Funtastic fortnight (and Flying fiasco)

It’s Saturday evening and a chance to finally catch our breath! The last two weeks seem to have been a whirlwind with coming home, having Jenny and Steve around, sorting out our home, starting work, catching up with people. We had anticipated maybe having a quiet couple of weeks, but it didn’t quite work out that way, but we had great fun instead!

I have a pile of stuff I could write about most of the days between now and my last blog, but I don’t expect you want to read a diary. Instead I’ll mention a few highlights which stand out to me.

On the Wednesday night, after the blue morning that got me blogging last time, Jenny and Steve came round and after a curry out of a jar we played Balderdash – a game that always entertains and shows you a different side to people. It was a scream and some VERY interesting definitions were suggested causing much laughter indeed!

Friday night was great as Ben came round and so we got to spend about four hours together after not seeing each other for a year – it was good to chat.

Tuesday we went to Beamish with Jenny, Russell, Steve and Anna and had a very fun time. Beamish is an historic attraction featuring reconstructed mines, mining villages and a small town from early last century. It is very fascinating and we are looking forward to going there again in a couple of weeks with Heather’s sister’s family. After Beamish we sent for supper at the Hatch’s with a meal made by Russell and a dessert provided by us. It was a wonderful evening and we sat and chatted and laughed for several hours – a very special time. It was great to spend time with Russell again – for Heather and me it seemed like we’d known him for ages when it’s only been two days. I do like making friends like that!

Back to school at Beamish




Reconstructed town

Thursday was a momentous occasion, with Jenny and Steve around for supper we finally cooked our first homemade curry since returning – YAY!!! And Yum!

Friday we went with Steve and Jenny to Alnwick Gardens which are absolutely beautiful at this time of year. The roses are out in full bloom along with many others of the flowers to make a fabulous blend of colours and aromas. There are a number of water sculptures, one of which is a fountain that starts up at regular intervals (I won’t bore you with details of hydrostatics and valves et cetera) and Steve and I decided to stand inside it waiting for it to fire up. We got absolutely soaked and had the most fun I have had in ages!

Enjoying Alnwick

Fun in the fountain

In the evening Tim and Anna Hatch took Steve, Jenny, Lisa and ourselves out with themselves and Francesca, one of their daughters to the most incredible Japanese restaurant in Newcastle. You sit at a table and a chef comes and prepares the meal on front of you on a hot plate so large it probably ought to be called a hot table! The chefs are very entertaining and as part of the fun they toss eggs in the air and catch them in their chef’s hats. Having done this, they then invite the diners to have a go. Francesca was game for a turn but sadly she missed and ended up with a bit of egg on her shoulder, but not as much as the guy on the next table who ended up with it all down the back of his shirt!! A great fun time was had by all and it was a wonderful way to end our time with Steve and Jenny as they were to return to Canada the next day.

Crazy chef

Fran's egg endeavours

So today is Saturday, we took Jenny and Steve to Glasgow airport, had lunch with them and then left them to get onto their plane. I shed some tears as we left them, as I usually do when we go our separate ways from the Moshers, Jenny particularly. However as we drove back to Morpeth, Heather and I got chatting about other things after a while which was a good distraction. As we drove I noticed the time and mentioned that they should be flying over the Atlantic by now. Not long after Heather’s new phone made a noise and Heather found a text from Jenny saying their plane was delayed, so they weren’t over the Atlantic at all. As I write, at 10:30pm we’ve just spoken with Jenny who’s told us there are no hotel rooms available in Glasgow as there is a doctor’s conference on with 8,000 doctors present as well as a golfing event, so the best they could hope to do was pay for a taxi to Edinburgh, an hour away from Glasgow, hope to get a hotel or B&B room and then get reimbursed at some future point in time! So they are getting ready to kip down for the night on the not exactly comfy seats in Glasgow airport and then fly at around 1:30pm tomorrow. I do hope it doesn’t get delayed any more than that!

Well, it’s time I went off to bed. I shall be thinking of Steve and Jenny as I lay in my bed, wishing the airline had gotten their act together several hours sooner so we could have helped them out. Bah!

Well God bless you, and Jenny and Steve, when you read this I hope it won’t be too long before you can look back and laugh at it all!

Steve