mum's brother) picked us up from the airport and ...

... t pull their finger out and we can’t get in to decorate and make the necessary representations to the council for approval for sub-letting? Do we try to do it from abroad paying someone else to decorate or do we delay departure and potentially mess up our convoy with friends and volunteering plans? We haven’t decided yet what we should do and we are just hoping that it will all play out in time ...

... far we have become acquainted with half the population, 5 lovebirds, 2 cats, one dog and countless sheep, cows, ponies, partridges, and pheasants. The place is truly tranquil. The most noise one hears is either the birds or the hourly church bells. The countryside is gentle and rolling, and the ...

... it was my 1st time to England i left myself open for them telling me their life stories and every little face about the place they could think of. Still, I'd prefer these two when compared to my crazy German/Russian friend. Time seems to be insignificant when your flying. You go to sleep for a while and when you wake up you think "well there mustn't be long to go now" only to find that your still 8 hours from your destination. The cool thing was ...

... fact I gleaned from the info there...The Regent Hotel in Leamington was (at one stage in the 19th Century) the largest hotel in Europe with 100 rooms, but only one bath! Why doesn't that surprise me. :-) Maybe they all had showers (not!) Anyway, back to the "bad" time I'm having. I thought I'd write a little diary of what constitutes a "gayle" day in Stratford. I have avoided this kind of entry up until now, but I really should set the record straight. I wake up about 6 ...