Three years ago we took off in our car on a ten day visiting holiday, making stops at a variety of places in and around London and on the south coast. With the arrival of Elisha, and the fact we hadn’t seen many of the people we’d visited since then, off we went again on the long haul.
The first couple of days we stayed with Sue, where we enjoyed some fine barbeque food out in the hot, sunny weather. Fliss‘ old workmate Ann turned up on the Sunday and it was good to see her again.
On the Monday morning we headed off to see Hannah for the next couple of days. She was out at a gig on the evening we arrived, which gave us some free time to relax. Hannah was working during the following day, too, so we managed to fit in a visit to see Fliss‘ cousin Pip that afternoon. In the evening we had a nice meal before watching the world cup match that was on. It’s funny when you visit people like this – for you it’s a holiday, but for them it’s a regular Tuesday.
On Wednesday we headed off to see my mate David and his wife Sarah, plus their new baby Ryan. David had taken the day off with the intention of having a barbeque, but unfortunately the weather had turned a bit miserable. We made do with eating indoors, drinking the copious amounts of beer that David had bought and, again, watching that evening’s world cup match.
Early on Thursday we headed off to have lunch with Fliss‘ auntie Christine and uncle Eric in Bosham, about an hour away. The weather had picked up a little by the time we arrived and it was nice to sit in the conservatory catching some rays and enjoying the lasagna on offer.
After lunch we made the short trip to Selsey to see Fliss‘ friend Jess and family. We spent two nights there and enjoyed excellent hospitality on the part of Jess’ mum, Rose. She really does make us feel at home when we visit, so it was a great way to end the week.
On Saturday we headed to the small village of West Dean for the scattering ceremony of Fliss‘ mum’s ashes. The scattering went well, and it was good to meet distant family for the rest of the afternoon.
After saying goodbye to Ted at West Dean station we hit the road to make the trip north to Gloucester for the last visit of our trip. On the way we stopped at Stonehenge so I could take a picture of Elisha’s rabbit for Rachel. Not sure where the idea came from, but Rachel gave Elisha this cute soft rabbit when we were in York a few weeks back. I’ve been taking pictures of the rabbit on our travels and sending them back for Rachel. The rabbit seemed to enjoy his short trip to Stonehenge, although we were in too much of a hurry to properly go in and see it, taking a couple of snaps from the security fence instead. Hey, that’s what zoom is for.
When we arrived in Gloucester we were able to add to the order of indian food that my mum had just made, ensuring a tasty feast a short while later. It was good to see all the family again, even though I’ll be seeing my mum, dad, and brother Andrew in a week or so in Turkey anyway.
On the Sunday we attended the 50th wedding anniversary gathering of my grandparents at a lovely country club about 40 minutes away. There were lots of people I hadn’t seen in over a decade, and others I’d never actually met because they’d been born in the meantime. The afternoon went really well, with Elisha drawing lots of attention from the relatives and behaving herself very well.
That evening we had pizza and the indian left-overs for dinner and watched the world cup final on the telly. I managed to complete almost an entire season of Football Manager on my PSP as the evening went on, so with bleary eyes I called it a night around midnight.
The next day we made the three hour drive back up to Liverpool to complete the trip. I don’t know how many miles we covered as I forgot to set the trip counter, but it’s amazing how many visits we got in during the course of ten days. Maybe we’ll do it all again in another three years.
