Doug & Jodie

Making the most of the long weekend we headed off early Friday afternoon, catching the train to Newbury (Berkshire)to stay with the Bean’s in Leckhampstead. Eric and Joan are my Aunt’s (M.C) parents and they have looked after both Louise and I when we’ve been on our travels in the past. Joan picked us up at Newbury station and we headed back to Leckhampstead thicket for tea and cake in the sunshine of their beautiful garden. Later that afternoon Eric, Doug and I went for a walk through the field which backs onto their garden – it was so nice to be in the fresh air and open spaces! Later we enjoyed G&T’s and wine over a lovely dinner and then the best nights sleep we’ve had in ages – must be the country air! Woke up to the sun shining through the window and one of the warmest days of the summer so far. Doug and I took Bertie (the king charles spaniel) for a long walk through fields where we saw lots of horses, rabbits and a huge dead badger! Then we enjoyed more wine and chats over lunch in the garden before Eric dropped us off at the station again and we trekked back to hectic london. It was such a lovely break and we hope we can make it out there again some time soon…

In our little flat on the Thames we have what I call the wall of fame in our corridor. Every time I pass these photos I glance at one in particular and memories of good times at home come flooding back – it’s a nice reminder of the people we care about. I especially love the one of me and my Dad, I was missing him a lot and told Fi – so she sent me a photo of him and I together – I was expecting a recent one but it was a treasured photos of me on dads shoulder when I was probably 5 at the bird sanctuary at the Gold Coast. Miss you all!

Last weekend we enjoyed our first BBQ since leaving Australia nearly a year ago. My good friend from work, Amanda and her husband Ben, invited us over to their new house in Raynes Park near Wimbledon for lunch on Sunday. Yumi, Laura and Julien (fresh back from Mauritius), doug and I and Amanda’s friends from Spain enjoyed lots of wine, beer and meat – not great meat like at home but it was still cooked on a Barbie in the garden. I am so lucky to have made such great friends through work and we always enjoy getting together.

Yesterday, 11th August, we went to Twickenham to watch France Vs England. We arrived at the train platform, and proceeded to walk down the road (following the crowds) to the stadium. We sat directly behind the poles. Twikenham is an amazing stadium, almost every seat is covered. The game was fairly entertaining, with “The Monster” Chabal scoring the winning try against England. We had a few beers along with some dodgy sausage rolls, for dinner.

Final score England 15 – France 21.

Finally summer has arrived! Although I think it will only last 1 week we definitely made the most of it this last weekend. Saturday we ventured out of London to Surrey and Hampton Court Palace for a picnic! We lazed on the grass in the ‘Wilderness’ garden in the grounds of the palace, enjoyed a picnic. Then we wondered through the amazing gardens of the palace, through the palace itself and then found a spot on a bench and lazed in the sun again! Ending the day with an icecream we returned sun tinted and happy to busy London.
Sunday soared to 28 degrees! So again we found a spot in a secluded garden with the softest coolest green grass in Regent’s Park. We lay in the sun (are you getting how deprived we have been!) then bought another ice cream and came home to bake a cake – yes we’re getting old – but a fantastic weekend, London is so liveable when it’s like this!

A couple of weekends ago we got dressed in our finest and headed out to Windsor with Debby, Darryl, Shan, Ivan and Tamara to attend the polo in the Great Park. It was sunny at times, chilly at others but we had an amazing day mingling with the rich and famous! In the morning after sinking our heels in the mushy grass fields, I led the way with the first Pimms of the day at 11am… then we watched the invitational game usually played by Harry and Wills – this year they were away. At half time, between chukka’s we followed everyone onto the field to replace the divets caused by the horses hooves – just had to watch out for the large soft divets!!

We spent the afternoon browsing through the stalls and enjoying our picnics and more Pimms and beer, along with a lot of people watching – the outfits were amazing! We finished the day watching England vs Chile (8-9) very exciting! Then we made a dash for the taxis and experienced another life threatening ride to the station! A lovely Sunday out in the country side…