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

Diary management!

This part of the summer is definitely typified by me trying to remember who is supposed to be where and when. Abi likes to be off doing something with someone while Izzy is happier to know she's close to home and so for the last week they've gone their separate ways. Abi has been down in Somerset making the most of Ben and Laurie being about. From what I can tell she's having a lovely time. Apart from the covert phone call one evening to tell me she was 'starving'  (Mum was cooking for the hordes and so it had been delayed), I've barely heard from her. The few calls I have had have very quickly ended in "can I go now" like I'm making her speak to me! Today she switches from Mum and Dads to a night or two with Kerrie - not sure who is more excited! Izzy didn't want to be away for that long so she opted not to go. She's very conscious that Abi and Laurie are joined at the hip when together and Ben has his own things he wants to do so she ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Blame the jet stream...

Shed prep, with oversight from the dogs Apparently we have the jet stream to blame for the truly awful weather we are having right now. I blame our builder - if he had got his act together and sorted out Glenn's workshop roof as he promised, sods law the sun would be shining from dawn to dusk. Instead it's still pouring every half hour and Glenn is constantly worried about how much water is coming though the roof / walls / floor etc. Apparently he 'literally' just needs to put the ridge on the top and the gully down the side and it will all be fixed. We are literally at the point of wanting to do him some actual bodily harm. The moment he disappears the better. This week he was also literally going to clad the office ("done") and has failed everyday to turn up and do it (which in my book is literally not "done"). He was also going to have Gary come and finish the electrics (not done), whack down the paving slabs (not done), render the last of the bri...
Post a Comment
Read more

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