Hi everyone,

It's been a few days so there's a lot to catch up on.

We arrived at Florence airport to find that our 1.15 flight to London had been delayed until 3.45! It's not that big an airport so it was a long wait. We think that they probably closed the airspace over London because of the royal wedding flypast (we were going in to London City airport). Anyway, we finally arrived and caught up on the wedding (as if you could avoid it!).

We picked up our car the following day and we are now travelling around in a nice little Peugot. We only took about an hour to get out of London which was pretty good and then we were on the motorway heading north through the patchwork of green fields and yellow rapeseed (canola) fields. Our first stop was in Telford where we met up with Anthony and his family (for those of you who may not know, Anthony is a cricketer who stayed with us when he was younger). They took us to a lunch at a lovely pub in Ironbridge which is a pretty little town nestled on the banks of the river Severn. It is dominated by the huge iron bridge spanning the river which was the first of its kind and was the beginning of the industrial revolution in Britain. The area also encompasses Coalport which is famous for its china.

After spending a very pleasant few hours with Anthony and his family, we carried on to Warwick where we stayed with my cousin Kyla and her husband Richard. Even though Kyla and I stayed up very late talking (surprise, surprise!) we were still up fairly early and off to Warwick Castle for the day. We made a stop at a Road Chef for breakfast first - they believe in large portions in this country! Warwick Castle is one the best preserved of England's mediaeval castles and it looks almost newly built until you look closely at particular sections. It is administered by Madame Tussauds so there is a fair element of theme park about it but you still get to see plenty of the castle and some amazing things like Queen Elizabeth's saddle and Oliver Cromwell's death mask. We spent a lovely day there and then we went out for dinner after which Kyla and I both thought we might die of overeating. The food was lovely (southern indian) but there was too much - again!

The next day we had a leisurely breakfast - cooked by Richard; what a champion! Then we were back on the road headed for Warrington, a bit further north. We are staying with my auntie Corinthia and her husband David for a few days before heading off to Norwich. Today we're going off to Chester for a look around and hopefully catch up with Viv and Ann (Lisa's parents) while we're there.

Time seems to just slip away before you know it.