Apologies for not having posted for a while.
It’s because I’ve been busy!
Here are just a few of the things I’ve been up to…..
SUNDAY 14th OCTOBER
FORAGING FOR MUSHROOMS
I contacted the East Yorkshire Fungus Group (how did we ever manage without the internet?), and was keen to find some local mushrooming sites and learn a bit more about fungus. I have been mushroom hunting with dad quite a few times, but we mostly sticking to the easily recognisable and edible mushrooms such as boletus edulus. The mushroom season is quite short – late autumn, and very dependent on the weather. This year has been a bad year for mushrooms! Nevertheless, always worth a look!
We met up with approx 6 others and went hunting at the army barracks in Leconfield. We had to gain special security clearance (hunting for mushroom? Must be nutters!) and have the cars 
searched by men in uniform with big, scary guns (no photos allowed!).
We didn’t find much, but the group got very excited at the tiniest, most insignificant piece of fungus! James and I wondered if we had done the right thing? None of the mushrooms found were edible, but everyone got very excited anyway. The prettiest mushrooms were the bright orange coloured ‘wax caps’ which were nice. James and I found some bushes of sloes and decided that was more exciting than miniscule, non-edible fungus, so we picked enough to make 2 bottles of sloe gin which should be ready just in time for Christmas! So, you start along one journey and end up taking another. Always keep an open mind! They were a nice, enthusiastic bunch, so I might go out with them again. I’d really like some mushrooms to eat, rather than look at under a microscope though!
6th OCTOBER
GRAND DESIGNS EXHIBITION
James and I had planned to go this exhibition since early on in the year. We are both fans of the TV programme and it’s great to talk, plan and dream of building your own home (even though it mostly seems fraught with problems and stress). Next best thing, go to the exhibition. It was at the NEC, Birmingham, which took us approx 2 hours to drive there. The show was divided into 4 areas – building, interiors, kitchen & bathrooms, gardens. It was abit like the Ideal Home Exhibition but not quite as big (which is good as it meant that we could get around the whole show in a day) and cutting out lots of the rubbish from the IHE. We had great fun and were amazed and tempted by some of the ideas and products on show. Eco products were very popular and should definitely could be more easily encorporated into more people’s existing homes than they realise! We tasted food, sampled drinks, sat on chairs and beanbags, listed to contemporary sound systems, tried out some gadgets, smiled at all the bizarre stuff, did lots of people watching, walked for about 7 hours and most of all had loads of fun!
5th OCTOBER
NEW FAMILY MEMBER ARRIVES
Introducing MANNY !
This was Lydia’s present for her 17th birthday the previous week from Toni. In fact she just got a cage and some accessories for her birthday as she was allowed to choose her own hamster from the pet shop in Beverley. Lydia chose a very sweet, very fluffy, male hamster who was ready for collection on Friday 5th October. He seems to have settled in well and is very tame and friendly. Enjoy the photos! He is SO CUTE
!
WEEKEND AWAY
21st – 24th SEPTEMBER
Lydia, James and I went down to Weybridge for a great party at my friend, and ex-boss, Rowena’s house as a get together for all the old crew who worked at her design studio.
I knew Rowena would have a houseful and several people staying already and my sister Mia has gone off travelling (and has cats would prevent me from staying with her anyway). As dad and Jacqui also have cats, I usually stay with their next-door neighbour when I visit them, but as we were coming for a party elsewhere, and it wasn’t me alone visiting, I decided it would be fun to book into a local hotel for James and me. I got a very good deal for 3 nights B&B at the Innkeepers Lodge, which is the Ashley Arms hotel opposite Walton station. Good location to walk to Rowena’s and for going off visiting and exploring! We travelled down Friday night and left on Monday.
Lydia wasn’t going to come as she has a Saturday job which she couldn’t miss, but at the last minute, luckily she arranged it so she could come afterall. She stayed at Rowena’s and had fun with Grace & Florrie coming in to wake her in the morning for a play! However, she did need to be back for college on Monday and needed to travel back on Sunday which caused a few problems as all the train seats were booked. I managed to book her a place on a National Express coach….more of that later!
SATURDAY 22nd SEPT
LONDON AND PARTY
As the weather was mild and sunny, and we were staying just by the station, we decided to take the opportunity to visit London for some sightseeing. Lydia wanted to come too, so we collected her from Ro’s house and travelled the 25 mins by train to Waterloo. We had a quick look where the Eurostar trains were heading off to Paris, and then headed towards the London Eye on the South Bank. We hadn’t pre-booked, and the good weather made it a popular tourist attraction, so we just looked and then moved on. There are always loads of fun and interesting things to see for free in London. Just watching the statues (that were really people) and the street entertainers, plus the wonderful London skyline that can be seen so well from the Thames was fun. We avoided all the big shops and tourist attractions, but walked along the South Bank past the National Theatre, along to Gabriel’s Wharf for a quick look at the quirky shops, looked at lovely handmade crafts in the shops at the Oxo Tower, stopped for lunch at EAT and sat in the sun. James entertained us with an impromptu finger puppet show!
Towards the Tate Modern, with a quick stop in the shop to look at all the lovely arty stuff, and an impressive glance at the millennium bridge (aka the wobbly bridge). Past Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre (really must give that a go some time) and got caught up in a crowd filming a zombie movie!! All weird stuff in London is quite normal! Past the Golden Hind (replica) ship at Southwark, and up to Hays Galleria with the amazing ship sculpture.
Towards Tower Bridge passing the impressive GLA building and managing to photograph an escaped Yorkshireman, obviously looking for his lost whippet! More weird sculptures, this time a HUGE swimmer in the grass. Why? Across the very beautiful Tower Bridge, taking a glance at the Tower of London on the other side and then catch the No. 15 bus (heading straight for the top deck), past St. Paul’s Cathedral, and hop off near Covent Garden, and be tempted to buy a few items as souvenirs and presents. Walking back along the Strand and back over the river, back to the National Festival Hall (with more weird statues) and back to Waterloo. Phew! What a lot of walking and what a lot to see. A good day was had by all. Just time now for a quick 
shower and change to feel refreshed for the party!
It was really great to see everyone and catch up on all their news. Everyone looked gorgeous and glamorous! We had so much fun and time went so quickly that I forgot to take any photos! Sorry. James and I left the party at about 2am (no, we weren’t the last to go!) to walk the 25 mins back to the hotel and a well deserved sleep.
SUNDAY 23rd SEPT
CARS & PLANES
Lydia needed to be back home today, but James and I were staying on for another day. As it had been impossible to book a train ticket, I had booked instead a coach trip from Heathrow to Hull on a National Express coach. Only a 7 hour journey!! The coach was leaving at 11am so we headed towards Hatton Cross at Heathrow where I knew there was a bus station. We got there with about 20 mins to spare, but after 5 mins or so I realised there was no sign of any National Express coaches so decided to ask someone in a uniform! Oh no, they go from the central coach station between Term 2 & 3. Can’t miss it – follow the signs. With only 15 mins before the only coach of the day left, we dashed back to the car and James raced towards Term 2. What signs?? Still heading towards Term 2, but no idea where we were going and time getting closer and closer to 11am, we stopped in the ‘no stopping’ area outside Term 2. I knew this would get someone’s attention! Sure enough, a man with a high visabilty jacket came over asking us to move and I asked him where was the coach station and how do we get there? Just follow the signs love! But there are no signs!! Well it’s just over there (he said, pointing across several barriers and behind a building). It will only take you 5-10 mins to drive. Help! We don’t have that long! Can we walk it? Yes, but you can’t park here. Ok, Liddi and I got out, with her luggage and legged it across the traffic and through the footpath towards the coach station. James said he would just find somewhere to park and contact me. Thank goodness for mobile phones! We arrived at the coach station. There were about 30 bays for coaches! AAHHH. Asked someone in uniform where the coach for London Victoria should be. Bay no. 23 love! Dashed towards the bay and found that there was no coach. OH NO. We’d missed it! Just to be sure, I asked another uniformed guy if this was where the coach for Victoria should be. He looked at his chart and said “Yes, but unfortunately……(oh no our hearts sunk)…..it’s been delayed by about 10 mins so you’ll have to wait (YIPEE!). Time to get a quick drink (as it had dropped out of Liddi’s bag during the dash across the road) and then wait for the coach. Just as it was due to arrive, James turned up having parked in nearby Term 2 short-term car park. Coach arrived, Liddi got the back seat and all was well. PHEW! Too much stress!!
James and I had then planned to go to Brooklands Museum. We drove to Mercedes World first and met with my friend, Caroline who works there. We joined her for a spot of lunch in the staff canteen and then booked our tickets to the Museum, having agreed to come back to look at Mercedes in more detail later.
Brooklands Museum was great. We saw the film of it’s history – always interesting and impressive! Then went and stood on what’s left of the track banking. Brooklands secured one of the retired concords when they ceased service, which is only fitting as it was the birthplace of the British air industry and Concords were made at British Aerospace’s Weybridge factory. We booked our ‘flight’ and went onboard. It’s surprisingly small, but very impressive nevertheless. It was a great experience. We then looked at old racing cars, bikes, planes, etc before heading back on the short walk to Mercedes World.
It’s a huge impressive place and has every model of Mercedes and every colour. You can touch, sit in and indulge yourself in the fantasy of being a Mercedes owner. Even though I had never felt tempted, by the end of the whole ‘Mercedes experience’ even I was keen! James had booked a trip out with an AMG high performance car, but a bit of a mix-up with the booking meant this didn’t happen. Oh well, we’ll just have to go back another time!
After a great day of fast cars and fun, we had been invited to have dinner at dad’s. Jacqui had just left the day before for 2 weeks in California to celebrate her brother’s 50th birthday, so it was just James, dad and I. Dad had excitedly a delicious gourmet dinner, and the wine was flowing. He then decided to treat us to a little port, which was really a bad idea as we all drunk far too much, but luckily we had booked a taxi back to our hotel. A good end to another fun day!
MONDAY 24th SEPT
RELAXING BY BOAT
After breakfast, we popped into Walton to catch up quickly with the new shops – very impressive!
James wanted to do a boat trip in London, but we agreed that we would be restricted with time as we needed to start our journey back to Yorkshire by mid afternoon, so we decided instead to visit Hampton Court. We arrived, parked, looked at the impressive outside of the building (especially the chimneys) and then saw that a boat was just ready to leave on a mini trip to Kingston-upon-Thames. So we hopped on, and were surprised to find we were the only passengers. A whole boat to ourselves! A lovely leisurely trip along the Thames, looking at the lovely houses and dreaming of a future house by the river! We arrived at Kingston and just had an 1 ¾ hrs before the boat would leave on it’s trip back. Enough time for a bite to eat (delicious) a refreshing shandy (aah) and a quick look around the quayside and into the town. I have spend many, many times in Kingston although it has changed a lot (for the better) over the last few years. James was most enthusiastic and it was good to let him see some more of my home territory.
Then we got the boat back to Hampton Court, and decided there was not enough time to justify the high entrance price. I knew that they were now charging for entry to the gardens, but I wanted to just have a peek. We managed to walk through some of the gardens without anyone asking if we had tickets and then ended up at the café for delicious tea and scones (if a little pricy!). The afternoon, and indeed the whole weekend seems to have just whizzed past and it was time to head back home. Time flies when you're having fun!
Why does the journey home always seem shorter? Actually, it was a bit shorter, nearly 4 ½ hours. It’s amazing what fun you can pack into a weekend!
.JPG)
