Sarah's been up for the weekend, at the end of her 2 weeks in the UK/France and we've spent a very relaxing weekend cooking, eating, drinking, talking, shopping, trying on clothes, doing each other's makeup and generally chilling out. She's just at Manchester airport now waiting for her flight back to Sydney. It'll be quite a while before we get together again. :-(
Have a safe journey honey!
16 Sept 2008
A sad bit of soppiness
When I was out in the USA, I felt pretty homesick on the Saturday I should have come home on, and basically holed myself up in the room with room service and a movie. No, not that sort of movie....this movie! It was a nice way to spend the day - channel surfing and trying to catch a bit of UK TV in an attempt to connect to home. I was flicking between the channels, when I came across a Lloyds TSB advert - the 'for the journey' one - with the little pointy faced animated characters and the very high-pitched singing.
I was instantly transported back home - the advert always makes Dan pose and posture and pretend he's singing the very high part - whilst pulling a multitude of funny faces - and, sad though I am, he has me in hysterics every time! I got an instant cheer up! There was only one thing for me to do....I put the song as a ring tone on my phone 'specially to annoy all around me!
It's a lovely tune - called Eliza's Aria is a classical aria from the ballet Wild Swans, composed by Elena Kats-Chernin.
I was instantly transported back home - the advert always makes Dan pose and posture and pretend he's singing the very high part - whilst pulling a multitude of funny faces - and, sad though I am, he has me in hysterics every time! I got an instant cheer up! There was only one thing for me to do....I put the song as a ring tone on my phone 'specially to annoy all around me!
It's a lovely tune - called Eliza's Aria is a classical aria from the ballet Wild Swans, composed by Elena Kats-Chernin.
13 Sept 2008
Stuff we are watching
It's September, which means the new season TV has started over in the States. We try and watch as many of the "Season 1 Episode 1" programs that come out and then we decide whether they're going to keep us interested enough to want to watch the rest of the episodes. We're usually pretty accurate at guessing what'll be the 'next big thing' in the UK - and by the time they buy it for C4 or Channel 5 we'll be 6 or 7 episodes into the series! I like being ahead of the game.
Over the past few years we've spotted some excellent programs - Nip/Tuck, Grey's Anatomy, Men in Trees, Bones, The Closer, Dexter - now our firm favourites.
We also watch some rubbish - entertaining rubbish - but it is really 'no brain' stuff - America's Next Top Model, Project Runway, Top Design.
So, what are we watching THIS season?
We have a couple of things on the go at the moment....
Over the past few years we've spotted some excellent programs - Nip/Tuck, Grey's Anatomy, Men in Trees, Bones, The Closer, Dexter - now our firm favourites.
We also watch some rubbish - entertaining rubbish - but it is really 'no brain' stuff - America's Next Top Model, Project Runway, Top Design.
So, what are we watching THIS season?
We have a couple of things on the go at the moment....
- Fear Itself - this is a series of independently written horror stories - each episode is a story in its own right. Every episode is directed by a different horror director. I think it's fair to say that some of the episodes have been better than others so far, but the good episodes (like episode 1) are really good and pretty scary!
- Flashpoint - it's a Canadian series about a special tactical team that rescues hostages, busts gangs, defuses bombs, and takes on other tough cases - so far seems to be all about hostage situations; the 'Flashpoint' that makes someone snap. It's quite good and has an actor in it (Hugh Dillon) from one of the best things we've seen on TV for a while; 'Durham County' - another Canadian drama which didn't seem to be picked up by the UK or American TV networks. Very violent, spooky, and it messed with your head! We loved it!
- Californication - I know it has been shown on UK TV, but not sure how much it's caught on over here. Just watched Season 2 Episode 1- fantastic!
- True Blood - an HBO series about Vampires
- Raising the Bar - a Law firm series
9 Sept 2008
The saga of the VISA #2
The embassy officials must have been having a nice day - I'd seen them allowing people to leave and then return to their appointments after having been told that they'd forgotten various bits of their visa applications. The nice lady took pity on me. She said, you need a computer and the internet and a printer. You'll need to fill in the document on line and print it out. If you can get back here by 11am, we'll reprocess your application, she said. It was 10:05.
I ran from the embassy and along the road looking for a taxi. My 1st thought was to go back to the hotel & try and persuade the reception to print out the doc for me. Whilst in the cab, I had a better idea - an internet cafe. The taxi driver was a star, he had to ask another driver for directions but within 10 minutes I was sat in a cybercafe filling in the form.
Nothing is ever easy. Of course the keyboard of the computer was set to a different international setting - every time I typed the letter 'A' a 'Q' appeared instead. To type numbers, you needed to press the shift key. It was all totally alien. I kept telling myself to calm down. It had only taken me 10 minutes to get there. I had until 10:45 to finish the form. At 10:40 I printed it out (twice for good measure) and paid for my time and paper. I grabbed a cab and we raced back to the embassy.
At 10:58 I was re-ushered through the security screening and ran to the front of the queue. No doubt I annoyed all the other people there, but by that point I didn't care. My kind official looked up and beckoned me forward. She said, I didn't think we'd see you back in here today!
After that it seemed like only a matter of minutes and my application had been accepted and I was being asked to sit down to await the results of the security check. About an hour later I was called forward to take my fingerprints, and then told to sit and wait again (it's a long process).
Probably 3/4 of an hour later I was called forward for my "interview" - this wasn't a sit down chat accross a desk as I had been expecting - it was a chat at a post office/bank style window in front of all the other people waiting for their interviews. A bit embarrassing for those whose applications were rejected.
Anyway, the guy calls me forward and we have a bit of a chat - he asks why I'm there in Brussels and not London, so I explain the saga and tell him about the nightmare journey to Belgium. He was very nice and chatty. He then asks a few questions - what's the work I'm going to be doing, who my customer is, where I'm going to be working.........and then he said, "so you are going to be travelling back and forth quite a bit?". I told him that this trip was the only one planned and that even that wasn't booked yet as it was all pending the visa approval.
He actually put his hands up and pushed them through his hair in an exagerrated gesture of shock and surprise. I said "you're going to tell me I don't need the visa, aren't you?"
"you're right" he said "unless you're going to be travelling to the US for more than 90 days, or you're going to be paid from the US, you can travel under the business visa waiver programme."
I was gutted. Looks like we'd been badly misinformed. All that trauma and I hadn't needed it in the 1st place.
The embassy were great though - dispite all the posters around the walls saying that "visas would be available to be picked up no sooner than 48 hours after they'd been approved NO EXCEPTIONS" the guy wrote a little note on mine asking it to be fast-tracked - and right enough, I went back to the embassy the next day - Thursday - and there it was..
I was free to book my flight to the USA for the next morning, and continue on my traumatic journey - read the next leg - from Brussels to Raleigh
I ran from the embassy and along the road looking for a taxi. My 1st thought was to go back to the hotel & try and persuade the reception to print out the doc for me. Whilst in the cab, I had a better idea - an internet cafe. The taxi driver was a star, he had to ask another driver for directions but within 10 minutes I was sat in a cybercafe filling in the form.
Nothing is ever easy. Of course the keyboard of the computer was set to a different international setting - every time I typed the letter 'A' a 'Q' appeared instead. To type numbers, you needed to press the shift key. It was all totally alien. I kept telling myself to calm down. It had only taken me 10 minutes to get there. I had until 10:45 to finish the form. At 10:40 I printed it out (twice for good measure) and paid for my time and paper. I grabbed a cab and we raced back to the embassy.
At 10:58 I was re-ushered through the security screening and ran to the front of the queue. No doubt I annoyed all the other people there, but by that point I didn't care. My kind official looked up and beckoned me forward. She said, I didn't think we'd see you back in here today!
After that it seemed like only a matter of minutes and my application had been accepted and I was being asked to sit down to await the results of the security check. About an hour later I was called forward to take my fingerprints, and then told to sit and wait again (it's a long process).
Probably 3/4 of an hour later I was called forward for my "interview" - this wasn't a sit down chat accross a desk as I had been expecting - it was a chat at a post office/bank style window in front of all the other people waiting for their interviews. A bit embarrassing for those whose applications were rejected.
Anyway, the guy calls me forward and we have a bit of a chat - he asks why I'm there in Brussels and not London, so I explain the saga and tell him about the nightmare journey to Belgium. He was very nice and chatty. He then asks a few questions - what's the work I'm going to be doing, who my customer is, where I'm going to be working.........and then he said, "so you are going to be travelling back and forth quite a bit?". I told him that this trip was the only one planned and that even that wasn't booked yet as it was all pending the visa approval.
He actually put his hands up and pushed them through his hair in an exagerrated gesture of shock and surprise. I said "you're going to tell me I don't need the visa, aren't you?"
"you're right" he said "unless you're going to be travelling to the US for more than 90 days, or you're going to be paid from the US, you can travel under the business visa waiver programme."
I was gutted. Looks like we'd been badly misinformed. All that trauma and I hadn't needed it in the 1st place.
The embassy were great though - dispite all the posters around the walls saying that "visas would be available to be picked up no sooner than 48 hours after they'd been approved NO EXCEPTIONS" the guy wrote a little note on mine asking it to be fast-tracked - and right enough, I went back to the embassy the next day - Thursday - and there it was..
I was free to book my flight to the USA for the next morning, and continue on my traumatic journey - read the next leg - from Brussels to Raleigh
The saga of the VISA #1
I've put off writing about the Visa saga because it's all been so traumatic that I've really wanted to forget all about it, however I'll try and spell out the list of events as they unfolded, and I shall try not to use the words "incompetent" or "imbecile"!
Customer says 'ey up*** Liza, we're opening a store in the USA - would you like to go and test it out there for us?'
As I work for a US based company, I check with our immigration department as to whether I need a visa for work. I fill in a couple of forms and they say I do need a visa. I begin the visa application process and am asked to - complete MANY forms, write a 7 year CV, send a copy of my Degree Certificate, and pay several fees.
This process in its own right was not straightforward - the CV was sent back with the comment 'we need to see your job TITLES, not your job ROLES. ????!!!!!! What else is a CV all about if not your job roles? Finally after several to-ings and fro-ings of forms, my visa pack is ready and it is FedEx'd to me from the USA.
I then try to make an appointment at the US Embassy London for my interview. There's a 6 week wait-time for appointments. I need to be there in a fortnight. Ho Hum.
Visa/Immigration people say - it doesn't have to be the LONDON UK Embassy - just ANY US Embassy. I check the website - Belfast, Paris - all of them have over 6 weeks to wait for an appointment. But I find out that the Brussels embassy has the shortest list (in Europe). 2 days.
We figure that to get to Brussels on the plane is the same amount of time as getting to London on the train and so I book an appointment for the following Monday - 11th August.
I set off to Brussels on the Monday morning flight from Leeds Bradford airport.
The ill-fated trip to Brussels ensues - I won't go over old ground as I've already written about it....suffice to say I miss my appointment on Monday and have to reschedule for Wednesday.
Wednesday morning at 9am I'm there in a queue of 6 people outside the embassy. After the security checks I get into the building only to find over 30 people in front of me! Eventually I get to the front of the queue at about 10am. I hand over my visa pack, prepared by the immigration people at work.
Before I set off on my journey, I checked (and double checked) the list of things you need to present for your Visa application.
She rifled through the documents and then said 'Where is your I-156 document?' I checked the cover letter from the IBM Visa team. Yes, it was on the list of documents contained in my pack. I replied that the document must be there as it was on the list prepared by my company. I looked through myself. No, the document wasn't actually there. My heart sank. I'd just travelled for 2 days to get to this appointment, only to be rejected at the last hurdle. I nearly cried.
Read the story of the Visa Part 2
*** Well they are a Yorkshire based company.
Customer says 'ey up*** Liza, we're opening a store in the USA - would you like to go and test it out there for us?'
As I work for a US based company, I check with our immigration department as to whether I need a visa for work. I fill in a couple of forms and they say I do need a visa. I begin the visa application process and am asked to - complete MANY forms, write a 7 year CV, send a copy of my Degree Certificate, and pay several fees.
This process in its own right was not straightforward - the CV was sent back with the comment 'we need to see your job TITLES, not your job ROLES. ????!!!!!! What else is a CV all about if not your job roles? Finally after several to-ings and fro-ings of forms, my visa pack is ready and it is FedEx'd to me from the USA.
I then try to make an appointment at the US Embassy London for my interview. There's a 6 week wait-time for appointments. I need to be there in a fortnight. Ho Hum.
Visa/Immigration people say - it doesn't have to be the LONDON UK Embassy - just ANY US Embassy. I check the website - Belfast, Paris - all of them have over 6 weeks to wait for an appointment. But I find out that the Brussels embassy has the shortest list (in Europe). 2 days.
We figure that to get to Brussels on the plane is the same amount of time as getting to London on the train and so I book an appointment for the following Monday - 11th August.
I set off to Brussels on the Monday morning flight from Leeds Bradford airport.
The ill-fated trip to Brussels ensues - I won't go over old ground as I've already written about it....suffice to say I miss my appointment on Monday and have to reschedule for Wednesday.
Wednesday morning at 9am I'm there in a queue of 6 people outside the embassy. After the security checks I get into the building only to find over 30 people in front of me! Eventually I get to the front of the queue at about 10am. I hand over my visa pack, prepared by the immigration people at work.
Before I set off on my journey, I checked (and double checked) the list of things you need to present for your Visa application.
- 3 copies of the documentation (a list of documents included in my visa pack showed me that all the required documents were included)
- A very particular requirement for a photo - almost, but not entirely completely dissimilar from a standard passport photo
- evidence of the payment of the fee
She rifled through the documents and then said 'Where is your I-156 document?' I checked the cover letter from the IBM Visa team. Yes, it was on the list of documents contained in my pack. I replied that the document must be there as it was on the list prepared by my company. I looked through myself. No, the document wasn't actually there. My heart sank. I'd just travelled for 2 days to get to this appointment, only to be rejected at the last hurdle. I nearly cried.
Read the story of the Visa Part 2
*** Well they are a Yorkshire based company.
6 Sept 2008
I am loving UBIQUITY!
Mozilla (the firefox people) have released a beta version of their new plugin called UBIQUITY. It's a command line interface which joins up the gaps between the various bits of the web which you use every day - email, maps, mail, wikipedia. Tim mentioned it on his blog the other day, and now references to it have started appearing on some of the other blogs I read; LifeHack and here's the Mozilla blurb about it.
This blog isn't about techie things, and I'm sure that most of you reading this aren't really that interested, but this is the way forward. In a year's time, all web applications will interface in this way.
This blog isn't about techie things, and I'm sure that most of you reading this aren't really that interested, but this is the way forward. In a year's time, all web applications will interface in this way.
Menorca
Although we did a really brief post from an internet cafe in Menorca, we've not really written up too much about the holiday itself. Not that there's much to write. It was a really chilled out break. We booked a lovely villa though the James Villas website and set off bright and early to Manchester Airport. By 10am on the 1st day we were at the villa and it was about 85 degrees! We dumped our stuff and headed into the little town looking for a bit of lunch. Although there were quite a few of the 'photo of plates of chips' type restaurants, we found a lovely tapas bar where we started our holiday in style - grilled sardines, veg 'a la plancha', patatas bravas (of course), and some large, cold beers!
The rest of the holiday followed a very regular pattern. Wake up around 9. Breakfast on the patio by the pool - coffee, yoghurt, magdalenas, OJ.
We then would sit and read for a couple of hours before lunch! Lunch was either some nice salad & cold cuts or off out to our fave place again for more tapas.
Afternoons were spent in the pool - my outlook mostly like this -->
- through my toes - from the lilo.
Evening meal would involve Dan doing his manly duties and lighting the BBQ for some super bit of mixed grill.
We didn't actually go anywhere, see anything or do anything other than this! It was so relaxing I completely forgot about work until we were in the taxi going back to the airport! And it was only a week we were away! How cool!!!!
The rest of the pics are here on Picassa if you want a look.
5 Sept 2008
From Bussels to Raleigh - well not quite!
After having got there and done what I needed to do (getting the Visa part 1 and part 2) in Brussels, there remained the small matter of getting to Raleigh.
I called up the IBM travel agent (Amex Travel services) and got myself booked on the next flight out which left at 10 am the following morning; Friday 15th August. There weren't any direct flights to Raleigh, so this one went via NY. I had a 3 hour wait at JFK but that was fine!
Friday
I got up nice and early & was in the taxi at 7:30am - at the airport before 8. Lovely. Got to the check-in for my flight only to find that because the inbound flight from NY had been delayed leaving JFK the night before, OUR flight was going to be delayed 3 hours :-( of course this meant I was going to miss my connecting flight, but they were able to rebook me on to the later flight out of JFK to Raleigh. Unfortunately this was 6 hours later....but at least I was booked on something.
The flight to NY was very pleasant & uneventful - I had 2 seats to myself and landed feeling quite chilled.
I phoned Dan once I got thru customs. He was out on the pop in Batley - at a nice curry house there. I have to admit I was a bit jealous and homesick at that point! I then phoned Mum and Dad to let them know I had finally arrived. As I was chatting to them, I was in a seating area with a big TV. It was showing CNN. My eyes swept over the screen. 'Breaking News' it said. I was intreagued - was there something going on I needed to know about, something I'd missed by being an enforced captive of the airport & airline???? I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw the line underneath.....
OH NO! It wasn't to be. We sat and watched the storm approach. A thick black cloud descended on the airport. I was sitting in an area where you could charge your phone & laptop and was listening in to the walkie-talkie of the guy sitting next to me. He was airport security. About 7pm the 1st warning came through.....
I wondered what that meant. I realised that quite a few of the people waiting for flights were up and looking out of the windows down to the gates. All the people who wander about on the tarmac - the baggage handlers, the guys with the table tennis bats who direct the planes on and off the stands - the guys who drive the little tow trucks which push the planes back off the gate - the people who man the aeroplane access tunnels - all of them - just literally abandoned their posts and ran inside.
This left a quite amusing sight out there in the pouring rain & hail - planes literally mid-taxi were just left at all angles at the gates. They looked like the pilots had just left them there in a hurry! We could see people on the planes looking back at the terminal - obviously wondering why they'd stopped mid-reverse. It was very funny!
This situation lasted for about 30 minutes - from what I could gather by listening in to the walkie talkie and overhearing the gate staff chatting away - the airport ramp (runway and tarmac areas) closes when there has been lightening within 5 miles of the airport - I guess something to do with the expanse of wide open space. All the people are removed from risk - and the planes just have to sit there until it opens again.
The ramp closed again at 8:30-9pm. By this time our flight was showing an hour's delay. By 10pm they were announcing that our plane was there, ready to depart, but the crew, who had been on an inbound flight from Denver, had been diverted during one of the 2 periods of closure. Oh poo. The flight was cancelled. My 4th cancellation in 5 days. Could it get any worse?
Read about my unexpected night in New York
I called up the IBM travel agent (Amex Travel services) and got myself booked on the next flight out which left at 10 am the following morning; Friday 15th August. There weren't any direct flights to Raleigh, so this one went via NY. I had a 3 hour wait at JFK but that was fine!
Friday
I got up nice and early & was in the taxi at 7:30am - at the airport before 8. Lovely. Got to the check-in for my flight only to find that because the inbound flight from NY had been delayed leaving JFK the night before, OUR flight was going to be delayed 3 hours :-( of course this meant I was going to miss my connecting flight, but they were able to rebook me on to the later flight out of JFK to Raleigh. Unfortunately this was 6 hours later....but at least I was booked on something.
The flight to NY was very pleasant & uneventful - I had 2 seats to myself and landed feeling quite chilled.
I phoned Dan once I got thru customs. He was out on the pop in Batley - at a nice curry house there. I have to admit I was a bit jealous and homesick at that point! I then phoned Mum and Dad to let them know I had finally arrived. As I was chatting to them, I was in a seating area with a big TV. It was showing CNN. My eyes swept over the screen. 'Breaking News' it said. I was intreagued - was there something going on I needed to know about, something I'd missed by being an enforced captive of the airport & airline???? I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw the line underneath.....
- Tornado in Manhattan
OH NO! It wasn't to be. We sat and watched the storm approach. A thick black cloud descended on the airport. I was sitting in an area where you could charge your phone & laptop and was listening in to the walkie-talkie of the guy sitting next to me. He was airport security. About 7pm the 1st warning came through.....
All personnel evacuate the ramp - risk of lightening strike
I wondered what that meant. I realised that quite a few of the people waiting for flights were up and looking out of the windows down to the gates. All the people who wander about on the tarmac - the baggage handlers, the guys with the table tennis bats who direct the planes on and off the stands - the guys who drive the little tow trucks which push the planes back off the gate - the people who man the aeroplane access tunnels - all of them - just literally abandoned their posts and ran inside.
This left a quite amusing sight out there in the pouring rain & hail - planes literally mid-taxi were just left at all angles at the gates. They looked like the pilots had just left them there in a hurry! We could see people on the planes looking back at the terminal - obviously wondering why they'd stopped mid-reverse. It was very funny!
This situation lasted for about 30 minutes - from what I could gather by listening in to the walkie talkie and overhearing the gate staff chatting away - the airport ramp (runway and tarmac areas) closes when there has been lightening within 5 miles of the airport - I guess something to do with the expanse of wide open space. All the people are removed from risk - and the planes just have to sit there until it opens again.
The ramp closed again at 8:30-9pm. By this time our flight was showing an hour's delay. By 10pm they were announcing that our plane was there, ready to depart, but the crew, who had been on an inbound flight from Denver, had been diverted during one of the 2 periods of closure. Oh poo. The flight was cancelled. My 4th cancellation in 5 days. Could it get any worse?
Read about my unexpected night in New York
4 Sept 2008
The reason I was there in the 1st place
My recent traumatic travels to Belgium and the US did actually have a purpose - although it was difficult to remember it at the time - when I was trying to get to Brussels - or when I had to spend an unexpected night in New York - I was actually there to help my customer test out a new store that they have opening soon. The store itself will be in New York - on Broadway to be precise, but we were doing our testing at a company called 'SMA Microsystems' in Raleigh, North Carolina.
It's a very nice part of the world. I've been before, to visit my friend Tim, who moved out there many years ago, and who has settled out there and made a very nice life for himself. It was nice to go back and see how things have changed - and stayed the same - in 14 years!
My business trip was with 3 of my customer colleagues who I work with back home in Leeds. They were all out there because of their different technical skills, and their focus on different parts of the system. Our basic remit was to get the store set up (40 tills) and run a week's worth of tests to sim
ulate all the combinations of activity which the NY store will do when it goes live.
The facility we were in consisted of a huge warehouse with benches reaching across the open space in the middle - each bench sat about 6 tills on it - we had 2 store servers and 4 workstations and printers - 2 shoogles - the shoe lookup system, and 2 style advisor kiosks. It was a massive set up. The store is going to be huge!
As you can probably see - it's not exactly a 'lab' environment like we have back here in the UK; raised floors and under floor aircon. It literally was a warehouse.
Needless to say the only thing we could think of once the afternoon started drawing to a close was a cold beer and a shower. In that order.
It's a very nice part of the world. I've been before, to visit my friend Tim, who moved out there many years ago, and who has settled out there and made a very nice life for himself. It was nice to go back and see how things have changed - and stayed the same - in 14 years!
My business trip was with 3 of my customer colleagues who I work with back home in Leeds. They were all out there because of their different technical skills, and their focus on different parts of the system. Our basic remit was to get the store set up (40 tills) and run a week's worth of tests to sim
ulate all the combinations of activity which the NY store will do when it goes live.The facility we were in consisted of a huge warehouse with benches reaching across the open space in the middle - each bench sat about 6 tills on it - we had 2 store servers and 4 workstations and printers - 2 shoogles - the shoe lookup system, and 2 style advisor kiosks. It was a massive set up. The store is going to be huge!
As you can probably see - it's not exactly a 'lab' environment like we have back here in the UK; raised floors and under floor aircon. It literally was a warehouse.
- A big metal box,
- in 90+ degrees of heat,
- and high humidity.
- EEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!!!!!!!!
Needless to say the only thing we could think of once the afternoon started drawing to a close was a cold beer and a shower. In that order.
1 Sept 2008
Camping at Barn Farm - Mum's Birthday
I think it's probably true to state that we seem to have found a 'favourite' campsite. Mentioned multiple times so far in this blog (eg here, and here) Barn Farm is the nicest campsite EVER.There's nothing there apart from the loo block, *some* hot showers and the views over the Derbyshire countryside. Oh and the wildlife!
This time, the WHITE peacock (well peahen) had had some white babies - how cute - and there were some very old fashioned looking hens - straight from a children's farmyard story book! Not to mention the swallows (or were they swifts?) difficult to tell as they swooped and dived around the tents about 1foot above ground level. Amazing acrobatics!Anyway, the occasion was Mum's birthday - we'd done the camping thing before, 2 years ago for the birthday celebrations and all enjoyed it so much we decided to do it again! This time the weather wasn't quite as cold as last time - but also not quite as dry! On the Saturday it completely bucketed it down. We solved this problem in several ways.
- Dad went to sleep
- Liza Jane and Mum went off to Chatsworth, and then Bakewell for a wander (and tea and a scone!)
On the up side, we did find out that our new tent will fit 4 chairs inside around a table - and with the impromptu awning that dad rigged up from pieces of string and random bits of tent pole he 'happened to have in the boot of the car' we managed to survive quite well even with the 'weather'.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)