My stay with 'The Malloys'

I arrived Tuesday night at 10:30pm. Craig was waiting at the airport to pick me up and we headed straight home. When we got to his house I was welcomed with open arms and they were very excited to have/meet me. I was shown around the house and told to make myself at home. Craig made me a quick sandwich for dinner, I had a shower and then we went straight to bed. Wednesday morning we woke up and went down to have breakfast. The kitchen was set up like a buffet. There was 5 different cereals out, toast, yoghurt, fresh fruit, croissants, pancakes and 3 different fruit juices. I was in heaven and haven't had a breakfast like this in ages. After breakfast we got ready and went to his Uncle Dave's house to help them move some stuff to the office, we then did work at the office and got Craig's file ready for Mongolia, then posted a very important letter for his Aunty Julie! After our work was done Craig took me to the main street in Glasgow and we walked around there. Craig bought me a new jar of vegemite and I met one of his friends Richie, who works in the new Nike shop there. When we got home Craig, Fraser and I jumped on the trampoline for ages and took some really good action shots, Billy (Craig's dad) also had a bounce too. I had haggis for dinner which is sheep intestine's mixed with herbs and spices. I wouldn't order it if I was out but it wasn't too bad. We were undecided as to what we were going to do Wednesday night so we ended up just staying in. Thursday morning we went to the office again and did more work, afterwards we went to pick up his best pal Mark and we went to Nandos for dinner. (Craig raved about Nandos in San Sebastian and Ibiza so I had to try it! It was really good!) After dinner we went up the local pub with Dave and a few other people for a few drinks before heading back to Mark's house so he could get ready to go out tonight. We then went to the shops to buy some pre drinks then headed for Craig's house so he and I could get ready. Billy (Craig's dad) dropped us into town. We went to three different bars/clubs one of which Craig works at. The last place we went was called Jelly Baby and we stayed here for the rest of the night. We caught a cab home and Mark also stayed the night at Craig's. Friday we went to the office again and did more work. We had to do some banking at the shopping centre so Dave gave us some money to get us all lunch, we ate subway back in the office. After we had finished Dave said that we could have Saturday off and also showed us a good spot to camp tonight. We left the office and drove to the camping spot to suss it out, it was only 5 minutes away from the office and about 10 minutes away from Craig's house. We went home to a baked dinner. Baked potatoes, baked veggies and chicken breast, it was so good to eat veggies again. We mucked around after dinner and before we knew it it was too late to camp so we decide to drive to the camp spot and cook some soup on Craig's little stove that he will take to Mongolia. We found a paddock on top of a hill with a view but the cows were chasing us and I got scared and ran off. We cooked the soup right next to the car and sat in the car to eat it as it was raining and freezing. We then went home to bed. Saturday Craig's family and I hiked up a mountain. It took about two hours to get to the top. It was a very steep hard walk and it rained the whole way, we were soaked and our shoes were muddy and drenched. Once we made it to the top the views were beautiful, even on a rainy day. We had lunch at the top that Jackie and Billy packed for us and then we headed back down. The way down wasn't hard but it was very slippery and Craig slipped over in the mud. After the hike we went and visited another one of Craig's Uncles who just got back from kayaking Croatia with his partner for 3 months. We went to their home and then walked down to the local pub on the water for a drink. Next we went to the supermarket to get some dinner and snacks for a bus trip to London. We had lasagna as a starter and steak, jacket potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli and carrots and hot mini bread rolls for dinner. This was my favourite dinner here, it felt a bit like home. We hung around home for the night and did washing and organised our things to leave Sunday night. Sunday we stayed at home all day. It was so nice and it was raining so we were in bed talking most of the morning. Craig went and stood in the rain because he loves the rain and then he jumped on the trampoline while it was hailing, he tried to get me to do it too but it was way too cold. We packed our bags slowly all day then Craig's parents took us 3 (Craig, Fraser and I) to dinner at Nandos for our last meal. When we got home after dinner, we did our last minute packing then Billy took us to the bus stop to catch the 11pm bus to London. The bus ride was crap, we didn't get a seat next to each other. But there was a half an hour stop pretty much every hour so we would talk then and sleep on the bus. We changed buses at 4am and sat together on the next bus which was much better. We arrived in London at 10:30 and booked our next bus tickets to separate airports. Monday we had our last lunch together and before we knew it, it was my time to leave. We talked about Craig coming to Canada and working the snow season with us and he wants to, so it was a little easier to say goodbye to him knowing that I will definitely see him again. I then made my way to Rome to meet back with Clint and Lauzi. I met them at a bar and we left as soon as I got there to head back to the hostel. We left Rome Tuesday morning so I didn't see much at all, but I had a great time in Glasgow so I don't feel like I missed out on much at all. The photo is of Craig and I sitting on the front step at his house and as usual he is playing his guitar and singing.