t:. toastcrumbs

16 May
The VBs! Rick, Hannah and Annelise arrived. Met them that evening if I recall (at L&M’s place). Was nice to see Annelise for the first time (verrrry cute!).

18 May
Had the VBs over for dinner along with Lyndon and Mim and Rudy and Mirren. In the end I cooked chicken, avocado and bacon burgers with a bit of help from Rudy. Can’t remember what dessert was, but it must have been good ;)

19-21 May
Went on a trip with the VBs and L&M. We drove up to Bath first, visited Mim’s parents, then headed to Cardiff to stay at Dave and Ros’s new flat. Went on a nice walk with everyone on Saturday.
Went to Ros and Dave’s church on Sunday, had a really lovely roast dinner Sunday lunch that Ros cooked, then headed back to London (in time for the evening service at St Helen’s).

27 May
Went up for the day to see the VBs. Had a really lovely day including punting on the Cam, and a tour of Trinity college - Hannah blagged us all in with an expired residents permit (how does she get away with it?)! We had dinner at an Italian restaurant, Zizzi’s.

29 May
Went up with L&M to Bedford (Monday Bank holiday) for a family get together. Had a lovely day there, but had to say goodbye to Rick, Hannah and Annelise :( ::::

Sailing course in Brighton! This was good fun (though tiring as had to travel to Brighton early each morning). I was the only one doing the course (a skipper’s training course), so had one-on-one training. Really enjoyed it, though felt a bit sick the first day out on the choppy sea (seasick pills are good though :) Learned a fair amount of navigation, sailing theory and hands on experience. The last day we did a sail down to Shoreham-by-Sea and back, which took most of the day as we were fighting the tide on the way there, and fighting the tide and the wind on the way back (it would have been faster to walk :). Lots of tacking practise!

Went up the Swiss Re Tower (aka The Gherkin) for drinks with friends (my friend Ernest works for Swiss Re). Had a nice time and enjoyed watching the sun set over London.