Long time no blog!

And this little fella is the reason why. My baby-man Daniel will be 2 at the end of October and he's my ray of sunshine. We're stomping through life together having as much fun as we can along the way. I was lucky enough to have 2 of my best friends also decide that they would bring little ones into the world at the same time so even though I'm a geriatric Mum (by the standards of the NHS) we have good company. The photo of us is at the seaside near Eastbourne in June of this year where he was introduced to his first caravan... not the last I can assure you. We played on the beach, went to the zoo, went to the Sealife centre, went swimming and generally messed around. Life is a good place to be with a little boy around that smiles all day long and makes it all seem a bit more worthwhile -x-x-x-

A little video of our project...

http://www.portstgeorge.com/show_video.php?video=media/videos/bahamas1.flv&inpDims=320x179&autoStart=true

Birthdays in NYC

So a bit more about life over in the big apple....

After my birthday night out we had a day where we found a little NY diner for breakfast followed by shopping around Bryant Park and Bloomingdales before heading out to Smith & Wollenskys which has a rep for being great steak and seafood, though we had a late sitting, a bit of a pain of a waiter and I couldn't eat all my steak (as they were trying to rush us out of there so they could shut up) so I asked him if I could take what was left of my steak home... it was very nicely wrapped in a plastic container, cut up and then put with napkins and plastic cutlery into a very posh carry out bag. I thanked him with a big fake NYC grin and then on leaving the restaurant I kindly left the bag on the street outside so that any passing homeless person could get some good food!!!

That night we got a town car to the W hotel bar on Lexington called "Whiskey Blue" which is one of my favourite bars. After finding out that there had been a party there for cardio surgeons (who invited us to an after party) I decided that I needed to talk to a very nice man who turned out to be an ex-pro American footballer called Charles. He was a real sweetie and suggested that maybe I'd like to go and see him the next night at another bar that he would be at? The next night me & Sara did that very thing and he asked if there was any chance he could take me on a date on my final night in the city (which was fab as Sara was leaving the next day)... It was lovely :)))

I bought myself a new case on the final day to bring all my presents home in.... and yes I had my date and no I'm not telling... but I had a message from him on my mobile phone by the time I got off the plane and I've had emails from him since... awwww!

I can highly reccommend NYC to anyone that fancies a trip accross the pond xxx

Birthdays in NYC

Hi Everyone!

I had such a great time for my birthday. I had dropped Mum & Booboo off with my Bro and Sis-in-law in Shrewsbury. They both seemed very happy with the arrangement. I packed my case and was ready for the off...My only mission was to buy the Christmas pressies and find a bit of fun out there.

NYC was cold and we even saw snow!!! Not that it made any difference to how much fun we had. On Friday night (my birthday for anyone that might not have known) was spent with Sara, Mimi & Alan at the restaurant at Gramercy Tavern and the food was the finest I've ever tasted. Everyone was really happy and also tired as we'd all been travelling for ages and much as it was fun I was shattered!!!

We decided at the end of the meal that we had all had enough for the night and decided that it was time to give it neck for the night. It was fab food, amazing service and we were all just tired and worn out after a long day...

More to come...

Luv
Lyndyloo
-x-x-

NYC

oooh what a great time I had in the big apple!!! I thought that after last year I might have struggled with the 1st anniversary.

Let me tell you about the trip. I woke on my birthday to find a load of cards and presents and after the fab meal that Small Person made for us to share before I came away to spend some time back in my favourite city. I met up with Sara and Mimi & Alan at the airport and after checking in we had a breakfast and went in to go over the pond.

We arrived in NYC at the Millenium Hilton after a bit of a misunderstanding with the stretch limo thnat Mimi had organised for me (it was fab by the way) and even though the man with the card wasn't sweeping me off my feet as I came in from arrivals he did fianlly took us from where we turned up down the hall.... down some elevator... along a corridor... out over the road.... across the car-park... to the car. The limo was fab... there will be some photos of us inside on FB.

Off to the hotel to check in! I have a fab jr. suite with views over the statue of liberty and the WTC site. I knew it might be a little loud but it was worth it. I had a bottle of champagne sent up from the check in staff for my birthday. I suppose I should be grateful really... and who cares I have a booking for Gramercy Tavern and it was the best food I ever ate the last time I was here with Mimi.

And it was the best food ever! Again! What a fab place!!! I loved my birthday evening and I had the best company I could have asked for!!!I can highly reccommend the Gramercy Tavern to anyone who might want somewhere to enjoy the best food of their life and especially with such wonderful friends.

This is blog one of a few... I need to add photos... bear with me I still have jet lag xxx

A year on Wednesday

You've probably noticed that I've had a quiet year on my blog. And on Wednesday it will be a whole year ago since I lost my Dad. For those who didn't know he went peacefully in his sleep after celebrating my 40th birthday at an early party and after a battle with lung cancer and all the related problems that went with it. He was a wonderful man with many talents including being a brilliant drummer, a ballroom dance teacher, one of the funniest most outspoken men to ever walk the earth and a Dad/Husband/Grandad just the same as any other but he was my Dad and I still miss him every day. My 40th birthday party was a year ago today. It was a fabulous do with an Abba tribute band and everyone dressed up having a good time. A year on and all I can think of is that's the last time he got dressed up in his shirt & tie (he wore one pretty much every day of his adult life) and was determined to be there for me.

I'm going to get my Mum through it on Wednesday and then take her to stay with my Brother on Thursday. I'll be getting on a plane for NYC on Friday to celebrate this years birthday in a different country so it couldn't be more different. Until then I just want to raise a glass to my Dad Cyril. I love you.
Luv
Me
-x-x-

Slow Dance

This is a poem written by a teenager with cancer.

It is quite the poem. Please pass it on.


SLOW DANCE

Have you ever watched kids
On a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain
Slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.
Do you run through each day
On the fly?
When you ask How are you?
Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done
Do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores
Running through your head?
You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.
Ever told your child,
We'll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste,
Not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die
Cause you never had time
To call and say,'Hi '
You'd better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.
When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift..
Thrown away.
Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over.

Wise words from a young person...

Funny

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x684wa_the-last-laugh-george-parr-subprime_fun

Nearly a Year!

It's almost been a year since I came to my site. Almost a year since I lost my baby-girl Roobear. I can't beleive it can possibly be that long ago. I still miss her every day that goes by and I'm sure little Booboo does too. That's her above jumping through the bluebells earlier on this year. She jumps on my lap and gives me a cuddle when I feel rotten which is gorgeous!

For those who didn't know I also lost my Dad 2 days before my 40th birthday in December which was devestating for us. He went very peacefully and it was all expected (though perhaps not quite that soon) but it's not been an easy year.

The race for life was inspirational as Mum managed to get round pushing her wheelchair (in the rain) with me & my friends all cheering her on. I think that was when I decided that I needed to get on with my life again. I've joined my local gym, I still have a session with 2 other friends and a personal trainer once a week. I'm feeling better, looking more like my old self and I feel that I've turned the corner.

Thanks for all your support. I can't express how much it means to me.

Luv
Lyndyloo
-x-x-

Make a difference

Farewell my Baby-Girl

It was with a very heavy heart that I had to say goodbye to Roobear this morning. She had hurt her front shoulder and could no longer get to her feet without assistance from me. She was a very proud bear and would not have been happy without her dignity. I had her favourite Vet “Uncle Roger” to come and visit her and now she is in the vast bone-shop in the sky. I will miss her more than words can say but there is no way I could let her suffer in pain with no chance of her recovery, the arthritis and her age (105 nearly in doggie years) finally got the better of the most beautiful girl in my world .

I will always love you xxxxx

Police II

Spectacular!! The stadium show was even more impressive than the NIA with a fantastic light show and even bigger images of Sting to ogle at! I would love to tell you that I've now had my fill of the show for this year but I'd be telling lies as I can't wait to go again next month and sample Cardiff... I've not been to the Millenium Stadium yet so it's something else to look forward to.The images in the redition of invisible sun are brilliantly taken photos of children from around the world who have been caught up in war or famine or hardship taken by one of Stings friends... and below is a photo of the support group and lead singer Joe Sumner (hmmm familiar name....)

Well all I am left to say is... wonderful...thanks boys!

The Police

You honestly didn't think you were going to get away without me waxing lyrical about how wonderful The Police were now did you?

Let me tell you all about the first installment at the NIA... the next being at Twickenham on Saturday and then the final at Cardiff in October.

The support act was Fiction Plane who are headed by Sting's Son Joe Sumner. The boy has got a very familiar voice and knows how to own the stage just like his Dad. For anyone that's a fan of Sting I think their musc is worth a listen.


The stage set was 3 man rock and roll band simplicity in it's finest form. The light show was effective and the band are equally as good as they ever were.

Setlist:

Message in a Bottle

Synchronicity II

Walking On The Moon

Voices Inside My Head

When The World Is Running Down

Don't Stand So Close To Me

Driven To Tears

Truth Hits Everybody

Hole In My Life

Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic

Wrapped Around Your Finger

De Do Do Do De Da Da Da

Invisible Sun

Walking In Your Footsteps

Can't Stand Losing You

Roxanne

King Of Pain

So Lonely

Every Breath You Take

Next To You

There was a wonderful selection of photographs

that accompanied the Invisible Sun

rendition which you can have

a look on by clicking the link above.

As always Sting (even at 55) looks as fit and gorgeous as he always did. There again I am totally biased in my opinion and can only live in hope that there will be a man out there like that for me...

General gibberish

So what is it about sorting out your files, debugging, defraging and synchronising your laptop and pc that makes you feel safe and calm? Well if this isn't something that you can relate to then you obviously have someone else that must be resposible for the day to day security of the computers you use. For the likes of little me, if I don't do it, it don't get done. Saying that, once it has all been put in order I get this warm and happy feeling (a bit sad really). I think it comes from having my office stolen once a few years ago. Theives broke into my house and stole not only my pc but also my filofax, back up drive and all manner of other things that I used on a daily basis. I'd only gone up the road for an hour. It takes years to get all that information back and I'm not sure I ever got it all back really. Even now I go to look for someones details and I can't find them. Anyway I'm not sure what brough on that little rant.

What's going on out there in the real world? I got up this morning and there was what looked remarkably like frost on top of my car. Can it be that we're heading into Winterish already? You wouldn't think so now looking out of the window to blue skies and sunshine but I swear it was looking white. I think I must have blinked and missed Summer but there again to quote Helen from a past Big Brother "I love blinking I do"... still don't quite understand what made her say that.

I'm going on a bit today for no reason. I'm off to see The Police tonight at the NIA in Birmingham and I guess I'm a bit excited about that. They were teenage heros as Sting is to this day. I'm hoping they're as good as they were back then... I'll let you know!

Update

It's been a long time since I posted and for those of you who know me you'll know that life has been full of stuff for me. Some of it good and some of it not so good. I'll post more on the not so good when I know the outcome (though so far all is going well).

Last week the Port St George team where at the British Par 3 Championship at Nailcote Hall in Warwickshire where we had teams competing in the Pro-Am and Celeb-Am days. We even managed to win the Pro-Am competition with our player Tim Stimpson who partnered the winning Professional Steve Cowel to lift the trophy.

Our celebrity golfer on Thursday was Lee Sharpe of ex Man Utd fame (that's if you're a footy fan as apposed to celebrity love island) and I have to say he was a really nice bloke. He turned up, played a decent game, had a laugh with our other players and had a few drinks with the team afterwards at the inevitable "do". This was one that I didn't attend though I did have the Tuesday night and Friday night "do's" that I was present at.

It seems that we all had a good time, though it was hard work standing up all day for the first time in ages! The photo on the left is one of the Celeb-Am teams and the one on the right is my friends daughter Rebecca with her PSG hat on in front of our stand. She had the best time blowing up magic balloons with the huge tank of helium we had on site. We had balloon races to see how high, how far and just how big you could get a balloon on Friday just for a laugh!.

OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's happened! We got a message from the lawyers in the Bahamas tonight to tell us that our application to purchase and develop the land on Long Island has been accepted!



Oh my God! I still can't quite beleive it. I got an email this evening to tell me that our project is going to go ahead (subject to some reports and stuff) but never the less... all the work that has been put in over the last 18 months is starting to come together. This means that there will be a whole lot of new work that comes our way but in the meantime....



Another bottle of Bolli!!!!!!!!!!!!



Here's to us! Her's to all my family, friends, virtual friends and most of all my bears! Oh and the rest of team, yes most of all to the rest of the team! YIPPPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

Happy Birthday Roobear!

My wonderful dog was 100 on June the 14th so to celebrate I had a party in my garden/garage/small marquee type arrangement. We invited lots of friends and well wishers and set everything out for a cocktail bar in the garage (along with some beer on tap), the tent was erected early over the lawn so that the grass could be mowed. I'm not sure what happened while I was away on holiday but I think there may have been a grass growing convention held in my garden. The weather forecast was not looking good but we persevered and by late afternoon all was set. Bob-the-burger turned up at around 6.30 and set up as he usually does on my drive opposite the garage and started to get the food underway.

People arrived, presents and cards were showered on Roobear (yes my mates are as crazy as I am) and the cocktails started to flow. It was all going so well... Then came the rain! The heavens opened and then to add insult to injury it started to hail... big hailstones... too big for the tent to cope with even with my big Bro holding it up with a stick (how that was going to work I don't know).

The party moved into the garage... the cocktails continued, the catering van ran out of jacket spuds... Everyone had a great time! Who says the rain stops play? Not me...

The Hen Vacation!

The girls are out for a great time!

A wonderful time was had by all on our Hen Vacation in Spain. We were kindly lent a villa by one of Warwickshire's finest cricketers and started our journey from Birmingham airport where we were allowed by a lovely manager in Frankie & Benny's to drink our own champagne while we ate our breakfasts. This is all 5 of us (from the left) Jax, Martine (aka small person) me, Laura and Marie. The flight was a little bit late but we made up for it by having some more bubbly to make the journey go faster. Jax seemed a little concerned that I shouldn't be drinking so much as I was supposed to be the one driving the other end (little did she know we had a suprise waiting for her at the airport)....

We'd arranged a stratch limo to pick us up and take us from Malaga to our villa which was about 50 minutes away. As you can see she was quite shocked! It was a great way to start our trip. We had a fantastic place to stay between Puerto Banus and Estepona with a pool and 3 sun terraces. It was easier to taxi than to drive so we didn't bother with a car. This is tyhe view from the top sun terrace at the villa looking over the pool and out towards the sea.

Our first night out was in Peurto and we met up wit some friends who were out golfing and had a top night out......

This was not the only night out but it gives you an idea of the party nights. There were no silly viels, no sparkly cowboy hats and not "L" plates. Our hen was just treated to a brilliant break in the sun. We loved Tikitano's restaurant (below) and would like to thank all the staff there for being the best ever.

Now all that remains is for the wedding. It's August bank holiday weekend up in Scotland on the Isle of Isley.

2 out of 3 aint bad!

Our trip to Twickenham was spoiled only by the result! What a shame for the boys to not make it the full 3 out of 3 and were somewhat deflated by it all. We, however had a great day out. We boarded our coach at 9.30am and opened the pink champagne to start our morning. It was a beautiful day and I had my new present (signed shirt as shown below) on and my big bro with me so life was looking pretty good. The journey was fine and after learning some extra verses of songs I thought I once knew we devoured our picnic of smoked salmon, roast chicken, danish pastries and more alcohol than was strictly necessary for a morning session. Once we had arrived we met up with more friends who also had an abundance of wine and jollity to add to our party and so the fun continued.... until the game. Enough said. Sorry boys it would have been the very best way to end a magnificent season for Pat Howard but it wasn't to be.

The journey home was still a good laugh after we'd helped some wayward referees who'd parked next to us devour their picnic and help them with their spare bottles of Peroni (other italian beers are of course available). And strange as it seems when I went to pick my car up the next morning I found several flags, a programme and two bottles of champagne that I don't remember aquiring in the back seats... What a fab day!

The meeting with my hero!

Last night I got to meet my Leicester City Hero "Stevie Walsh". He was my idol when he played for my football team and I suspect one of the resons I kept going back week after week was to watch his beautiful legs in action. Well last night we invited him to join our table at a "Tribute to Dickie Bird" night. He is, as I expected, quite lovely and was happy to tell me all about his new business venture back here in Leicestershire and how he still has contacts over in Spain that he was happy to introduce me to. Our table was also graced with the company of ex Leicester Tigers & ENgland rugby player Tim Stimpson who is truly a gentleman of the first order. He sat next to me and was wonderful company with a repetiore of tales to tell that I'm sure we only scratched the surface of. I decided that in such company it was probably best if I took my car so that I would have the perfect excuse not to drink... (for anyone that may not have read my blog before, I have been known to make a bit of a fool of myself with the aid of alcohol). It meant that I got to see one of these corporate do's without the wine goggles on... most unusual I can tell you. Anyhow, I'm a happy bunny today as I've now got a picture with my hero and can say that we're on first name terms....
I love my job!!!!

The end of the season

Another football season came to an end today, at least for Leicester City. And I, for one am not unhappy to see the back of it. As a football supporter you have to learn to take the rough with the smooth, the good times along with the bad, but this has been a very bad season. We've not played well, we've only won 6 games at home all season but we've managed to avoid relegation and we've been bought by Milan Mandaric in March this year. It's been a very strange time as a Leicester fan. I truly believe that we had a squad of players who, on their day could play against the divisions top clubs and give them a run for their money and yet week after week we underperformed and underacheived. Now we have the summer to enjoy the break from all things footy related and concentrate on the Tigers getting to 3 finals. And then it'll be time to get behind the cricketers. Maybe next season Milan will manage to find us something to be proud of again, a team who can win more games at homeand away, a manager that can inspire players to score goals and play with passion and pride. Anything will be better than what I just witnessed this afternoon...

Now come on you Baggies, make sure you make the play off finals!

A very Happy 50th

Last Saturday was Curly's 50th birthday and we had to celebrate... in a big way!! It doesn't seem all that long ago that I was organising his 40th party (they say time flies) but this was the big half century so he had a big room in a hotel in Leicester with a fab Beatles tribute band who had us all up dancing for hours! His Mum and her friend did a rendition of "Hey Big Spender" dressed in feather boa's which was hysterical and then Rosey in his infinite wisdom decided that it would be a good idea to try to do a back flip off the stage (he still has the bruises and can't walk properly). I got to see loads of people that I hadn't seen for ages which was great! We drank our fair share of the bubbly pink stuff and I'm sure I wouldn't have passed a department of transport breathalizer test until way into Sunday so we went out for a big slap up Sunday lunch and topped up the alcohol instead of being sensible.
I'd love to post some photo's but I didn't take my camera, I lost my mobile (and then found it in my bed) and I'm still waiting on any being sent to me!

Up up and away...

What a wonderful week in Val D'Isere. The sunwas out, the sky was blue, there was still plenty of snow and we were all on top form! This is the sort of holiday that we dream about (well we do if we like to ski at any rate). It was a week of late long lunches and dancing in ski boots. The parapents were out in force as the warm breezes seemed to be able to keep them in the air for hours.

> The chalet was being run by two boys who were very helpful, brought me tea in bed most mornings and cooked us some great food. They were also (I think) taken aback with the exploits of a group of middle aged (middle aged to a chaleroony is anything over 30) ski bums who seemed to have a thirst for alcohol and partying that eaqualed any of their mates.

This is me and the Curlybob sitting outside after lunch one afternoon before we embarked on 2 hours of dancing in the sunshine... it's a great way to start someone's 50th Birthday celebrations... only 4 days to go now baldy!!!

Friday the13th

Some years ago I decided to leave these shores and go to live in the Nederlands. I had a friend that was stationed there at a military base in the south in a place called Brunssum and he knew of a lady whose daughter had just got married and moved out and she was looking to take in a lodger so it all seemed ideal.

I remember telling my bosses at the time that I'd decided to head off to pastuers new and them both being remarkably supportive telling me that they'd be glad to have me back if they were still around when and if I got back. I was only 17 at the time, I'd just passed my driving test and I'd spent the previous summer at a Pontins holiday camp in Hemsby-on-Sea living with the lifeguard (the love of my life). We'd drifted apart since we had to come home and I wasn't all that happy about it so I suppose I was running away.

I booked to take a ferry out of Felixtowe and then the ferry man went on strike, so I tried to book a ferry out of Hull but again the strike was spreading so eventually I booked myself a flight out of Gatwick to Maastricht. This was you have to remember in the days before cheapo flights so I couldn't fly from anywhere close at anything like a reasonable price.

Did I bother to say that I made the decision to move on the Tuesday and I'd done all this booking/not booking/booking to fly by the Friday!

I asked my best friend Sarey to take me to the airport (which was a big deal for her at the time as she'd never driven to Gatwick) but she was happy to do so and assured my Mum that she could come along too. My Mum was convinced I'd never come back and it was all because of a broken heart (all together now ahhhhhhhhhh!).

I packed my life into a massive suitcase, put on the 3 layers of clothes that wouldn't fit in the case and strapped by skateboard to my back and practiced walking round the living room to make sure I'd be able to carry everything. I'd arranged that someone was going to pick me up from the airport so it wouldn't be too bad but I did need to ba able to move around the airport etc. We packed up the little VW polo and all three of us piled in for the journey, equipped with a map and driving directions.

To say this was a fogy morning would not be doing it justice, it was pea soup! We had allowed 5 hours for the journey even though it was estimated at 3. We found our way down the M1 and onto the M25 and though our progress was slow it was steady...... that was until the little car had a blow out! We got out, and unpacked the boot to get to the spare tyre.... which was flat! We called the RAC who to be fair got there in some reasonable time and loaded us onto a low loader. We still had 2 hours to be there and the taffic reports said that flights were being delayed due to the bad fog. We got off the motorway heading for the garage and the low loader had a puncture! We waited for another one! It picked us all up and took us to the garage. The men at the garage were very quick at changing the tyre... probably due to me jumping up and down and pleading with them that I needed to be at the airport.

We were back on our way with 3/4rs of an hour before my plane was due to take off. We got to the airport with 25 minutes to spare. Sarey dropped me & mum off and went to park. We ran through the airport looking for the check in desk... that took us 10 minutes and when I got there it was closed! My plane was one of the only planes that was on time and about to leave... I pleaded with the KLM desk but to no avail, the plane was taking off and I wasn't on it. They could get me on a flight to Schiphol that was leaving in 30 minutes, I paid the extra and tried to calm Mum down who was now totally convinced I shouldn't go, all the odds were against me and I could always re-arrange to go the following week. I was having none of it! Sarey had found us and tried to ease Mum's fraustration saying that I'd be fine, I always was. I had to run through the airport with all my luggage as the luggage had already been loaded so it would be put on at the gate.

I kissed and hugged the closest women in my life, asking them to phone ahead and tell my freinds that I'd got on another airplane to a different airport and I'd find a way to get to them once I'd landed and legged it!

A flurry of over-dressed mad girl pushing a trolley full of luggage with a skateboard strapped to her back, crazy curly long hair flying behind her doing warp factor 7 through the corridors of Gatwick with endless streams of sour faced business man and families going on threir holibobs looking behind her for the man with a gun!

I boarded the plane and they were waiting for me with a man to take my luggage to the hold. Everyone was already seated and I was after the captain and the walking wounded... I was also wearing 3 layers of my heaviest clothes as I'd been told it wasn't the warmest time of year in Brunssum... that could not be said for the plane. There was a huge round of applause from a group of men wearing blazers and looking like they'd been partaking of monumental amounts of alcohol... they had, it was a rugby team on tour. I took my isle seat in front of them and sighed as we almost immediately pushed back for take off. The rugby team recited the plane safety announcement along with the stewardesses and then ordered me a beer when they came round with the trolley. I decided that it was best to just relax and wonder what the hell I was going to do once we landed. This was the 3rd time that I'd flown in my life and the 1st on my own. I was flying to a country where they spoke another language (yes I know now that all Dutch people speak at least 5 languages but I didn't know that then) and I was going to be at the other end of the country than where I was supposed to be... with no mobile phone and only the number of my friend at work and my new house mate's flat... no address just AFCENT military base.

I noticed that the man who sat across the isle from me was strangely familiar but I just smiled and said hello and tried to work out who the heck he was.... As we were leaving the plane, he leaned over to me and said "Did you watch Howrds Way?" (a Sunday night ritual for me and my Mum) "Yes" I replied and then felt the colour rushing to my face as I realised it was none other than Tony Anholt who played Charles Frere. Internally I was dying, not only was he gorgeous, I hadn't recognised him and he was being really sweet. He stood talking to me as we waited for our bags and I recalled the events of the day, he laughed and asked what I was going to do... "I suppose I can get a train" was my answer. He assured me that the train station was only over the road from the arrivals department and that the trains were very good in Holland.

When my case arrived I asked him if he would mind watching it for a couple of minutes while I popped to the ladies and as he was still waiting for his bag (mine was obviously first off) he was kind enough to do so. I went to the ladies, took off 2 layers of clothes, pushed my fingers through my hair, splashed some cold water on my face and re-applied my lippy. I emerged from the ladies a different person and started laying my heavy clothes on my bag. "What happened to the rest of you?" said Tony just as an announcement came over the speaker system telling me to contact the main reception desk. "I've got my bag, I'll show you where it is if you like." I was very excited, I was being shown around an airport by a TV star... I got my mesage that I was to phone this number and Tony lent me some change to use the payphone. I called and got through to Lynne my new flat mate who explained that I needed to get the train to Sittard and she would meet me at the station. The trains ran every half an hour and I should be bale to get the next one in 25 minutes.

Tony showed me where the station was and gave me a peck on the cheek and wished me luck. I thought my knees were going to buckle and ran off to buy my ticket. I boarded the tarin with a big grin on my face and when the conductor came and checked my ticket I asked him where I should get off for Fittard (yes wobbly legs, mashed brain) to be told the train didn't go to a place called Fittard and maybe I should try Sittard instead, we would be there in 90 minutes.

I finally arrived at the station and got off to find a waiting Lynne who recognised me immediately (probably due to the skateboard and piles of luggage) and welcomed me with open arms, a big smile and a bottle of beer, which my friend had told her I'd be needing.

The rest as they say is history!

Travel on Friday the 13th..... after that... Why not?

Happy Birthday Blog!!

I'd like to say happy birthday to the blog... not mine obviously but to the blog as a whole. It's been here on the net for 10 years and it's giving a whole load of us a means of keeping a diary/making a statement/keeping in touch/posting our photos and generally giving us an outlet for our ramblings.

I know not everyone thinks that there is any merit in a blog but for me it's a way I can get my feelings in some sort of order. It's a place for me to ramble on about all sorts of meaningless (to most people) stuff. I can congratulate my friends on their acheivements in my small public way. I can catalogue my days, show off my photos and wax lyrical about my bears.

T'is Easter weekend and after taking my friend to the airport this morning... maybe with a small headache after a rather heavy night out... I have been busy cleaning my car, tidying up the garden and getting fiercely attacked by my pampas grass!

I trust that all the rest of the blogging community is having a fun time and I hope that you all get lots of choclate eggs to eat tomorrow!!!