A Day in Manchester....

     .....We had to go to sort out our visas, as we are going to China in less than 2 weeks, now we have applied, we go back up to Manchester next week to get our passports and tickets back, and hopefully to collect the visas too.  We had problems because we were staying with Charlotte rather than in a hotel, and we had to have reservations booked or be invited by a Chinese citizen who is a permanent resident- not there on a working visa like Charlotte is.  We could stay with Charlotte, but only if we had an invitation to stay from the owner of her appartments-of course we didn't have that either!  So Darsh had to contact our travel agent to book a hotel, and then find a branch of his company in Manchester who would give us printed details of our reservations, for us to hand in to the Chinese embassy.  So be warned, any of you who are planning a visit to her, the Chinese paperwork really is something else!!!!

Now back home- just doing the housework, I sorted and ironed my whole summer wardrobe to see what was going on holiday, either with me or via the charity shop, and my winter stuff is off into the loft.  So of course the good weather has broken, today is definately much cooler and the kids have finished school for Easter today so we can expect Winter to return with a vengeance.

     Definately not a snap from today, and I had got a big box of bargain Violas from Morrisons that I was planning to plant out in the garden this afternoon, but the sun is only managing to appear for a few minutes at a time.  So inside jobs it is then...

Late evening sunshine....

.....shining through a gap in the fence....shadows, my favourite ....

 

In China already?......

      .....Nah!....Wing Yip, we went with Sally, Dave and Jenna to stock up on provisions in the local Chinese supermarket...

    Spent Saturday around Birmingham, stocking up on spices in Handsworth and having Samosas at the "Umbrella Man"
     Sara went to see Lydia and Gemma in the evening, while we stayed home, catching up with each others news and playing board games. 

     On Sunday we drove across to Kidderminster to look at a car Sal and Dave wanted to buy to take over to France with them.  They are planning to drive back across to central France with both cars and a trailer loaded up with all sorts of plants, tools and stuff they had kept in storage here ever since they sold their big house.

        Jenna came across with them, it was lovely to see her again and she and Sara spent the whole weekend nattering.

             One new car and a Sara waiting while they viewed the car and enjoying the sunshine....
After we drove on to a canal with a tea-room by its side.  It was an amazingly hot day, so of course we sat outside... perusing the menu....

               .....and enjoying sandwiches, cider and ice -creams...

                            ....taking photos........

         ...........and generally admiring the scenery.

Afterwards we came home, via "New-life" of course, because Sara and Jenna had never been there before.  Three new tops for my summer wardrobe, and two dresses, two scarves and a nice handbag for Sara to carry back to Dublin.

Had to be up horribly early this morning to get Sara to the airport for her flight back to work.  We saw the sun rise up through the mist into a bright orange sky against the silhouettes of the still bare trees.  The ground, and the car, was covered in a thick crunchy frost that burnt off in minutes as soon as the sun came up and the temperature rose.

And where was the camera?  Back home, in bed, same place as the dog (and Dave Sal and Jenna if the truth be known!)

They managed to get the new car taxed and insured this morning ready to set off back across to Lincolnshire with it.  So we went for a quick carvery before they had to set off.  Spent a lazy afternoon in the garden and greenhouse doing what I like best....pottering.  Darsh was tearing his hair, out trying to sort out visas for China on the computer.  Three hours later he pressed the wrong button and his hard work just sort off disappeared, never to be seen again.  Now he has disappeared too, up to bed to recover before he starts all over again.

Sara is home.....

      ......and set us up to Skype Charlotte, who was on her way out and too busy to talk.... so some things never change, even if she is on the other side of the world.....

        Sara brought me mothers day present....how many cup cakes am I going to have to make to keep that full.....(Dear Matt......)

          Sal, Dave and Jenna are coming over today for the weekend, it will be good to see them after so long.  And in the meantime Darsh is on the phone as usual, but today he is arranging his wedding.  I am not sure if he is the Bride, the groom, or the father of the bride, but he is giving some poor woman on the other end of the phone a hard time.
      Sara is going to a hospital appointment this afternoon about her sore knee, Dad had told her it was with a Physio, but it is actually with a surgeon, and it is actually alot better with that knowledge! 

Home again....

      .....why did it have to turn so cold when there was so much we wanted to do?

    A fair amount of time did go on trying to, and failing to, fix that washing machine.  It was having none of it, officially DEAD, so much so that we dropped it off at a repair shop, where the guy is going to use it for spares, now Selina and Pete are going to have to go out to get a new one.  We did suggest one as an early wedding present and were met with wails of "how boring that idea was" and "we want something far more exciting than a washing machine."  The idea Darsh and I came up with this morning is neither of the above, but we need to look into it and maybe even "persuade" the sisters to join in too....



      I was talking to Lydia's mum the other morning, and she casually mentioned an idea for the wedding that I hadn't thought about, neither had Sel or Pete, but it has given them an idea, so....Selina was straight on the internet looking up dates and prices for around November time.  She will call the family with details in her own time and give all a surprise, but I woke up the next morning feeling all excited...

     Sunday [Mother's Day] we took a ride to Clevedon for a walk along the sea-front, bright and very still, but absolutely freezing......

    Monday, we stayed on in Bristol, even though S&P were at work, Dad couldn't bare to be beaten by a mere washing machine, he was though,[ even though he took it to pieces and reassembled it a couple more times ] We took a drive to Keynsham in the smart car, where we had afternoon tea in a lovely little coffee shop and a good poke around the charity shops.

Afternoon tea for 3
Me, him and his phone.

    Tuesday we wandered home, via the already mentioned repair shop, stopping on the way for a McDonalds.

A short but busy week now as Sara is coming home on Thursday night and Sal, Dave and Jenna are joining us for the weekend, You should see the state of the house, no room to swing a cat, never mind house 4 visitors (5 if John comes too)

Sorting out ready for a trip to Bristol tomorrow.....

    ....no doubt we will get some time in the garden, and it will be the first time we seen the completed summer house...hopefully we will be able to sit in there for our afternoon tea-  I am making a cake -just in case.  Joe is already getting worried about the pile of bits he has seen building up in the hallway ready to load in the car.     
      I want to go to the garden centre for some spring plants to take over, then Selina and I can plant them while poor old Pete helps Darsh to fix that washing machine!  Made a little something to decorate said summer house...

                 Also taking "my borrowed laptop" [which might now become "my own laptop" because Charlotte has bought herself an I-pad and why would she need an old battered laptop as well?]  I need someone to set up the webcam so I can see what she is up to in China, and that is where Selina's technical noknowledge might come in handy.  However, Sara is coming over next weekend but as yet John is not sure if he is too.  If he does I know I have a reliable source of back-up knowledge...(to fix the damage.)

These weeks seem be flying past.....

      ....I can't believe it is a whole week since I was last here.  Looking back it has been an uneventful week, spent at home doing an awful lot of nothing really.  The good weather has stayed with us and so we have been out for walks, gardened, sorted out the greenhouse and even cut the grass.

                   Sat in the back of the car, cos it's too hot for him in the front and he flatly refuses to sit anywhere else but on my knee in the car.....

             The beautiful blue sky and sunny warmth make it hard to believe that it's only March.....

         Once out of the car and on the phone....makes it hard to get either of them back in again.  Joe can last for hours without a wee, but Darsh...barely minutes before he has to communicate with his followers.

  Done some sorting out of general stuff at home, we have so much we don't need/like/want and I am keen to get rid, Darsh, however, can't bare to part with a thing and for all the trouble it causes I may as well just let it lie there and carry on stepping over it for a few more years!
      Charlotte finally got herself to China, despite a long delay in Newcastle, that made her miss her connection in Dubai, so she had to wait there for 7 hours for the next flight, that meant she arrived in Shanghai at 1.30am and had to be in her new office before 9am that day. Bearing in mind the office is quite distance from her flat and she didn't know the way, and her flat was not as nice as she had hoped it would be.....she was not a particuarly happy bunny.  Work took her out for lunch yesterday,what did they have? Jelly fish!!!!!
       She spent her 1st evening shopping for a heater, some bleach and a warm cardigan-then she got lost trying to find her way home.
        Things can only get better...... 

After a misty and frosty start.....

                   ....we were gifted with the most beautiful of mornings.....the heaviest dew.....bright, bright sunshine and the best place in the world to enjoy my breakfast.....

        .....pretty little crocus opening their petals to the sun, in their pots, tall ones, that that darned dog can't manage to wee into!

                    .....tiny dwarf daffodils pushing their little heads up through the shadows, I love shadows, and tiny daffys, a definate sign of the season moving on....

            ....I wasn't the only one sunbathing, this tiny ladybird crawled onto my chair to join me, his dull colours and sluggish movements made me think he had only just woken up....

          Not everyone was as pleased to see the sun or risk coming out in it.....

                 Fished a few of my garden bits and pieces out of my shed to decorate my little patio area, but every bit of decoration I put out, it has to be closely examined and sniffed over by the boss.....

      .......Darsh, however, is far happier in the conservatory, yelling down the phone to tell everyone that he has, at last, managed to book our tickets to go to China to visit Charlotte next month.

Please don't make me....

....we were heading up to Newcastle for a flying visit before Charlotte jets off to Shanghai.

Of course he didn't want to go and so hid himself under the cushions, not very well hidden as it turns out, he forgets his head and just assumes that if he refuses to look at us we won't see him.  Strangely it is a doggy theory that hasn't worked yet.

    Charlotte was working Friday, so once Darsh had fixed the dishwasher for her we wandered into the city centre to see the sights.....

           and to drink coffee in Pret......

                             ......and make phone calls of course....

        Saturday was spent around the town and shops doing nothing in particular, just been together, and we came home late on Saturday night.