Summer Holidays pt. I

Got off to a shakey start with a day trip to scummy Newport to renew my passport- a day that involved traffic, roadworks, misleading directions from the Passport Office, a car key that refused to lock the car, mythical car-electrics workshops, a diversion to Ikea Bristol, and projectile travel sickness to round things off! (Thank the Lord for the couple of hours of fun in EzeeePlay!) The same week, my Granny died. Thankfully, we had my lovely friend Claire staying with us that week, who had a calming influence on us all, and kept things chirpy. Things perked up with a lovely Saturday afternoon spent with The Mayfields, eating the contents of their belated freezer and playing Trivial Pursuit. Then a great family church service on the Rec. in the centre of Carterton.

The following week we spent a completely wonderful few days in Aberystwyth with our special friends, Dave, Rhiannon, Sam & Oscar. We went to the beach, met kittens and an exuberant puppy on the farm, went for lovely walks with Smokey the dog, played with water balloons, bounced on the trampoline for hours on end, and generally enjoyed all being together. I can't remember the last time I laughed so much, it was just what we all needed. Oddly, my Granny's funeral was only a few miles away, so they even amused the kids for us while we went to the service! I was grateful, because I found it much more emotional than I had expected. Overall it was a very positive service, where even her family learnt new things about her personality and her life, beautifully concluded by her choice of 'What a Wonderful World' to close. And thanks to Phenergen, we even had a fairly pleasant journey home at the end of an emotional day.

A few days of mooching, an MOT, fun trips to Cotswold Wildlife Park and Bounce with Joe and Emma, birthday tea with The Mayfields, and a fair amount of packing, planning, and panicking on my part made up the following week, then it was off to France for our first-ever family holiday...


>Photos when Blogger stops messing me around!<