Up and Away

Well today we took Erin and her best friend, Heather, to Heathrow where they begin their 5 month adventure. They are going to Japan, Australia, New Zealand and various parts of South East Asia. Here they are with their back packs at Heathrow.

At Kate's wedding Erin asked Christine advice about what to take on her travels. Christine pretty much said you'll be fine with two pairs of knickers and a toothbrush. Erin and Heather took this advice to heart and decided that they should only take one hair dryer and one hair straightener between them!

Anyway, it was an emotional time for me and Trev. That's our baby leaving the nest. We decided to cheer ourselves up by going to Kew Gardens since we are seldom in that part of London before 10 am and it was a lovely day. Great decision especially as we bumped into Linda in the cafe at lunch time! Purely by coincidence! So we ended up having a lovely day and as Linda has been through all this with the aforementioned niece we had a kindred spirit.

Anyway, I'm sure Erin and Heather will have fantastic adventures and I believe that they have formed a Facebook Group where you can follow them (heavily edited so that I don't have to worry too much.

Here are some pictures of our day. That robin is actually in one of the greenhouses!

Well I don't know about this Island. We tried toget off it two days in a row last week to go to Barcelona and failed. First time was legit it was a snowstorm, but the second day was bright and sunny, but apparently the runway was icy? Ever heard of salt? So anyway we stayed and had a lovely walk along the Thames in about 4 ins of dry snow, lovely. Watched a lot of birda and the rowers were out. as long as you were rowing fine, but the poor coxes must have been freezing.
Having had so much trouble getting to Paris before Christmas train to Dover.3 hour wait, ferry to Calais, no connections, two more trains to Paris, the incentives to travel are small. However, I am going to try foe Canada tomorrow, but snow is in the forecast and teh Queen Mary doesn't start running until April.

Linda and Mike

Stormy weather

Just before Christmas we had a snowy, icy spell which made travelling rather more interesting than we would like. I think the trouble is that we are just not used to driving in this weather and forget how to drive properly. Even though we have all been taught it doesn't happen that often (Climate change permitting!)
Anyway my neighbour told me amusing story. In one of the villages near us the roads were in a very poor condition. A woman was trying to drive her car up a small hill, the wheels were spinning and she was panicking. A small queue formed behind her and at the back of the queue was a white van. The white van man got out and told the woman how she should be driving but with colourful and unpleasant language. However , the woman managed to gain control of her car and drove off but the while the man was being vile his van had slid down the hill and landed in a ditch.
There is a God!

Christmas

Here are some Christmas pictures.
Nic really liked her present.
Saffy in her new collar. She was a lot more excited by the bags of doggy treats though
Here is me opening a present from Brian - very pretty undies!

We had a very nice day. Ate too much of a rather aerobically inclined turkey - had real muscles in his legs, though the breast meat was (actually still is as we have lots left) very tender. I made an Italian nut christmas cake from Delia's new book which is very tasty indeed. We also had lovely cheese. And wine. A good day.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

So having battled my post wedding blues, I've set about trying to feel festive but thus far Christmas cheer has been eluding me. I've got tons on at work, am completely over excited about and therefore distracted by our honeymoon and I'm also really quite skint which never helps when buying lots of lovely presents. In order to combat this I thought that this weekend I'd put our tree up, despite the fact we'll be back in Wales for Christmas day itself. So yesterday I headed out to buy a tree but was really surprised a) by how few there are available this year and b) by how expensive they are! Something about the exchange rate was the only answer I could divulge - has anyone else has this problem? Anyway, I found one that was actually under £20 when I randomly drove past a newsagents of all places.

Great I thought, now the fun can begin. Having got said tree home though I couldn't find our tree holder device, so had to improvise Blue Peter-style with an empty washing powder pot filled with gravel from the garden, which I was pretty pleased with! So with tree up I set about decorating it. After the wedding we have tons of fairy lights as we bought extra to put up at Court Colman. Again, great I thought. Apart from, most of them are broken and of course I didn't check they were working before I wrapped them around the tree :( So I then had to unwrap them upon realising they didn't work and start all over again. Tiresome. But on I go and get on some lights that work, all the baubles, etc until I'm happy with it all. I then make the rookie mistake of turning my back on the damn thing and go into the kitchen, and my home-made tree holding device lets me down and the whole thing falls flat on the floor!!!!

I really was feeling anything other than festive at this point despite my best efforts and those of Bing on the CD player. However, I dusted myself off and did a bit more wedging of the tree with a bit of additional garden gravel, re-applied all the baubles and voila! It's been standing now for about 5 hours so fingers crossed it stays that way over night. I'm sure you'll agree it was a lot of effort for a little tree! But my lights are now twinkling brightly and I have left over wedding candles burning as well for good measure. So mission accomplished, I am actually feeling quite festive now and looking forward to mince pies at Boo's next weekend. We are really looking forward to seeing everyone who is going :)

Love Kate xxxx

Music on a winter's afternoon

We have just had a lovely weekend in Southampton visiting Kieran and Alice. We spent Saturday in nearby Winchester, which is a lovely cathedral city. I managed to buy a few Xmas presents and bizarrely we bumped into a former neighbour's daughter who used to babysit for us. We were just passing the cathedral and there she was. Small world eh?
Alice is in a couple of orchestras and fortuitously we had chosen to come when one of them was holding a concert. It was in a village outside of Southampton called Chandler's Ford where Peggy was always visiting some relative back in the day. We were a little late as the SatNav chose to take us to the village of Easliegh instead. Just when I trust that technology it lets me down. Trev is like an abused wife over it. He refuses to hear criticism of it and always says he must have programmed it wrongly hmmmm.
Anyway we missed most of the Wasps by Vaughn Williams but luckily the hall was such that we could sneak in the back without making too much noise. The programme included Sibelius but the highlight for me was Pictures at an Exhibition. They had got in extra percussionists and a harpist for it and the sound was great. The percussion section was fascinating as they seemed to have to take it in turns to play the gong so they were all swapping places and instruments so the right person was free to play the gong. I am sure there was method in all this. I was very pleased to see also that one of the clarinetist looked as if he had escaped from Pickwick papers. All sideburns. Of course the best section was the violins and the first violin players were subperb!
It was a really lovely concert and I was very impressed. I recommend them if you are ever in the Southampton ares

Back to reality...

...it's amazing how quickly life has returned to normal post-wedding. I have struggled through the past few days really with post-wedding blues and can see why it's the tradition for newlyweds to go on honeymoon straight away because going back to work only 2 days later really sucked.

I have to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who came to the wedding and to everyone who's so generously donated to our Trailfinders list. We've been frankly overwhelmed with the generosity and want to say a big, big thank you. We are sooooo excited about our trip to South Africa - less than a month to go now, whoop! The biggest thank you however has to go to Mum who was a total hero and not only made 110 cupcakes, arranged all the flowers, got up at 5am on the wedding day to try and coax the tiger lillies into opening (which they didn't but we did get a bit of a refund at least), and was altering my dress at the last minute - not only did she do all this but she was calm and supportive throughout, even when I was getting bridezilla-ish and stressed. AND she looked fabulous on the day after all her hard work :) So thank you Mum, you are the best.

Needless to say we both had an absolutely amazing time on the wedding day - the best day ever in fact - and hope everyone did who came too. I'm not going to post any more pictures as everyone must be sick of the sight of us by now, but I will do a Picasa album of the professional pictures once they come through. I'm very excited about getting them and feel really glad this is something we spent some money on because the day after the wedding when we woke up and it was all over and you realise how much money you spent it's quite scary! But the pictures should be something we treasure forever.

We had a lovely couple of days at Brian's cottage post wedding and mostly slept and ate left over cheese and curry which was just what we needed (thank you Brian).

So again, a big thank you and I leave you with just one picture which is of our best present (thank you Erin!) and also to say that it is soooooo exciting that Moira and John are now engaged!! Think I might turn into some kind of wedding groupie now as I know just how fantastic a time they have ahead of them! Congrats guys :)

Love Kate xxxx

More wedding photos

Here are some more wedding pictures, which I think are mine, though as I have been collecting other peoples as well one or two might have sneaked it

A few more photos

For those who don't see Facebook here are our photos.
Fantastic, lovely romantic day.

Mr & Mrs Graham

Here is the absolutely beautiful bride. Kate looked stunning as you can see from the above photo. We had a really great day. The weather wasn't wonderful, but was nothing like as bad as had been forecast and no one got drenched. The hotel came up trumps and everything worked smoothly and - although not following Kate's minute by minute itinerary to the minute - was pretty seamless and very easy as a guest.
Here is Kate and Carl on the stairs which were the main location for the photos as the weather pretty much precluded outdoor photos. It is an Edwardian country house so is really lovely, and you had the feeling that you were living in a country house, with the various lounges and the ballroom etc.
This is the cake of cheese. The bottom layer was Caerphilly, the next layer was a Spanish blue, the top was a really smooth, light creamy cheese, with heart shaped brie and little black wrapped Black bomber cheddars. it was fabulous. Before that we had curry - lamb and chicken and veg, veg lasagne, all of which was equally fabulous. It was a fantastic meal. We had seconds of the cheese plate, and we have the remnants at home now. Carl's brother's girlfriend had made marrow chutney which is delectably tasty and went brilliantly with the cheeses. As something sweet I had made 120 fairy cakes in 5 different sorts, which also went down very well, and there were no leftovers of those.
Here is the ringbearer, bride and bridesmaids coming down the stairs at the beginning. Saffy didn't really like being a ringbearer for most of the time, though the photographer was brilliant at getting her attention. She too was dressed up for the day as she had a beautiful diamante collar and a big bow, very fetching.

We had a casino playing roulette and pontoon after which was fun, though Boo won so much she had problems losing it and had to give it to her children, which as everyone knows that children are very good at getting rid of parental money, worked very well.

We had a really good time, though I had problems keeping awake at the end while we were waiting for the minibus to come and collect us.

I haven't had time to edit the photos yet, so I will put a link to a file on Picassa when I have done so later in the week probably.

Kate and Carl had a lovely day with lots of their friends and family there to wish them well, the readings were lovely and very appropriate, read by Emilie and Alyson. The Registrar was smiling, and very upbeat and created a happy atmosphere from the beginning, the speeches from Mike, Carl and Luke (best man) were funny and touching at the same time, and Carl's brother Paul kept everything under control as master of ceremonies. It was a wonderful day. I thought I might cry, but actually didn't, though Kate, Nicky and Mike all did. I just felt really really happy.

Cinema

I love films and I love seeing them in the cinema. Multiplex cinemas are awful as people seem to like to talk all the way through the film. However in Saffron Walden we are blessed with two lovely cinemas nearby. There is our local one, Saffron Screen, of which we are all very proud. It is in the local school and it is run almost entirely by volunteers. It has proper Dolby sound and it gets the films a little later than the big chains but before they come out on dvd, It has such a nice atmosphere as I think everyone really treasures it. On the whole people don't talk through films there although there are some posh people who clearly have to shout at each other to be heard in the echoing halls of their stately homes who don't seem to be able to whisper.
Our other cinema is Cambridge Arts Cinema. People are so quiet there that they barely talk through the adverts and quite often they sit through the credits too! That's how serious they are. All those brainboxes, I suppose.
Anyway with this wealth of lovely cinemas we go to the pictures quite often but I have excelled myself in the last week by going to 3 films! All brilliant in their different ways. An Education, District 9 and Mesrine, public enemy number 1. The last one I dragged Erin to as Trev was busy. It was the second of a 2 parter but it made sense on it's own. Erin was surprised that I wanted to go to a gangster film as they are not usually my cup of tea but it was subtitled. I love foreign films because I am so arsey. District 9 is a South African film with aliens a thinly veiled analogy for apartheid. I don't think you have to like Sci Fi to enjoy this. Really touching and the lead actor had never acted before (plus the Africaans for f**k makes them sound like they come from Manchester, which is quite amusing) and an education is set in early 60s London, a very touching coming of age drama. I recommend them all

Here are some pictures which I used to create a calendar for 2010. It is a very select, limited edition, so here are a few of the pictures to brighten the winter days. This heron was in Northumberland in the summer
This cat came and sat on the bird table at the cottage, clearly waiting for a bird to just come into his orbit. Hilarious
Brian and Helen deciding whether or not to get on going
These lambs were so funny, both looking at the ewe as if asking what we were doing looking over the fence.

Less than a week to go...

...we are very busy and very excited and also pretty flipping tired in the build up to the wedding. Everything is pretty much done, I just really wish I didn't have to work Monday and Tuesday this week. Carl has already been off for 10 days, a fact I'm extremely bitter about.

We've been spending money like water and I've panic bought a few last bits but in truth I think we are all sorted. It's been a lot of fun actually planning everything, despite the fact it's not that dissimilar to organising a conference (favours instead of delegate packs!) but I must admit I'm looking forward to getting my evenings back and not juggling the wedding and work!

Mostly though we're just excited and can't wait to see lots of you on Saturday and for those of you who can't make it, we will miss you very much and promise to post lots of pics and bore you rigid with a recap :)
Love Kate (and Carl) xxxx

Dry ice

I work at a Genetic research institute as I think most of you know. It is built in the grounds of an old stately pile and the grounds are very nicely maintained. Most Lunch breaks I go for a walk to give my back a stretch and my eyes a break from the computer. The other day I was walking on one of the paths past a laboratory where a lorry was filling up a nitrogen tank. However a lot of it was leaking so we had a strange mist escaping all over the place. It was like being in a musical with all the dry ice on the ground. I'm assuming it wasn't dangerous as the man controlling the tank didn't seem to have any protective clothing. However I'm sure that is the same stuff that chemistry teacher's used to dunk a banana in which then went brittle.

Adam has a new job

Hooray hooray!!

Adam has a new job.

It is very difficult to find work at the moment, and it is even more difficult for some people athan others, so I am even more pleased that Adam has been successful.

He has been looking for a while now and although he hasn't been successful up till now, I think he has found a good niche now.

He has a full time job as a cleaner in Rookwood hospital. Rookwood is based in Llandaff in Cardiff so it is on the right side of Cardiff for travelling, and it is the spinal injuries unit for this area. It is one of 12 specialist units across the UK, and in addition to spinal injuries it is a rehabilitation unit, so that there are a lot of long term patients rather than people in who are ill for a short period of time. Mike's partner Karin is a nurse, and her mum is also a nurse and used to work there and says it is a lovely hospital to work in, really good atmosphere and very nice place to work. His shift is 7am-3pm 5 days a week, so he will avoid all the rush hour traffic which is a good thing and makes the journey so much easier.

He has finished at Cowbridge school yesterday, because next week is half term so he isn't in work, and he starts in the hospital next Friday.

So hooray for Adam. We are all delighted.

Wedding!

I am now terribly excited and starting to get a bit nervous as our wedding is now less than a month away! After a frankly hideous month or so at work I finally have some time to actually spend doing wedding stuff and finish getting everything sorted out. Carl to his credit hasn't been the useless groom that I seem to hear talked about a lot - he's done loads and is at this very moment sorting out our cake of cheese (that's as opposed to a cheese cake). All I have left to do is sort out what I call niff naff details like favours, centre pieces and flowers - oh and of course tone myself up so I look like Cindy Crawford or one of the female Strictly dancers by the big day :)

Can't wait to see all of you who are coming and for those of you who aren't and have asked about wedding list details, we have our list with Trailfinders and would gladly accept any contributions to our honeymoon trip to South Africa! Almost more excited about that than the day itself to be honest! We're flying to Cape Town on the 30th December so will have New Year's Eve out there which should be fun. We're then aiming to squeeze in some cricket, some sightseeing, lots of wine tasting and some safari action. As someone who usually goes camping in the UK on her holidays I cannot tell you how much I'm looking forward to the sun. Details are here:

https://secure.trailfinders.co.uk/WeddingListService/contribute/WedGiftform.jsp

And the ID for the list is: 5B2EJ9

In the meantime, hopefully I've managed to avoid turning into this:

Love Kate xxxx

some photos of the area around our neighbourhood at this time of year. Notice the magic carpet one walks on.

Parrot Fun (Uhem!)

I've decided, from looking at the Lincoln pictures, that I've definitely missed out. It looks like a lovely place.

However, the true reason for my blogging here is this clip which, I think you'll agree, is extremely funny... sadly you may not be able to see it if you're not in the UK.

More anon... xxxx

Lincoln

Well, I am beginning to feel a bit sorry for Kate so have decided to put some more modern pictures up.
We have just returned from a weekend in Lincoln. Lincolnshire is famously flat so we laughed when we found a street sign called "Steep Hill" - we weren't laughing when we had to climb up it!

Lincoln is very pretty. The cathedral is amazing. It was the tallest building in the UK until the 20th century and you can see it from 17 miles away. It has a famous imp in it's stonework.

We didn't manage to spot him until a family going round at the same time paid to have the spotlight shone on him! It is amazing what stone masons could create.
Lincoln castle is also very impressive. We walked around the walls and the Red arrows happened to be practicing at the same time. Lincoln castle used to house the town prison and during the 19th century they decided on a policy called separate imprisonment which they copied from Quaker example(!) in New England. It meant that the prisoners were kept in solitary confinement and if they came out of their cells they had to wear masks. They had to attend chapel which was laid out like a lecture theatre but with individual cells and they were only allowed to take off their masks once they were locked in. Seriously, I don't think it was the Elizabeth Fry branch of penal reform.

We also had a trip to the coast which is lovely. Huge beaches, vast salt marshes and miles of dunes with hardly a person in site. Here are some Pictures.

Hairdresser Helen

Love those giraffes, Alice!
Anyway Helen talking about her talents as a hairdresser led me to dig out a couple of examples. Also I will be missing the Hen night so this is a small embarresment for the blushing bride at the same time.
Rather clumsy images as the scanner at work only produces pdfs and the help that I found suggested using something called Scribd.
Enjoy!
Kate 2
Kate