Stanley House Mellor

... we have had since we arrived. Lots of laughs and reduced to tears in the end. I think the 2 kids may have also enjoyed it.
The Villain from Coronation Street and the star, Aladdin, from Hollyoaks. A pleasure for the ladies in the audience.

Great night.

Due to airline weight restrictions we are only allowed 23kg of luggage each - have they never seen the amount of shoes & home comforts a girl needs for a month away from home??? Tony can make do with one pair of shorts, a t shirt & a change of underwear, but Debs - get real!!!

To make matters worse to take anything over the limit the airline want $50 a ...

... November. All types of food and drink on offer plus many stalls with Christmas decorations. It has been great to hear the Halle Orchestra and Bridgewater Hall has a magnificent acoustic.

Christmas Break

We are really looking forward to the 3 week break at Christmas after such a long term and so much on. Lee and Shane arrive on the 17th, Christmas music in the Cathedral on the 18th and then off to Liverpool for a Christmas Beatles ...

... venue for next years Commonwealth Games - IF and I say this again IF they are ready for it..... Talk to some people and they say no chance, talk to thers and they say it will be ready, we have our reservations - certainly the most important part, the stadia etc will be complete but as for rail links, road infrastructure and everything else that goes with such a high profile event as the Commonwealth Games is concerned - not a chance.. But they don't seem too flustered - it is india after ...

... chicken would have resembled a sleeping child compared with me I was that hyper (caffeine mixed with anticipatory excitement). I could barely write and was definately on turbo speed mode. Survived that and so did my patients, then ventured into town after work to visit the Birmingham/Frankfurt xmas markets (apparently the largest outside Germany). Of course it was dark by the time I got into town (5pm) so all the xmas lights were on and gave ...

This is just to get the ball rolling as it were.
Our aim is to have a life laundry over the next few months. Plan our year long trip through Europe. Sell or pass on to others things we need. Buy and equip a motor home. Produce a photo/video documentary of the trip.

Tow truck 2, turns up at 15:29 and we are off again for the next leg of the journey, Stirling Services to Lancaster Services. This journey takes around 4 hours and I have a nice chat with the driver, Jim all the way. We phone ahead and arrange the next tow truck to meet us at Lancaster at 19:15, guess what? Yes, it wasn't there and I am told it won't be there until 20:15 and it finally arrives at 20:30

... TDi! We are both impressed with the car (although only Trent is driving being over 25!), it has great pick-up and all the mod cons including sat nav which is so detailed and clear it makes driving easy. The drive up north was wonderful, the countryside is beautiful, so much to see! After a few hours we arrived at Mellor, the village we are staying. We pulled into Millstone Hotel and were welcomed into our ...

... bed, but I was getting a local expert to show me around, tell me things that aren't in guide books and show me the places that locals go. I was also getting to see people in their home environment, and it's remarkable how different you are when you're in your hometown working and when you're in a hostel halfway around the world doing whatever you damn well please. My general feeling was, at some point in my life I'd be back in Europe. Places I'd miss I could go back to ...

John took me to Blackpool. He may have wanted to show me a UK beach resort. The street along the beach was full of decorations. I took a picture of his profile in the car. It was just a memory of Blackpool. We were on the way from Preston, where we met his old friend, and John talked about the word "love", because people there used "love" meaning "you" very often, when they talk to someone, like "Good morning, love!". That sounded awkward to him.