Saturday 26th December 1998 8.5 degrees Celsius
Picked up the rental car at Heathrow airport - mission getting out there as we had to drag all of our luggage up to the tube, ride to Heathrow, then wait for transfer. Finally got the car and got out of London as fast as we could! Stopped for breaky/lunch at a "drivers rest" - refuelled ourselves and drove up the M3 to Stonehenge. Very wet, windy and cold and got out long enough to take the obligatory snap through a fence! Then drove to Salisbury - very quaint and totally English town. Visited Salisbury cathedral - did a pretty good Mary Poppins impersonation on the way there with our umbrellas. Cathedral incredible - everything we expected and more. Pillars of the earth revisited!! Back in the car again and decided at an intersection to go to Bath - (we feel a bit like Thelma and Louise and Louis!!) not a very long drive by our standards, especially after all the "tellings" we got from everyone about how you can't just hop from one place to another. Mild panic at Bath - couldn't see any nice looking B&B's and the ones we did see were closed for the public holiday. However did a cruise through town and found a lovely hotel with bar and restaurant attached. Lovely old fashioned room with three beds - all of us (Leigh, Rick and myself) sharing a room which made it only 30 pounds each. At present relaxing over a half pint of XXXX of all things! Leigh is into the Budweiser and so far not an English beer has passed our lips! The plan tomorrow is to view the Roman Baths, and any other points of interest, then head off through Exeter, the Dartmoor National Park and Truro and hopefully stay the night in Penzance (Lands End - St Just). Point of interest - we got to the bar tonight at 5pm ready for a cold drink (of the alcoholic variety and all the English were tucking into "high tea".
Sunday, 27th December 1998 7.5 degrees Celsius
What can I say????? We have just checked into the seediest B&B I have ever seen as all the good ones are booked out. It's above a pub in Penzance and as I write a band is blaring downstairs! We have been assured that they are finishing at 6pm tonight. Good day though - enjoyed a hearty breakfast at the hotel in Bath and then walked around looking at all the sights. Saw the roman baths and an abbey which was pretty good. Then drove to Truro via a number of towns/cities - Truro very pretty and traditional. Posed for photos outside Perranwell store at the station where Win lives. Then drove on to St Michaels Mount - awesome island with a castle on it. Very bracing standing outside for the photos - it was a case of freeze with a smile on your face and then jump back into the car quick smart! The motorways here are good - can basically drive directly from one place to another without looking at the map. English drivers are pretty good too. Very courteous, and most notably after Johannesburg they appear to be safe drivers however they also drive fast (average of 85 mph on the motorways). What now - well freshen up and go and find a decent pub to have some dinner in. Will have to complete our morning ablutions at McDonald's though as the toilets here do not appear to flush! Bad hair day tomorrow! Penzance at first glance seems to be an ok sort of a place. By the sea and full of touristy shops. Will investigate it more tomorrow.
Monday 28th December 1998 3.0 degrees Celsius
Well it's my turn on the keyboard again (Rick). We got up early and left the Riviera Hotel in Penzance, not because we were eager for the days travels but as none of us got any sleep, the rooms were freezing cold, yucky and we didn't fancy the thought of what the breakfast they served would contain! We drove further down the country to Land's End, boy was it cold there. The scenery was pretty awesome with the rugged coast line but it sure was cold. We drove alone some lovely English country roads and arrived at Torquay (the English Riviera) very nice group of towns which the English use as a summer holidaying resort. This is where the fun starts and where this paragraph is being authored…. We filled up (50 litres in total) with 'petrol', however about 500 metres up the road the car stacked a wobbly! Guess what; we had filled up the diesel car with petrol… oops. In my defence I would like to mention that we weren't told it took diesel and the car manual mentioned nothing but petrol - oh well shit happens! We called the trusty English AA and were towed back to Exeter, where we are still sitting in the AA recovery depot right now waiting for the tank to be drained. The plan is to drive back out of town and stop at the closest B&B for a meal, bed and DRINK! The adventures continue tomorrow. More on Torquay - beautiful seaside town full of big old hotels and fish and chip shops. I'm beginning to think these Brits are a hardy lot - once again it was freezing cold and windy, but they were out there in force sightseeing, eating ice creams and fish and chips on the pier - they all but had their deckchairs out!! We put in a valiant effort and had fish n chips sitting outside, but honestly the chips were cold before they reached our mouths. The ice cream nearly finished us off completely and by the time we got back to the car we were fair frozen!!
Tuesday 29th December 1998 3.5 degrees Celsius
Kerrie here. Another full on day - loads of driving and sightseeing. Back to last night first. After waiting for over four hours we finally had the car back and filled with the right sort of "diesel"! the guy who did the job was good value - straight out of Johannesburg and settled here in Exmouth. He took us to a cheapish B&B which turned out to be wonderful - we walked in and were so relieved to see three beds lined up with duvets and matching covers, even the radiator worked! We were rapt! Got changed and walked to the pub five hundred meters up the road - what an oasis. Roaring fire, good food and excellent service. Got ourselves all warm and toasty then fell into our beds by 11pm - took a bit of time for us to settle down though as we were enjoying our cripsy sheets very much!! Had a wonderful breakfast the next morning and then continued with the driving. Visited the Badbury Rings which are sort of an old Roman playground. Saw also the old Roman road to London. Braved the cold and took a walk around with a few happy snappies along the way. Stopped for lunch at the "Pudding and Pye" - typical English pub where we had turkey rolls with cranberry sauce - yummy! Moved right along to Southampton - horrible industrial dirty place with loads of traffic and very few road signs for where we wanted to go. Found the train station ok though and put Leigh on one back to London, then drove off to Portsmouth where Penny and Trevor (people we met at the Courtyard in JoBurg) are living. Met up with them and stayed the night. Bummer though as I got a cold today and feel pretty grotty. Not surprised as everyone here seems to be coughing over everyone else.
Wednesday 30th December 1998 6 degrees Celsius
Full on cold today!!! Nothing worse than being sick on holiday. Oh well - we trouped on. Off to Broadstone today - managed to find Springdale Ave (Rick's Grandparents old street) with no problems, and were spotted by the neighbours who recognised Rick immediately and insisted we go in and have lunch with them. Very enjoyable catching up with them. Took photos of the Pearce's old house (which Rick reckons seems so much smaller now that he has grown). The manicured lawns that Rick remembered were no longer but the river was still running through the end of the back garden (although had been made into a waterfall sort of area). Moved along and visited another couple further up the road who also recognised Rick immediately so stopped in with them for a while. Then off for a quick visit to Corfe castle and a look around the village. Pretty amazing but a lot of the castle not there anymore which was a little frustrating! Then back out to Portsmouth and had dinner with Penny and Trevor at an Italian restaurant. Another late night even though New Years is tomorrow!
Thursday 31st December 1998 7 degrees Celsius
Still full of a cold!! Went out this morning and picked up a couple of costumes to wear tonight (Rick is a convict and I'm going as Pebbles!) Filled up the thermos and drove to Brighton which is one of the best places so far. Just like what you see on TV - full of touristy stuff and a little bit tacky but great none the less. Freezing cold and windy - water looked positively sub zero, but we braved it and walked along the waterfront and up the pier which is full of amusements including an old fashioned carousel. Bought heaps of Brighton rock, had fish and chips on the waterfront (with mushie peas), had a bit of a look around the shops and then back to Portsmouth to pick up Leigh and Jenni for New Years Eve. Ended up doing a pub crawl with a few people dressed up in fancy dress or drag, and experienced our first English New Years. Just before midnight the whole pub emptied out onto the street and people came out of their houses and we all sang Old Lang Syne. Was getting kissed by people I didn't even know! Bit rowdy afterwards - a few fights and things in the pub but we just hopped into our pre booked taxis and came home where we sat up until 4 - 5pm socialising. Good night.
Friday 1st January 1999 7.5 Degrees Celsius
Not a wonderful day!! Crawled out of bed around midday and cleaned up the mess from last night, then took a walk along the river in a feeble attempt to make ourselves feel better. It didn't work! Got back to a hearty cooked breakfast thanks to Trevor, and have basically slobbed all day watching videos. Tomorrow has to be a better day!!
Saturday 2nd January 1999 6 degrees Celsius
Much better today!!! Got up reasonably early and discovered that the sun was shining (first time just about). After packing up and saying goodbyes we were on the road again - this time four of us. Headed east on the A46 with Trevor's trusty little map book which he had given us, to a village called Arundel which has a huge castle right in the middle of it. Drove around the village a bit then headed further up the highway where the view was much better and took piccies there. Unfortunately the castle isn't open at this time of the year. Then off to Durrington cemetery where Nanna Warren is buried. After driving around in circles for ages we finally asked someone and then found it straight away. Only problem is that we couldn't find her grave. There was four of us looking for over an hour but no joy. Very disappointing after finally getting there. Back into the car and off again - this time heading towards Oxford. Stopped on the way at a pub for lunch (well two actually). The first offered me chilli and kidney bean soup when I enquired, and the look of recoil on everyone's faces was too much - we ran out of there and re-modelled the tread pattern of the tyres of the car! Stopped a bit further up the road which was much better. Reached Oxford just on dark and found a great B&B straight away with a good pub up the road where we had a yummy dinner.
Sunday 3rd January 1999 4 degrees Celsius
Good sleep last night!! Once again enjoyed the breakfast served to us (full on cooked English brekkie) and had a bit of a look around Oxford. Nice but not stunning - or maybe we just didn't look close enough. Nothing of real interest except for architecture, so we took off again. First stop was Blenheim castle - Winston Churchill's birthplace. The castle wasn't open but the grounds were so we had a drive/walk around and took loads of snaps. The thing we really did want to see (the hedge maze) was closed which was a tad annoying - we sat in the coffee shop there trying to plan a way to scale the fence around it and take our photos. Needless to say neither happened - the Brits are just too good at hiding their national treasures behind walls for the off season! We had visions of broken legs and necks so abandoned that idea. Then to Stratford upon Avon which was awesome (although once again chilly!!). Walked around the town, took snaps of the canal and all the Shakespeare houses - although it took us a while to work out which one was actually his birthplace as they weren't labelled too well for those that didn't want to pay the money to go in and have a look. However we persevered and ended up looking at our brochures to try and guess what is what. Great village - had that really "old" feeling. Didn't want to leave but Warwick Castle was calling. Drove to Warwick (funny that!!) and paid nearly ten pounds each to get in but it was really worth it. Huge castle said to be the best medieval castle in England. It was set up with different eras in each section - the best of course being the medieval ones. The Victorian and Georgian sort of era was ok but not old enough!! Trouped up and down a zillion steps and by the time we left we were all suffering from "trembly legs!". Then onwards to Nottingham which is where we planned to stay the night but it was awful (real awful) so we kept on to Lincoln (in a round about sort of way!!) where we ended up in the Marriott Hotel (hey you only live once!). Sunday night rates are pretty good so thought we would treat ourselves (especially after I looked at one B&B that had uneven beds all jammed up next to each other, and another where the owner was busy eyeing me up and down as though I had come to collect the crown jewels. ) We have noticed it is not quite as friendly up this end of the country!
Monday 4th January 1999 9.5 degrees Celsius
Slept in late this morning - enjoying the Marriott to the fullest potential!! Stopped for breakfast at the Rat and Parrot, yummy eggs and ham. Bit of a bother finding our way around! Bought Leigh a train ticket back to London for a bit later on, then did a whirlwind visit of the cathedral and castle in Lincoln. Impressive structures and would loved to have a look inside but a bit limited timewise. Dropped Leigh off at the station, then continued on north towards Sheffield. Happened to stumble into Sherwood Forest on the way there ... purely by accident. Intrigued by Robin Hood's hangout so did a walk through the forest to the Big Oak where he supposedly pledged his troth to Maid Marion, then watched a video on the history of the forest. Visited Edwinstowe - a small village further up the road with the church in it where they supposedly got married. Then back onto the main highway to Sheffield ... oh what a depressing place. Full of brown and grey brick housing and lots of industry, and in a kind of dip in the landscape. Very oppressive and we were glad to get out of there. Didn't stop as nothing caught our eye. Drove on then to York via Leeds, where we found Beryl and Peter Hardings place reasonably easily. Very warm welcome and we spent the evening catching up and drinking wine. Very groovy couple. Enjoyed a lovely roast pork dinner then fell into bed after planning tomorrows activities. Beryl is Rick's Grandpas brothers daughter - Linda's cousin so Rick's second cousin (took a while to work all of that out!!)
Tuesday 5th January 1999 10 degrees Celsius
Very mild today but raining as per usual. Woken up at 8am by Peter knocking on the door to get Rick out on the back lawn doing pressups! Rick wasn't actually too keen on that idea!! Out the door by 9.30 - all four of us - for a trip to Whitby and a few other villages. Drove out via Howard's castle - in Brideshead revisited, then along some very country roads (with dry stone fences all around) to Whitby which is a lovely fishing village nestled on some fairly steep hillsides. Looked at the remains of the abbey, then took a walk around the village through steep alleyways with cobblestoned streets. Very quaint and very English! Had lunch (fish and chips with mushie peas) then drove to Goathland which was terribly exciting as we recognised a lot of the buildings out of "Heartbeat"!! They even had a store with "Aidensfield general store" written on the front - by this stage I had worked myself into such a lather that I was looking around for constable Nick!! He unfortunately didn't come running out to greet me so we continued on our way to another village called Gosham, which is where the famous steam train runs from. Unfortunately it was tucked away for the winter but we walked through a train engine "storage" sort of place for all the old engines and carriages. Drove on through Beck Hole and a couple of other places, and on the way out recognised a farm that we are fairly sure was Claude Greengrasses place in Heartbeat - it just had that "look"! Really ramshackle and disorganised. Got back to York at about 4pm and ducked into the Train Museum to find out where to buy a model steam engine and ended up at a place called "Puffers" (and not because we all stood outside having a smoke!) Rick couldn't find what he wanted though so we went on home where we are now relaxing over cups of tea and chocolate cake! York city is interesting - there is a city wall all around it with majestic archways over the streets. The plan tomorrow is to investigate the minster and a couple of other places there, and then hopefully take off again towards Edinburgh. Hopefully the warmer weather continues. Only trouble with the overcast weather though is that it is dark by 4pm - not good for the body's sleep clock!
Wednesday 6th January 1999 4.5 degrees Celsius
Woke up a little earlier and took a drive to York city centre with Beryl and had a good walk around. We went to the York Minster, a little smaller than Salisbury Cathedral but nonetheless very impressive. Apparently it has 1/3 of all the stained glass in England in its windows! We were feeling game so took a walk up the tower, boy that was hard work!! Trembly legs again! but worth it, the view over York was great. When then had tea and cakes in a 16th century café in the centre of town, walking back to the car through the 'Shambles' old old buildings where they are nearing touching each other across the streets. Granted it's winter and very cold but a definite bonus is that it isn't busy as we have been told by people that all the things we have done would have taken twice as long in summer due to the volume of people and tourists, bloody tourists who'd be one!!! After some bacon butties back at Beryl and Peters we bid them farewell and spent a couple of hours (I could have spent a couple of days there) at the National Railway museum. It was brilliant I got to see my favourite steam engine the 'Mallard' the steam engine that still today holds the steam rail record of 126 mph. We then jumped back in our second home (the trusty Vauxhall Vectra) and headed up to Scotland, the Yorkshire and surrounding county's countryside is absolutely incredible. We crossed the border and couldn't stop talking to each other with Scottish accents! It was great arriving in Edinburgh after dark as the Castle looked awesome all lit up. We found the perfect hotel, it had a bar, restaurant and rooms all adjoining. After a good meal (footnote: we declined the offer of stewed cabbage and boiled potato's and stuck with french fries) and an informative chat with the restaurant and bar staff headed up to catch up on the world events on TV even with a full-on Scottish accent.
Thursday 7th January 1999 0 degrees Celsius
Woke up this morning and had poached eggs on toast, doesn't sound worth writing about I know, but they were cooked to perfection! Very very yummy they were!! We then walked up and down the 'Royal Mile' a group of streets leading up to Edinburgh Castle. Scotland has very subtly different architecture to that in England. Very medieval and almost gothic looking. It was great looking down the narrow alleys, at Robert Louis Stevenson's house and at the various other points of interest. The view of the old and new 'towns' was spectacular from Edinburgh Castle. We also loved listening to the Scot's talk, their accent is awesome. Ducked into a tartan weaving place and caught up on the history of tartan - then bought a T-shirt!! Just to go back to the 'fuel' thing for the car, we needed fuel (notice I'm not mentioning what actually goes in the tank) we stopped at two Service stations and neither of them pumped diesel!!! We then drove our longest stretch from Edinburgh to Wick, sure there is heaps to see in-between but we wanted to make it to 'John O Groats' the 'top' of Great Britain; apparently the furthermost distance from 'Land's End'. The drive up had some of the best scenery we have seen, snow included!! Kerrie was a little worried about black ice etc. but we made it here in one piece! She is currently at the bar ordering a couple of drinks and asking the barman about the black spots for ice on the way back down Scotland!! I guess it's better to be safe than sorry. I've just calculated how many photo's we have taken I and think we are up to about 300 shots so far and we have the lake district, Wales and two days in Paris to go - I guess we'll have shares in Kodak soon especially after Southern Africa. Well my beers getting flat and warmer! so we'll catch ya tomorrow. Kerrie here . . . Wick is groovy! It's quite a villagy sort of place - set on the banks of a river. Cold, and a little bit smelly as the wind is blowing in from the direction of the farms that use silage, but pretty quaint nonetheless.
Our hotel room here is great - we are staying in Mackay's Hotel . . .the bed is of the four posted variety!! Plus a very comfortable looking bath that is big enough for the two of us (even after all of our English breakfasts)!! Tomorrow we are off to "Lands Top" then hot footing it back down via Loch Ness to as far South as we can get - hopefully down to Blackpool even though it is a fair distance. Leigh may be joining us there - depending on how her cold is and if she feels like taking another train ride to meet us.
Friday 8th January 1999 -2 degrees Celsius
Up early this morning and tucking into those poached eggs again! Very cold - had to make use of the ice scraper on the windscreen. Drove slowly up to John O Groats which was ok but not stunning - and photographed the old hotel there (which is apparently one of the more photographed buildings in Britain). Carried on to Thurso, then to Inverness and through all the Lochs which were stunning. The day was perfectly still and it was almost snowing ,a very tranquil and serene postcard setting. It's a bit like a combination of Queenstown and Taupo there - same sort of feeling. Drove through a bit of snow, saw some ski fields, then did a very long haul down to Blackpool. Had been told by some that Blackpool was a place to miss as it is very tacky and overdone, but we found it very interesting to say the least. Noticed on the way down all these trucks "gritting" the highways in anticipation of tomorrow mornings frost. Started off by finding a B&B to stay in . . . not hard as the streets were lined with them. Found one called "Myrtles" which was a townhouse sort of place - three stories high with about 5 rooms on each landing. Every B&B was identical - it was just a matter of finding one that had a décor to match our taste!! Eventually got settled and took a walk through Blackpool -very touristy!!! Loads and loads of amusement centres, pubs, and general entertainment sort of places. Started our evening with an Irish pub that featured Scottish bar staff and customers - ended up having a great natter to both and drinks bought for us. Then experienced the most hideous meal we have ever had at a restaurant called Truffles - to anyone reading this don't go there!! The garlic bread was burnt, and the desert was a floury apple pie with dishwater custard that Rick ended up dumping under the table to make it look like he had eaten some!! And the wine . . . well I won't even go there!!
Next stop was a sing-a-long bar . . .we walked in and there was a full stage set up with candy striped houses and old time singers belting out the ragtime hits from years ago. A brandy and a few sing-a-longs later and we hopped downstairs to a disco where we were the oldest by at least 15 years!! Geriatric old farts we are!! Oh to be young and skinny again!
Saturday 9th January 1999 -2 degrees Celsius
Early start today - well it wasn't difficult after lying awake in bed all night listening to all three floors of rooms creaking away with the various nocturnal activities that were going on! These Brits need to learn about insulation!!!! Did a bit of a tour around Blackpool - checked out the tower but decided not to go up it as we will be in Paris on the real thing in a couple of days. Visited an amusement parlour where I rediscovered my youth and spent a couple of hours swindling all of our available cash on games - my favourite being shooting the bad guys on a big screen . . . I didn't do too bad for a girl!! Moved on up to Pleasure Beach - which unfortunately didn't open until the afternoon so we cut a track and headed to Cambridge, and a lovely family hotel where we are now sitting relaxing. Loads of people on bikes here - they say everyone here owns at least one bike. Good dodgems when driving!!! Had dinner in a pub just up the road - full of university students (feeling old syndrome again!!) and wrote on the cars back window the latest catch phrase that has been on the radio all day "Hop on Baby". Before hitting the sack we thought we'd have a quick one in the hotels bar, we ended up staying there for a couple of hours talking to this really interesting Scot's guy - heaps of fun and very interesting. So tomorrow when we get the -6 degree frost that is expected our catch phrase should be standing clear and proud! Very cold tonight - the first really clear day we have had but the cold and black ice the next day are inevitable. Should be an interesting drive back to London!
Sunday 10th January 1999 -2.5 degrees Celsius
We slept like baby's last night and wished we could have stayed in bed all day. Had our standard breakfast of poached eggs on toast. Packed up the car for the last time on the road and headed to London. We found the rental car return depot at Heathrow with no problem. And to let you know Europcar apologised profusely for not making us aware that we should have put Diesel in the tank as against petrol. After getting the tube back to Leigh's place we relaxed for a little and cracked open some wine. That was probably the first mistake. We then went out to dinner with Leigh and Jenny to 'La Rogue', on the walk back home we just couldn't help ourselves and had to pop into the local pub called the 'Firkin Off License' with the intention of having 'a' pint each… we ended up all playing a quiz show game that was on TV with the entire pub. Corny but heaps of fun we ended up crawling into the sack at about 3am - very naughty for a school night.
Monday 11th January 1999
What can I say ... Leigh crept downstairs with bright red eyeballs and Jenni didn't look much better - felt really sorry for them going to work!! We just slobbed - watched a couple of videos and munched sushi all day. Leigh was eventually sent home sick from work and we all just sat around and felt sorry for ourselves. Not a very productive day at all!!
Tuesday 12th January 1999
Got up early this morning and trekked off to Waterloo station to catch the Eurostar to Paris. Unfortunately ended up sitting stationary half way through the Chunnel for a couple of hours due to a breakdown further up the road - but to make up for it were given a free trip one way (which is not as good as it sounds as to buy a one way ticket to make it a round trip it is cheaper to buy a return ticket anyway!!) Arrived in Paris about midday and spent the next hour walking the streets and trying to communicate with very limited French to ask directions. Finally found it (average only unfortunately) and we were off in pursuit of Notre Dame. Found it ok - going past Hotel de Ville on the way, and spent a while cruising through. Veeeeeeeery cold - almost too cold to take our gloves off to take photos - and Rick spotted minute snowflakes drifting around. Highly exciting!! It eventually turned into full on snow, and by the time we had gone back to our hotel, got changed and walked outside again the city was transformed. We were like kids - trouped around a bit getting colder and colder, just to be in it. It made the city look beautiful (not that Paris needs any help there). Ensconced ourselves in a toasty warm café , ordered some wine and food, and sat back watching the city attempt to drive home. Very romantic . . . well they say that Paris is the city of romance! After dinner took the camera and took heaps of piccies - getting ambushed by snowballs from the police on the way! The perfect day all round.
Wednesday 13th January 1999
Up early again today and off on a tour of Paris where we learnt a bit of history and saw a lot of beautiful buildings. Went up the Eiffel Tower, did a cruise up the river Seine and soaked in the sights and smells (lots of yummy bakeries around). Learnt how to order tea with milk finally which was a major breakthrough. Then walked back to the hotel which took about an hour and a half but was a sightseeing tour on it's own. Found a scrummy looking Chinese Restaurant where we had dinner - unfortunately had a really chatty, not quite there guy sitting just up from us who kept listening to our conversations and putting his ten cents worth in. The waitress (Madame Wong) eventually ended up kicking him out and we sat with her and another guest (who spoke english) talking for a while. Ended up in a bar with the guest (a gay one!!) and spent the next couple of hours learning French.
Thursday 14th January 1999
Walked a million miles today!! Started off at the Louvre which was incredibly awesome - saw the Mona Lisa and a hundred and one other works of art (great Egyptian collection), then decided to walk to the Gard de Nord to check out the tickets home as we had noticed they had the wrong date on them (12th not the 14th). Were basically told tough luck and ended up having to buy new ones as we couldn't even use our voucher from the delayed trip over as you have to write away for the. Very shitty by this stage - the tickets cost over 1700 francs and we had already paid for the trip once. Got back to London, tackled the tube during rush hour (I wouldn't attempt that again) and ended up at Leighs place exhausted and a bit flat as we realised the holiday was then over and all we had left was a long flight back home. Spent the night (well until 4am) in Jens bed, got up and hauled ourselves off to Heathrow.
Friday 15th January 1999 6 then 28 degrees celsius
Got home after a long flight. Was quite exciting getting back really - lovely and warm and great to catch up with everyone again. Got our old room back (cool) and had the best nights sleep ever!!
