We were really sad to be leaving Africa the trip was so much fun and really life changing. We both would have loved to have stayed for longer, but we are pretty sure we will be back one day and hopefully in a volunteering capacity.
Exciting times ahead though especially happy to be going to the UK to see Nanna, Cheryl, Jude, Uncle John and David, as well as quick trip to London so see more friends and stay with Sarah and Tim and meet little Tilly.
We arrived to Sunny and warm UK, a nice change! Picked up the hire car from the airport and drove to Nanna's place. Jude and Cheryl were there, Jude ran out the front to meet us. He is so much bigger now and so cute and talkative!! Nanna was still the same, just a bit slower to move around, so nice to see her. We went and had dinner with Nanna, Cheryl and Jude at the bulls head near Cheryls new place. It was a really nice pub will have to remember it for next time.
We started doing some washing at Nannas... did about 10 loads in total with all of our clothes that were covered in african dust and hadn't actually seen a washing machine since Johannesburg weeks and weeks ago.... during our time there we did a couple of trips to huddersfield to get bit of shopping done, took Jude to school couple of times (he was really excited to get pushed by chris on the swings!), went and had cake and coffee with nanna, had a nice dinner with Jean, Dallas, Janet and Nanna, and went to Leeds to see Uncle John and David. It was really nice to catch up with them and hear about their latest travels to Bulgaria and see Uncle Johns latest paintings. We were really lucky to get two beautiful paintings off him as wedding present, they are just beautiful. We got to stay with Cheryl in her new place it was really nice to be able to catch up with her and spend lots of time with gorgeous Jude!
We also did a weekend trip to London where I got to see the beautiful girls I worked with in Ealing. We stayed with Sarah and Tim in their new house (beautiful place!!!!) and finally got to meet their little girl Tilly. Such a cute little thing so much fun to play with her and have lots of cuddles!!! Sarah had kindly organised a bbq to catch up wtih everyone so got to see Sian, Rachel, Grahame, little baby Isaac (SOOOO CUTE!), Jill and Carrie and Mark. Had a few drinks in the sun whilst the boys cooked a bbq. Chris went to the pub to watch the rugby with Tim, was not happy with the result! The next day we were all a little worse for wear in the morning! I went on a shopping spree with Sian and we watched wimbledon at Sarah and Tims. We went and had a quick look at our old stomping ground Fulham where we used to live. It was quite emotional to be back there! I really miss living in London there is so much I still love about the place.
We had a roast dinner (with Yorkshire puddings and all the trimmings as they put it!) then went to wimbledon say a quick hello to Toni and Nikki. Nice catching up with them, got to see their gorgeous wedding pics!
The next day we went into central london, had a look around harrods and covent garden. Caught up with Rob Morgan and learnt lots of tips about New York!
Had a quick drink with Carrie and met sarah and sian for dinner at Shepherds bush. Unfortunately Telly was not able to come... she had a mix up and ended up in Rome for an extra night! did get to see her for breakfast the next day before going back to Yorkshire.
On our last day we did nannas garden for her (She wanted some flowers like everyone else!) so we got lots of nice pots and flowers and got our green thumbs on. Hope they last ok... we aren't really that great at gardening to be honest!!! She seemed to like it though.
We had a great whirlwind trip and wish we had planned to have longer in the UK (especially since the weather was so amazing with a heat wave and all!) it just went way too fast. it was so so nice to see people, especially after it had been over two and a half years since we had last seen them.
It was really hard as usual to say goodbye to Nanna but we are planning on coming over again in just under 3 years for the big 100!!!!
Had a blast staying with Cheryl too, really nice to see her and her new place.
So, we packed up, said some teary goodbyes and headed off to New York!