Pottery painting, Priory marina and Sizzling wok

Ray came to see us today- she's got bored of unpacking all her earthly belongings after moving house at the start of august- and then immediately working 3 weeks of night shifts so she's been living out of boxes for ages.

Last time Ray come to stay she was desperate to go pottery painting but we didn't have time- so this time we went DIRECTLY to the kiln.

Ray made a chest or draws for her jewellery which she decorated from a design she'd found on the internet.
I went for a more organic approach to decorating my cereal bowl.
Or a less artistic approach.

I never was the arty one!

After our artistic endeavours we went to Arcadia to buy some scottish tablet (theirs is AMAZING) and then to Limes for Roasted vegetable and mozzarella paninis.
It is my seasonal favourite.

We went for a mooch round priory marina as the weather was so lush.

We got home at the same time Traff got home from work- He passed his manager course today! woop!
So we went for dinner at the sizzling Wok with Karl and Emma to celebrate!
I am now so full of noodles I might turn into one.

Cardiff, Sarah & Dan's wedding, Ray's Birthday & Bristol.

Sarah and Dan got married on Saturday!
:D
A toast to the happy couple.

23rd August
We headed up to cardiff on Friday morning as Traff worked a night shift thursday-friday. I drove and he was supposed to have a sleep in the car.
I put blankets and pillows on the back seats to facilitate the sleeping. So he gets in the front. fair play Miss Contrary.

We drove to my parent's house in Didcot and got there just before 9.
In honesty I was expected to need to wait for the traffic to clear when I arranged to have a breakfast stop- but the roads were pretty clear- we must have been following the traffic.
Winner!

We had our vegi bacon rolls and had tea with my Dad and John before heading off- they've ben tasked with re-painting the walls downstairs at my parents ready for it to be let- apparently the colour my Dad used last time "made it look like a hospital".
I quite liked it.
So I think they were grateful for the excuse to mooch for a bit.

We got into Cardiff about 1- parked up on City road by the church (2 hours free, it's like Cardiff's best kept secret parking place.. except I've just broadcast it on the internet..)
We did some record shopping at the record exchange on Macintosh place (Traff got an Alice in chains Rooster single, Rock Lobster, and a Heart Album. I got the entire fairport convetion catalogue in a 4 disk massive edition with ribbons.. We spent the same in the end- all of them for £20- The guy who owns the shop is really sweet and always offers really good discount if you buy a couple of things- And his record prices are much better than Camden or Cambridge which are normally our only options..)

Then we had lunch in Tea and Cake.
And possibly for the fist time ever I was restrained and DIDN"T have cake- Just a goats cheese and caramelised onion panini.
:D
After all that driving I'd definitely earned my all time favourite sandwich!


Once we'd Eaten and had a walk around we headed over to James and Lis's in Barry so that the boys could try their suits on and make sure they fitted.
Lis practically had to dress Traff herself as he'd gotten quite tired and grumpy.
Although, he did cheer up when she let him play with the kitten.

24th August
On Saturday morning I had to get at the hairdressers in Canton by 10am.
I took the magnitude of this instruction very seriously.
I woke up at dawn in a huge panic thinking I'd slept through my alarm. And couldn't get back to sleep.

Lis gave me a lift into town and we had a chat- I ended up being early as Lis is super organised and so had time to go to the bakery and buy welshcakes for breakfast!
YES!
By the time we'd all had our hair curled and organised it was gone 1pm- We went back to sarah's house and found everything, loaded the cars, got everyone into the cars and set off for the hotel in cardiff - as we were coming off the flyover it was 2:30.
People kept overtaking us to have a look at sarah- as the hairdresser put her Tiara and Veil on for her so she couldn't take them off.
She looked like a runaway bride!

That was the point sarah started to flap- we had 1 hour to get everyone dressed, laced, made up, feed the baby and to the venue.
We did it though!
The only thing we didn't have time for was to put ribbons on the wedding cars. Which is impressive.
And we forgot to eat. Just as well I thought to eat welshcakes for breakfast!



Everything else went without a hitch.
The cars were all outside- Trist took a shortcut to buy us some extra time! winner!
Sarah's car waited by the national museum of Wales whilst we shoo'd everyone inside- Then the photographer came and took photos of all of us- and Sarah- and her family before the wedding.

And the registrar came and explained the ceremony and went through the marriage certificate.

Sarah turned to me and was like "Please tell me Traff isn't planning anything during the "speak now or forever hold your peace"
I honestly hadn't thought to threaten him to behave during that.
I assured her he wasn't and hoped to god that James would sit on him if he tried anything!

Everyone behaved and the ceremony was really short and sweet- no readings- just the formal exchange of vows and the signing of the register.
After I took this there was a professional group photo with all the bridesmaids and groomsmen- Traff was stood behind me. he was like "you scrub up ok" and looked quite surprised.
on the way out he run up behind me, grabbed my bum and was like "look, I've already pulled a bridesmaid".
So I hit him in the face with my bouquet.



The last time we were all at cityhall was for graduation in 2009.
We're better dressed this time round.





After the photos, we went back upstairs and had dinner- which was delicious- the room looked brilliant! Really fancy!



After dinner there were speeches- Traff and James wrote their speech the night before and it was brilliant!
My only complaint was that it didn't start "As you know, Today is a very important day... Norwich are playing Hull away"
they were worried about too many football jokes.
During the speeches I held Alice. Like a pro!
:D


The evening was ace! lots of Gin and dancing to the specials.
No-one ended up in the fountain, and Jay managed to convince (a very drunk) Tristrum that it's traditional for someone to Sit on the bride during the first dance.
Thankfully he didn't.
It was close though.
We partied until 1am.
Got home about 2. Went to bed nearer 3.

25th August
Funnily enough we had a lie in today.
Got up late, had cups of tea and played with the kitten.

I drove us all into town so James, Lis and Tim could go to the cinema and pick up Lis's car from the day before.
We went to Lloyds for brunch.

On the way home we stopped off in Bristol to meet my parents, sister and John- Today is Ray's birthday and my mum took her to have cocktails at the Bristol hotel.
They serve them with gin cocktails.
The cocktail comes in a teapot.
It sounds awesome!

We had a cuppa in town and a walk round the handmade market stall before heading off about 5- Traff managed to leave bristol and rejoin the M4 to south wales.
*shakes head*
We ended up coming back on the M5 and going through witney.
Looonnggg drive.

London

Today we went to London to See Fergus- He's leaving in the next week or so for his new life teaching Physics at a private boarding school in Nairobi.

We didn't really get off to the best of starts- on the way to the station we realised that it's the 1st day of the football season- thankfully only 2 games being played in London so we got away with that!

I text ferg to say we were on our way...no reply.. This was sort of expected as
1) he knew we were arriving at 1
2) he went out for a proper leaving do the night before
3) he's useless with phones.

I got us to the right tube station without major hitch- even though the train got stuck at at west hampstead and we were advised to disembark and make our own way via the jubilee line. look at me- london tube navigation pro!

Still no word from ferg so we went to the record shop and had a subway- Eventually he rang all apologies to say his phone was both flat and misplaced.

We had tea and played frizbee in the park in the rain. His house looked like Miss Havershams wedding feast with abandoned breakfasts and coffees and BBQ and Beers over every surface! The night before they'd all stayed in and had a BBQ with the flat downstairs.
It sounded AWESOME.
Traff has now decided- upon meeting Fergus's university friends that I am not posh at all.

Later on we headed into London to go to Camden and meet tony- I managed to undo all my brilliant tube navigation by accidentally getting on a non stopping service to marylebone and then realising the northern line was entirely suspended- in the end Tony met us at Swiss cottage- WHICH ACTUALLY HAS A SWISS COTTAGE!- and found us the right bus.
He is a real pro!
We had dinner in Camden- which I've been looking forward to all week long- I love the moroccan vegetable tagine and Chickpeas- the chickpeas are incredible!
You must try them!
It's the last stall on the main food court as you come in from the station end of the lock market- next time I'll take a photo!
Traff has Tofu and tony managed to talk his way into ownership of an entire container of battered prawns.

We did some record shopping- I'm keeping my eyes peeled for Smashing pumpkins or placebo records- Traff's just looking for grunge records so he's easier to please.
He almost bought some sonic youth records.

We had a look at the clothing stalls and a wander round the market- And I started my Xmas shopping.
Go me!

It started to get quite chilly later on- Autumn is almost upon us I fear.
We went to SheBeen Speakeasy in Kentish town and had a drink and a mooch for an hour or so and warmed up.

Traff and I got the train home from kentish town as with there being no Northern line it would have been a nightmare to get back to kings cross!
I like going through all the little places on the stopping service anyway.
It's interesting.
And improves my geography.

On the way back to the house we stopped off at tesco and got GU cheesecakes- We'll eat them in a bit watching 8 out of 10 cats does countdown (it's a fusion of things we enjoy!)

Walsall

Traff had to go on a course in Walsall again- and he invited me to come with him as last time he went he got very bored.
I suppose thats a weird, backhanded compliment?

I've never been to walsall before so I googled things to do- and I have to say on looking at the tourist board website these was lots of visitors- I had an impression that Walsall was going to be quite fancy and affluent.

The hotel is about 2 and a half miles from the town centre- which was fine as Traff's course lasted from 9-5 so a longish walk was actually a welcome time wasting distraction.
On arrival Traff announced that Travelodge had sole the building off and that the hotel was only going to be a Travelodge for another 7 days.
We asked the staff if they would keep their jobs and they said they just get transferred to the next hotel- one lady was like "I've been here 17 years and this will  be the 5th company I've worked for without changing buildings" so fair play, well done everyone for thinking of the staff!

On monday night I made us helen's famous stir fry (check out my recipe post for fried chicken with cashew nuts! it is truly delicious and the wife agrees!)
So we ended up leaving here at about 6- and getting to the hotel about 8.

We checked in and stuff and then went looking for a pub. We genuinely walked miles! but I will walk great distances for gin so it's ok.
We had a couple of drinks then walked back and had a drink in the hotel bar- and I was introduced to some of the other people on the course.
So that was cool- at least I know who's who!

Today my plan was to leave the hotel at midday- so that I only had 5 hours to kill (and one of those would be the walk there and back).
Unfortunately I hadn't planned on Traff getting bored before his course and waking me up at 8:10 for a chat.
There is only so much mooching about you can do in a hotel room before you start to feel a bit suspicious- and fear housekeeping bursting in on you.

I ended up going into Walsall about 10am- the walk was pretty easy and it was quiet- the area where the hotel was was pretty posh looking- like the nice parts of Roath.
And the closer I got to town the more run down and boarded up the shops were some of them looked like they'd been boarded up for a very long time- I assumed I was still a long way out of the centre because there were so many shops boarded up- and just as I'd concluded that I saw a big sign announcing this was walsall's town centre.

I went to the new art gallery- which was brilliant- they had loads of really interesting collections and a research library.
(it's just a shame it was so juxtaposed to the boarded up shops outside).
Their website boasted a Damien hurst exhibition- it wasn't as many items as I'd have liked but there was some cool stuff- the sheep in formaldehyde and the work with the butterflies on life and death.

There was also some of the art from his restaurant "pharmacy".
I particularly liked the pharmaceutical wall paper- where images of real drugs were re named with biblical terms e.g "the burning bush" under canneston duo.
Clever.

There where also some Epstein works- which I liked very much.

And all the usual kinds of art works- lots by european and american painters- romantic onwards- Which got me thinking (dangerous, I know) about our perceptions of beauty- I mean, there are plenty of victorian pre raphaelite works of art which we consider to be beautiful- and they show the beautiful women of the day. these are not images of women who would be considered beautiful now- we would probably think them "unusual" and a bit mannish. I think the painting below is probably a very good example- this is Rosetti's wife- who was a society beauty.

Now, by modern standards, She is too strongly featured to be "beautiful".

Her eyes are too lidded (this was considered a sign of excessive masturbation) where we prefer women to have big, wide open eyes, her nose, jaw and chin and too strong and sharp- we prefer women to have rounder, softer faces and smaller noses (ah, you only have to look at the cosmetic surgery celebrities have to support that one- all nose jobs and fillers and cheek implants...)
Her eyebrows are defined and heavy (now waxes off entirely) and she isn't shockingly thin (yes, I know the victorians had previously had a passion for frailty and TB victims- but here we like healthy sized women!)
(she also had an awful lot of pubic hair- so much that her husband refused to consummate their marriage- he though women looked like classical statues...)

When i say "we prefer" I am referring of course to the current societal view of beauty.
By victorian standards our idea of beauty would be their idea of plain.

I spent a long time and several miles contemplating this- I have concluded very little.

It reminded me of one of my colleagues when I worked at the museum - 2004-2008- Vera- Who was telling me that Darcy Bustle was pretty, but in a "striking, manly sort of way- when someone has something about them that makes them pretty, but it's really unconventional"
She carried on in this vein for about 10 minutes, then put her hand on my arm and told me I looked "rather like Darcy Bustle".
Perhaps she felt it was a kind way to tell me I have a face like the back end of a bus. (Although, I happen to think Darcy Bustle looks pretty good- So I'm taking it all as a compliment)

After the art gallery I decided to have some lunch and then to go to the tannery museum.

I ended up at the chintziest cafe I've ever seen.
There were other cafes.
but I had to experience this one.
I had a scone and tea- the tea was good, the scone was incredibly sweet. The cafe was full of old people, and some of them got a bit tutty as they usually sit where I was sat (I gathered from the loud conversation with the woman next to me) and they come every day.
oops.

I walked to the Tannery museum and ended up walking about a mile out of my way round the one way system as the sign posts all seem to be missing?!
The museum was pretty cool and most probably especially awesome if you're really into leather goods.
I was really restrained and didn't buy a day-glo orange hand bag in the shop.

by the time I'd finished there and walked back into town (not via the one way system) it had started to rain- I did some shopping (marks, Debenhams, Wilkos, Newlook) and then went into the works and bought a book to read- I took it to the town hall (which is a weatherspoons) and had a cuppa whilst chilling out.

Reading books is my favourite past time. I will honestly read anything- catalogues through to very serious classics.
I am now currently reading "the Debutante" by Kathleen Tessaro.

It's actually a very good and engaging read- the synopsis doesn't do it credit- I think I've read some of her books before as I recognise the style of writing, her books are really well written.
I approve!
:)

So, now I'm off to celebrate being in my own home by getting in bed, fully clothes, to read my new novel until Traff get's home from football.
What busy likes we lead.
Sort of.
Plenty of Adventure and exploration!

ไก่แผ่นแพทย์มะม่วงเขากระทะ (or, fried cashew nut with chicken)

Helen made this for me to demonstrate the malaysian style of cooking- she received the book this came from in Thailand on a cookery course when she was travelling around Asia. Malaysian cooking is very like a Thai, but more like vietnamese in that it's flavoursome- not hot. Some dishes contain chillies, but to enhance the taste- some thai dishes feel like they're designed to melt your face off!

Anyway, try this as it was was seriously delicious when Helen made it! we also added loads of mange tou instead of mushrooms as they were in season, and served it with egg fried rice, which I can't made... so if I serve you this it'll be with noodles!

I'm typing it up here as she scanned it in and printed it off for me, but my house is full of bits of paper- so for safety I'm putting it on here (and I'll put the recipe in my book full of my Thai learnings so that it comes with us if/when we move!)

you will need:
 50g chicken (although pork or quorn are also delicious)
50g cashew nuts (if you don't like cashews use almonds)
30g mushrooms
2 baby corns, sliced
1/2 a large onion
spring onion
garlic
1/2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp sugar
2tbsp oil

Method:

1. put the oil into the wok and stir fry  the nuts until brown.
2. Put the nuts in a bowl for later- leave the oil in the wok.
3. Press then fry the garlic until brown.
4. Add the chicken and fry until chicken is cooked.
5. add the mushroom, onion, corn (and dried chilli if liked)
6. add oyster sauce, fish sauce and sugar.
7. add the spring onion and cooked cashew nuts.
8. stir until cooked and serve with rice.

Traff and I are off to Malaysia in May so I'll let you know how our home cooking shapes up compared to the real deal!

St Neots and Grafton Water

Traff was off today and I was mooching about- being a sunday theres never a whole lot to do so we thought we'd explore the local area.

We went to St Neots to look for records (none to be had!) and we had lunch in the cafe on the square.

We then went for a shakey jake's milkshake! winner! I haven't had one of these in years! I had white chocolate malteasers which was a milkshake- I should have had reeses peanut butter cups. or raspberry ruffles.
something that tastes less like vanilla to start with...


We had by this point exhausted St Neots- as everything was closed for sunday including the museum! very disappointing!

So we drive to Grafton water.

UK Road trip

26th
Sheffield and Sarah & Dan's new house

The road trip started impressively- I stayed at my parents to break the journey to wales and my sister asked me if I fancied going to hand her coursework in with her.
To Sheffield.

I'd never been to sheffield so I agreed to go. with enthusiasm.
then she told me we were setting off at 6am so I needed to be up at 5:30.
:(

We got to sheffield just before 9am- handed in Rays work and had breakfast in Care Rouge- I had the bread basket with butter and honey- which was yummy- I was jealous of ray's french toast though.
next time, french toast.

We went round the peace gardens and the winter garden too- and to the art gallery shop.
It has a sculpture of a giraffe made of sheffield steel cutlery called "barking up the wrong tree" when you made a donation, you can press the button and it barks.
We were not expecting it to be so loud!
Once we got back and had some cereals for lunch I headed off to Wales- To stay with Sah and Dan.
Their new house is awesome!
Although, I did have a bit of a run in with a flock of boy racers. I think it's my car. it makes me look like a teenage boy.

27th 
Dress fitting

Alice took her first steps! Holding on to my wrist-bones. not very comfy, but incredibly cool.

We went up to Carmarthen for my dress fitting- If you read this rubbish on a regular basis you'll know I've been ill, and I've lost weight.
The dress had to be taken in by 4 inches.

So we needed a second fitting.

28th
Cardiff- and BBQ

We had a BBQ in the garden at Sarah and Dan's- with Jay, Lis and James.

James is feeling really broody at the moment- he wasn't even put off when Alice managed to kick him in the balls.

It was lush to have a catch up with everyone- and to have BBQ food- Even if it did rain- but hey, it's wales- what did we expect?

I also made a culinary discovery- vegi fingers are amazing on the BBQ!

29th
Abingdon

Staying with my parents is weird now that the power station has closed.
my dad and his nexus net book have become a permanent fixture in the conservatory.

Although, he did promise to take me out door swimming- having said that- when we got up the weather looked grey and overcast and not too promising.

We settled on Abingdon outside pool (in the abbey meadows) in the end as it's closer to home- I don't ever remember swimming in it but apparently I have plenty of times as a child.
It is also where my dad learned to swim.
in the 1950s. in his knitted swimming costume.
well, thankfully since either of these events took place someone had the brilliant idea of heating the pool- it was still freezing, but in an exhilarating way. not in a drowning one.

We did 20 lengths (500m) and then it looked like thunder and lightening so we thought we'd better get out and go home.

It did rain really heavily and was stormy, but by the time we got back to Didcot it had passed there so I walked into town.
They have a cool new shop called "no two things" so I went to mooch in there, and they had a "friends of manor school" (my old school!) fund raising quiz.
it was photographs of Didcot and we had to  find the places- I paid for it, put it in my bag and promptly was distracted by the aquarium.

It was only later after dinner, when Dad and Traff went to play squash and my mum and I were at a loose end I remembered it.
Some we could do at the kitchen table.
others we had to check.
So, we took the bikes out and went on an adventure!
We cycled 6 miles round dicot filling in the quiz. we're pretty sure they're all right now!

30th
Newbury
Traff had a work meeting in Newbury so we dropped him off- He's only recently started driving again- I doubt very much that he would have enjoyed the newbury M4 roundabout.

My Dad and I continued on to chippenham- he showed me the house they're trying to buy and the town.
We just mooched around.
It started to rain so we went to Chippenham museum and tried on all the hats in the childrens dressing up section.
When we got home and had dinner it was more-or-less time for me to go and get Traff from Newbury.

In the evening I went to see Sophie at her house she shares with her Mr. (He's called james, and he has impeccable taste in cakes).
I was planning to walk, but my mum insisted that I cycle and she accompanies me. She got us very lost.

It was lovely to catch up with Soph- We usually end up seeing one another at christmas only because we're just so busy and a have opposing working hours.
We watched holiday disasters and caught up- since I saw her last sophie has changed job and moved house so we had loads to talk about! and Soph made lemon drizzle cake (it was awesome! her cakes always are!) 

31st
Outdoor swimming

My dad and I went swimming again- at abingdon pool- I had wanted to go to Shillingford bridge hotel but when I rang them they weren't sure if the pool was "available".
weird.

When we got home the estate agents had dropped by a leaflet about our house with all the photos and the floor plans and stuff.
it's odd seeing your home on a leaflet.

In the evening I went to see Kirstie and we invented a new cocktail.
We started by blitzing frozen raspberries and ice, and adding gin, orange liquor, lemon san peligrino.
And then kirsties mum asked us if we were making jam.
So we sieved it.

Very nice in the end though.

She's just come back from a jealousy inducing trip to hawaii so she told me about that, about work and about her adventures. We ended up being locked in when her parents went to bed- I took that as my cue to go home.
I thankfully was not locked out when my parents went to bed.


1st
Cliffton suspension bridge and the national trust

I arrived in bristol quite early to stay with Helen so that we could have the day to mooch around- After we'd ditched my stuff we went to a national trust property with parkland on the outskirts of bristol- it was good to stretch my legs after all that driving- we walked about 4 miles up and down the hills and looked at the view- bristol is bigger than I thought.
We also found the fattest tree and had ice cream.
And got more sunburn.
On the way back helen pointed out the suspension bridge, so we thought we'd go up and see it.
it is an impressive feet on engineering.
We walked accross it and looked at the views- and she pointed out where she goes climbing- which looked quite scary.
In the evening Helen made thai stirfry for dinner- I will post the recipe later so that I don't lose it and can make it again.
We also made sorbet, gespatcho and lemonaid.
Superproductive


2nd
Cheddar gorge, sushi and postcards

we got up early and headed to cheddar gorge- I've never been before despite always saying I would ahen I lived in cardiff- so I was excited for this!

We started the adventure with a cream tea.

then we walked up jakobs ladder and on the circular walk around the top of the cliffs- and got chased a bit by a goat.
On the way home we stopped off and picked out own raspberries and black currants.Helen said she was going to make them into jam!

Very creative of her.
I mostly ate the raspberries on the way home.

In the evening we drove into bristol and went for sushi. we had to make a reservation as the restaurant was mental busy so we went to the deco lounge and had coffee cocktails whilst we waited.
We both bought postcards at cheddar gorge so we wrote those and posted them on the way back down to have dinner.


3rd
Sarah's Hen do

I started at Helen's in Bristol- in my head, that meant I could get up at 9 and be at Beccas in cardiff for 10.
Helen laughed at me and was like "it will take you almost 2 hours to clear the traffic in bristol" so we had to get up at 5:45.
I got into cardiff at 9:35.
So, for future reference- it takes longer to get from central bristol to the M4 than it does to get from Didcot to Cardiff.

Lazertag- which was AMAZING!
We will do that again!
Although, next time I'd wear my boots, not my ballet pumps.
Then we went back, put on our best dresses and went for dinner in the gatekeeper then out in town! I stayed with Becca and Emma started too which was really lovely.
We got in about 3, and then chatted for hours.
It's lovely to catch up with really god friends- it always feels like you've just picked up where you left off last time.

4th
The hangover and 3pm breakfast in chapter Arts

Emma and I both work up about 7am when it rained really heavily and then again about 10am. We finally made it to the kitchen at about midday.
Becca made us all lots of cups of tea- and we decided that toast just wasn't going to cut it.

We decided to go and get food at Chapter- as Becca lives in Pontcana but we couldn't face walking so I drove us!
We had burgers and fries.
And then coffee and cake.
We then felt brave enough to go and see the exhibition but it was bizarre.
Loads of boxes stacked on top of each other and a framed mixing desk instruction book. I don't understand.
We went back to Becca's and her house mate rose made us all more tea.
Then we ran out of milk so we decamped to Sarahs to see if she would make us tea.
Success.

She was an awful lot more hungover than we were,
and had an array of weird drunk bruises.

5th
TV day and Carmarthen

I find now that I am old, it's not the hangovers which really get to you- it's the tiredness!
We were exhausted.
We watched whip it, which is a cool film about roller derby- and fnally got dressed and had breakfast about 1pm.
This was when we realised we'd made an error.

We had arranged my dress fitting for 11am - which meant leaving Sarah's at 9am- easy enough as one person- or two people- quite another adventure with a baby.

We decided it would be easier to stay at Sarah's mum's house.

We all spent the evening watching programmes about peoples "supernatural experiences". it was really nice to just chill out and mooch around! And, Sarah's mums spare room has a bed with a memory foam matress topper- I don't think I've ever slept so well!

6th
Dress fitting, Wrexham and  Runcorn services 

now, Despite being organised enough to go to Sarah's parents- and setting our alarms to give us 2 hours- we still managed to be late.

I got up, and Sarah was in the front room with tea for us both- We had tea, then welsh water came and she had to deal with that- then I watched Alice whilst she had a wash- then I had a wash, the we go sucked into watching some baby TV about jigsaw puzzle pieces.
And it ended in the dress having to be fitted without breakfast.

We grabbed breakfast in town, in the humble pie cafe.
:)
I had a toasted teacake.
And welshcakes for breakfast-pudding.

Sarah had a sensible breakfast of a sausage sandwich and declined my welshcake offer.

I decided to drive from Carmarthen to Durham- rather than go back to cardiff and join the M4- as on paper the travelling time is the same.
is it fuck.
I left Carmarthen at midday and arrived at 8;30 from my "4 hour drive".
Admittedly, I decided to turn off my satnav for a while because it wanted me to go back to cardiff and kept trying to redirect me- So I headed towards Oswestry to go up past liverpool and a ccross the UK. I ended up missing shropshire completely and driving to Wrexham.
North.
Just the wrong country.

Abi, who I stayed with in Durham is just finishing her PHD in Geography.
She hasn't let me live this down all week.

7th
Beamish and Finbarrs

The Beamish museum was the basis for my entire road trip- I read an article on the BBC news page in about may time that said they had acquired an ice cream parlour from one of the mining villages near to Durham.
It had remained unchanged since the 1920s
all polished wood surfaces and cut glass mirrors- right down to the ice cream they sold which was made to a family recipe from italy.
The owner of the shop had passed away, and so that shop had finally closed- it was due to be sold and that was the point at which the beamish had heard about it and decided to buy the building and move it brick by brick to their museum.

Needless to say, it wasn't there when we went to the museum.
it takes more than 2 months to even buy a building. let alone deconstruct and reconstruct it!
We did EVERYTHING.
We went to the pit village first.
Then to the home farm.
Then to the railway centre and to the town- we went round backwards so everything we went to before the town was empty!
it was ace.
however, the town was heaving and we had to elbow small children out of the way to buy cola cubes in the sweet shop.
Then we went to the georgian section and went on a train ride- the train pulled by a replica of stephensons first engine.
very enjoyable.

We walked miles. and got sunburned.

We went back to Abis, got changed and walked into town to go for dinner with her PHD research department.
I stopped off on the way and got myself some fish sauce and oyster sauce from the oriental shop- as helen showed me you just add 1/2 the amoung of fish sauce to oyster sauce and it's the basis of almost every sauce in asian cooking.
So I thought I'd give it a go myself.

We went to Finbarrs restaurant for dinner- it was really fancy.
The'd done us a special deal as a group and we had 3 courses of fine dining for £20.
the food was awesome- I highly recommend it!

The company was also awesome- Abi's colleagues were so funny and friendly- They made me wish I was good at geography.

8th
Sunderland, the national glass centre, the penshaw monument and vintage shopping

I'll be honest, I scoffed at Abi when she suggested we go to the glass centre.
She was telling me that last time she went the had an exhibition of snow globes. I would have loved to have seen that! So, Swayed we drove to Sunderland.
Driving through Sunderland town centre was quite frightening, but worth it in the end.
We stood on the roof and looked at the things in the museum! glass roof! it's quite a giddy experience.
Then we went and watched a glass blowing demonstration.
Glass blowing is quite fascinating.
It looks really dangerous.
We picked up a leaflet about making baubles towards christmas time- I really want to try it! I shall keep you posted if we manage to book.

We went and looked at the exhibitions- I really likes the glass viruses. Abi preferred the glass hearts designed from scans.
I managed to be very restrained in the shop- but Abi bought marbles. We drove all the way to sunderland to buy marbles... *shakes head*
On the way back to Durham we stopped at the penshaw monument- it is a biiigggg climb as the stairs are much steeper than they look.
Worth it for the views though.
We sat on the monument and ate our lunch (crisps, apple, oreos).
We nipped into town once we were back to look for photo frames and to have a look in the vintage shops.

We made stir fry for tea and I got to try out my new sauce making skills- I was pleased with the results.


9th
Newcastle, Baltic and the tyneside cinema

This was my last day on my road trip- It felt for the whole time I was away likeI'd been gone forever. I woke up on friday and felt like my holiday had gone in a flash!

We went into Newcastle by train and took pictures of the angel of the north. We got the hang of it b the return trip!
We did some shopping round H&M and the fancy new TK maxx- they had loads of valentino and ralph lauren stuff- and some cool reiss jackets and skirts too... we did lots of trying on.

We then went to the Tyneside art deco cinema and watched an art film about a girl gang called fox fire.
It was pretty weird- it was good, but it felt like there were some gaps in the storyline.
It was very engaging though- It was almost 3 hours long but it didn't feel like it!
Coming out of a 3 hour film into broad daylight (at about 4pm) was odd too.

We went to the baltic but we didn't understand any of the art on display. it was a bit too weird.
So we just had a flapjack and some tea.
And I got a babushka kitchen timer for at work. now when I say "5 minutes" I really mean it.
When we got home Abi's boyfriend had dinner on the table- it was amazing! he made pasta bake with veggies in it- including sweet potato and he'd made his own sauce.
Impressive.

We went to tesco in search of cake afterwards.



10th
final number of miles: 1280

I really have enjoyed being away, but I'm really pleased to be home- Especially as le wifely one bought us both pizza from tesco!
:D

AND FONDANT FANCIES.