Skip to main content

Far flung places

So, where did the last few weeks go then? I know, it's the time of year when everything speeds up beyond light speed to warp speed and you just have to go with it. So what have we been up to? The biggest thing about the last 2 weeks was that last weekend I did my charity trek for work. It was, as they say - epic - possibly for all the wrong reasons! The adventure started when we spilled out of the Monarch 'Hen / Stag party flight' where we were the only people not half cut before the flight to get on a bus with 40+ colleagues to head for the hills beyond Malaga. Everyone was inevitably hungry so we pulled into a service station and of course the effect of the sun meant pretty much everybody had a drink.... or two - start as you mean to go on it seemed. The first and last night we were staying in the Spanish equivalent of Fawlty Towers. The 2 star hotel served us what turned out to be one of the funniest meals I've had in long time. Everything was beige and literal - if it said mushrooms on the menu, that's what you got. The puddings were something to behold, or at least decipher - who knows what they were meant it be but they seemed to be the same pudding, just served in different shapes! For breakfast we were all told to be there at 8am, only to fond a solitary waiter toasting individual bread rolls one by one - that was it - not the best way to start a long walk!


The walking itself was amazing - stunning views that go on forever, hot weather and decent climbing. we walked through blistering heat (literally for some) and snow covered paths, up to the 3 highest peaks in Spain. On nights 2 and 3 we slept in a mountain refuge - the best way to describe this is an exercise in binding through mutual adversity. 85 beds, 6 toilets and 4 hot showers. At least it made Fawlty Towers an attractive proposition. Despite all of this I had a great time, made some brilliant new friends and was very grateful to see my bed when I finally made it home (5 hour delay in airport).


While I was away Glenn and the girls went to the annual school campout - Thornfest. It's fair to say that in a perfect world Glenn would not have stepped foot into the grounds for this activity but he had no choice and both Abi and Izzy loved their evening out. In the end Izzy slept in Mia's tent and Grace slept in ours (dogs piled onto the bed for extra warmth!). Glenn admitted he'd done worse (and appeared to sleep amazingly well - maybe just the topping up of previous day's alcohol?!) and so it was all ok. I suspect it's still on me to do any repeat of this next year though.


This weekend we have had Amanda and the boys staying while Alex went off to a festival with dog in tow. The kids as ever immediately gelled, although Ben is getting too cool for school and is keeping his distance a bit more. This does mean poor Izzy gets side-lined as it's the normal Abi and Laurie versus the world - those two were clearly separated at birth. We took the 3 of them (Ben came with us) riding on Sunday which they enjoyed, and Amanda, Ben and I did gardens and a big lunch - smiles all round. We will continue to make the most of them all getting on so well for as long as we can - I can't believe that Ben goes up to secondary school this September - the teenage years are just round the corner - our babies will be babies no longer in just a heartbeat.


The weather is truly awful at the moment so we are all looking forward to France - just 3 weeks away - yippee!!!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ypres

Walking around the lake in Ypres while waiting for the rugby to finish! A wet Monday evening after a lovely long weekend away in Ypres - just the two of us and just what I needed after what has been a relatively stressful few months of decision making. The decision is now made however and on Monday I resigned my job in order to join a new company in January. This will be the same role, but a company that hopefully offers more long term stability than my current one. It's been hard going through the initial round of telling people.Despite only being there for 7 months I've made some good friends and very quickly become established and everybody who I've told has been happy for me but very sad that I'm going - it hasn't made it easy. I do feel like I've been through the mill a bit this year - what with leaving EY, ramping up to a big new role, finding out it probably didn't have the longevity I was looking for and then going through the process of finding ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Cough, cough

Izzy - can't do a photo without rude finger gestures It's fair to say that the last couple of weeks have been rough. I managed to get the cough Mum had a while back and it has been horrible! Both Dad and Glenn seemed to get a very mild version of it but Mum and I got the full dose and I can safely say that it has been a stark reminder of just how bad a viral infection can be. It also illustrates the whole Covid experience - some get it worse than others. For me it has meant that for over 2 weeks I have had the worst cough which has left me unable to sleep properly. I still can't sleep lying down fully, and have to be propped up on pillows on my back which is not my favoured sleeping position! It has also meant that Glenn has spent the last 10 days in the spare room because I have been coughing so badly he is unable to sleep in the same room. Thank goodness we didn't all have it - we'd have shaken the house to its foundations! It has also meant that I have been exhau...
Post a Comment
Read more

Welcome Albert James!

So this week has been full of new things - Jess and Chris have welcomed Albert James Wilkinson Rayner to the family, a tad early but all doing well apparently (and so cute!!), I started my new job, Abi has her new shed and Dad got sorted on a phone that wasn't invented before the kids were born!! I always knew this week was going to be full on and it certainly has been. The first thing I had to do was try and sort out my diary which had been filled from dawn to dusk by my predecessor with meetings. I decided to set out as I mean to go on and immediately took out those that started before 9am. While I can get into  the office for 8am , it's a pain and requires me to be on the 6:30am train which is just a bit much every day (stating the obvious). I then made it clear that we don't need to be joined at the hip for the next 4 weeks which is a sensitive process - even though he is retiring it's hard to let go and he is understandably keen that the team are looked after. ...
Post a Comment
Read more