Hi Everyone,

Well I had enterered a blog a couple of days ago but it seems to have disappeared - not to worry will just have to try and remember what we have done for the last four days!!

Sunday morning we decided to drive to the Clent Hills to see in the daylight where we had dinner with Phil and co at the beginning of our holiday. We were not disapointed as the area is very pretty with rolling hills, patchwork green and yellow fields and pretty hedgerows.

We decided to drive onto Bromsgrove, a small town a little south west of Birmingham. Here we stopped to walk around the town and found the ancient old church of St John. In the church yard surrounding the church were many old graves dating back to the early 17th century, quite amazing to still be able to read the headstones after all this time.

We drove back to Sheila's for lunch a restful afternoon, before going to Claire's 40th birthday celebration. She had hired a room at a local pub called The Amber Tavern, for all family and friends wanting to catch up.

Claire looked lovely and no where near her age, it was good catching up with the rest of the family and to see how they had grown since our last visit. Ashleigh at almost 13 is alot taller than me - well that's not hard I hear you all saying!! Hard to chat with so much noise so we arranged to catch up the following night.

Monday we set off early for Birmingham city centre, catching the bus, Sheila had given us instructions on where to get the bus from and the sort of ticket needed.

We watched with interest while driving into the city for familiar landmarks, it all seems so different to me not at all as I remember it 50 years ago. if you look closely though you do see some of the old things.

The above picture is taken in the Bullring area, 50 years ago this was an open market where you could buy anything, now it's a multi storey modern shopping centre with just about any shop you could wish for including Debenams and Selfridges. The old markets are still there just a lot smaller, much of the shopping area's are now malls, so it's much easier to walk around.

We arrived back at Sheila's in the afternoon with sore feet after wandering around the shops and the city for a rest before dinner with John and Maris joining us, Sheila had cooked a lovely roast beef and yorkshire pudding tea for us all.

We went to see Claire and the family after dinner for a chat that we could hear, again great to catch up.

Tuesday was a lazy morning, Bill has woken with a cold so not feeling like rushing round. Sheila and Dave took us to see Nick and Heather in the afternoon, Dave was driving so Bill could relax and enjoy the scenery. So pretty, since we have arrived the hedgerows have burst into leaf and flower, with daffodils and primrose in full bloom along the verges Spring has indeed sprung!!

Nick and Heather have a small property in the country about 35 miles south of Birmingham with a lovely home. Their children Emily 16 and Jack 13, are lovely and very interesting with many stories about the surrounding farms and the various happenings.

It was quite late when we were driving home so we talked Sheila out of cooking tea and bought fish and chips instead - not bad the fish was huge.

Wednesday - Today we swap sister's or rather the house we stay at, packing our cases to stay with Maris for the next few days before we all fly to Paris.

We went to the "Sweet Chillie" Indian restaurant for dinner, we had gone there on our last visit 5 years ago and it is one of the best Indian restaurants we have ever been to, service and staff are great, food excellent and the decor lovely.

Thursday - definately slow down time, both have a bit of a head cold now, so need to rest up before we head off to Paris on Monday.

Having dinner with Val and George tonight at a local carvery will be our last chance to catch up with them again before we leave.

Chat again soon