Half term

So it’s definitely blogging time again after being absent for nearly two weeks. I have been off a-travelling through England and have a fair amount to share with you, so here goes…

Eurostar mishap of a non-snowy nature!

I was sitting on the Eurostar train from Lille to London and heard an announcement come across the tannoy. Normally you think it’ll always be for someone else, but lo and behold, the announcement clearly stated my name. The train guard requested that I go to carriage number 1 to speak to the train management. I went through fifteen carriages and over fifty doors wondering why they would want to speak to me and hoping it was a good reason as it was taking such an effort to get there! As it turns out, the man had my passport and I’ve no idea how it got there but was extremely glad to have it back safely! I must have got through passport control and then dropped it at some point but not noticed because I was chatting away to a French girl who I’d met in the queue.

Southampton

Being back in Southampton was very strange. There was a hive of activity all around me which I knew so well, yet I wasn’t part of it. That said, I spent a very pleasant three days there. On Saturday I went to Anne’s baptism which was lovely. The same day I had a nice surprise when I learnt that two friends from home, Afua and Ian, were making the journey to Southampton for the day to see Katie and me, so we had a good catch up. Later on in the evening I met up with another friend, Jo. On Sunday I went to Katie’s church, over to Anne and Liz’s for lunch and then back to Katie’s for some sister time. Monday came along and I met up with lots of lovely people during the day before paying a visit to International café in its ‘new’ location (not that new anymore but new for me!) which was great fun. Tuesday morning was an early one, with a special breakfast for my friend Ellie’s birthday and then onto the library (Hartley was missing me… it would’ve got upset if I’d missed it out) and lunch with Jo before hopping on the train to destination two.

Home

I spent three days at home and enjoyed chatting, good food and sleeping. Mum took a day off work on Thursday and we went swimming and had lunch and a wander in Brentwood. The British shops excite me a lot at the moment, mainly because I know what I can find where and normally at a much better price than French shops. My time at home was great.

Coventry

So on Friday I arrived in Coventry to Sally and Hazel’s house. They are two girls I met while working at the Spring Harvest Holidays campsite in summers 07/08. Jen and Sioned (not a typo, it’s a nice Welsh name), two other friends from the campsite joined us too. We ate pizza and chatted until the early morning. On Saturday we had a leisurely morning and then headed to Solihull where a pub lunch awaited us followed by the choice of watching the Wales vs. Scotland rugby match or shopping, and then in the evening we had a delicious roast dinner. Sunday came round and we went to Hazel’s church followed by another lovely meal and a sad goodbye before the journey back to Lille via London. Got back without any stress except the last 5 mins or so of the journey when I was desperate for the toilet, so dragged a heavy case along the street pretty swiftly!

So I’d say I’ve had one of the best weeks of my life right there. It’s the people that made it so special. :)

Love to you,
Fiona x