Friday, October 29, 2010

Back in England

I caught the P&O ferry from Calais to Dover on a dreary morning of September 28th. I lucked out and got on an earlier ferry so I arrived back in jolly ol' England just after 9am (gained an hour in time difference). Back in BC we complain about the cost of our ferries but this route, which is about the same in length as the Victoria to Vancouver one that I have sailed on plenty of times is almost twice the cost!

I drove along the south coast of England and arrived at my aunt's place in Weymouth in the early afternoon. My cousin Sid was off work for a week and he was staying with his mom, and was often being tasked with odd jobs. The weather wasn't terribly good all week (Shirley said that it was the worst weather they'd had since I was there in April...great). However, on my birthday there was some sun between the odd rain shower and I planted 14 three feet high laurel plants on a slope in her front garden to earn my keep. Sid and I played a par 3 golf course later that afternoon and we had a lovely steak dinner and played some games.

Charles and Aunt Shirley playing Triv:

With my lovely cousin Gem:

A couple of days later, Sonia, Sid's girlfriend, trained down to join us for the weekend and we celebrated both of our birthdays again as hers was on the 25th. That evening, Charles' sister Kate and mom Leslie came over for a drink. I received some fantastic, thoughtful gifts. Two stood out. My aunt, cousins and their partners gave me a number of things but one was a custom red hoody with a white maple leaf on the front and "Underdog" on the back across the shoulders and this blog's web address at the bottom...sweet, Wandergliding is now advertising. Another gift from Kate and Leslie was a lego version of my campervan Betty...how awesome! We built it that evening and at the back of the instructions was a picture of a bunch of the lego sets from this series in a town scene. We all got a right laugh when we noticed that the lego Betty was actually getting towed!!! How apropos!

My personalized hoody:


Happy with my gift from Kate & Leslie:

Lego Betty:

It certainly was nice to spend my birthday with family...and thank you all who sent me warm birthday wishes!

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