And so endeth another UK trip ...

WOW is it really over already ???

Seems once Wednesday hit last week it was just down hill from there ...  actually no Thursday was a brilliant day at Meadowhall with JJ... and dinner with the boys after at Chiquitos ... awesome ... ;)

But from Friday 13th !!!! aaaah that was it ... the bad luck Friday ... with the crappy shitty pissy rain all day (not that today is ANY better) but it just really set me up for a crap Friday ... ended up going to bed by 7pm with the shivers, feverish, nausea you name it ... waking 2 hours later with the sweats flushes oh .. woa is me I felt like I was dying !!! NOT GOOD...

SO Saturday saw me at the hospital ... now pumped full of anti-biotics with a Kidney infection ... flippin hell come here to get sick or what ??? ...but once the drugs started working I must admit I wanted to live again ...

We had a fab (wet) Saturday Braai with the Bawden's Clan ... awesome to finally meet ALL the kids ... Marty'ana and I spent the whole afternoon trying very hard not to 'POL'... we were being 'Dipler', 'Dipless' or 'Diplessness' ... it's just a word we made up but kept us very entertained for the whole day ...

And Sunday saw some fantastic SUNshine .. which was great cos my SON-shine and Marty'ana' played ..... FOOTBALL... for the Costa Coffee Foundation Charity ... a grand day was had by all ... some photos to follow when we get SA side ...

Sadly it's home time again ... bags are now packed and we're just wasting time till we're for the off !!!...

Great to see all the familiar faces, meet new people, spend some quality time family time together ... laugh drink and be very merry ...

See you on the flip side !!!!

Another quickie...

Was up playing chauffeur early this morning !!! well if you can call 8.30am early ... it is for UK side ... 5.30am is early SA side ... OK never mind that debate ... and after dropping off my passenger it was decision making time: home to await the arrival of the parcels or out and about in town ...

As the weather was soooo shitty it was very nearly home and back to bed ... but I braved the cold and went 'SHOPPING' !!!

Ended up in Mansfield (of all places) had to call into ASDA just to check out what they had in case they had something other stores didn't have ooops ... managed to buy a few bits & pieces there (nothing over £5.00 mind you !!! that's the rule) ... then into town centre... it had been my goal of this trip to visit some of the 'charity shops' based in all the towns ... to see if I could find the bargains I'm desperately searching for ... full length winter coats etc...needless to say I've pretty much run out of time now and visited 0 charity shops !!!! I've still managed to buy loads of 'stuff' none of which is on my 'list' !!! Oh well there's always next year ...

BUT I did manage to get some Christmas shopping done .... I can cross a few people off that list !!!Not going to say who or what !!!Wait and find out ...

So strange I can get my CC to work (the locked out one !!!) in jewellery stores and clothes stores .... but NOT in food stores LOL !!! Priorities ... me thinks MasterCard is controlled by women !!!

And sooo very pleased I did not decide to stay home an await my delivery ... it never arrived ... phoned PDP to be told their driver "ran out of time" to deliver !!!! So now it's going to be dispatched tomorrow !!! BEFORE 12 !!! hahahaha

Me thinks I shall have a lazy 'shopping free' day tomorrow ... OR NOT !!!

A quick one ....

After a really rough night (just couldn't settle and the aching bones played up all night !!!) ... managed to make a decision this morning and went to McArthur Glen retail outlet ... got there at 10am ... even though I had planned to be up and out by 9am ... but thankfully didn't miss much ... they only open at 10am hahahahaha !!!

First shop M&S factory shop ... an excellent start to the day and it just got better and better .... needless to say Paul not too happy that I managed to satisfy SOME of my addiction ... managed to cross a few things off the to-do list as well as the boys joined me just after lunch ... well K's list is a little shorter anyway !!!

And as for the weather ... didn't care really I was in the shops !!!!

P has volunteered me for chauffeur duty tomorrow morning !!! but hey I'm not complaining it's a good excuse to be up and ready by a specific time ... only question now is ... do I go out straight after chauffeur duty or do I come home and wait for some of my deliveries !!!! mmmmm next decision !!!!

Oh buggery me ....

and here I was thinking ... hey I'm on holiday ... I can blog daily and keep everyone updated !!! NOT !!!

I swear time goes sooooo much faster here UK side !!!

So quick catch up ... since we've been here ... I saw the Olympic Torch relay ... wow did not expect to see anything about the Olympics in our neck of the woods... but it was really nice to be part of a piece of history ... got the pics, got the badge ... did not get the t-shirt LOL !!!

Since we've been here have met up with Gussy Tucker, Billy No Mates1 and Mrs McD.... fantastic to catch up with the girls, get all the gossip, have a great old laugh ... really miss the good ole' times ....

Went shopping with Jane ... took a quick visit to YORK ... wow another unexpected ... well P & K were up there working ... done IKEA shopping, Chesvegus a bit of shopping ... still have more to do there ... in fact this next week is going to have to be just shopping .... cos I'm running out of time ... my list is longer than the days !!!

Ooooh stocked up on some crafts... thanks to Trimcraft, placed quite a few Internet orders this weekend ... now to wait for all the stuff to arrive during the week...

Oh!!! was abandoned by my boys Wed - Friday ... they were down south working ... so really had all my time to myself and still managed to run out of of it !!! My new TOY BOY Martyn (PMSL) kept me entertained for part of the time they were away !!! Poor lad was left all alone with me and my rantings & ravings ... I doubt he'll ever forgive P & K !!!!

Disaster of the whole holidays .... I only managed to LOCK myself out of my SA bank accounts ... now stop laughing all of you ... it's almost a cataclysmic disaster ... I am struggling to shop without all my 'spendy' money !!! and now I HAVE to let Paul know how much I'm spending ... can you see why that was such a disaster ???

Took K back to his old school this weekend, they had their Summer fair...shame it was rained out so early ... a bit of a trip down memory lane for both of us but felt really good when a couple of the mum's made such a fuss over him ... and me !!!

And so we're onto our final week AGAIN !!!

I'm not going to say MUCH about the weather !!! only that it has been CRAP ... or rather typically BRITISH !!!