Home again

In the last 5 days we have still had a few adventures, but now we are happy to be at home. The dinner with Stephen and Lucy was really interesting. (see the plate of nibbles above!) I have never been to Food for Friends before, but it has definitely gone upmarket from what I gathered it was like in the past. Stephen's bathroom is getting done, although it must be a bit of a bind as both of them looked very tired. I had a chance of playing a bit with Stephen's new iPhone, which was fantastic. Who needs a separate phone, camcorder, camera, GPS, electronic diary, palmtop computer, compass etc., etc., etc. when you can have it all in one? Mind you, it would probably take me years to learn how to use it, never mind sorting the compatibility and other computer issues. However, I need not worry - it is not likely that I will ever get one.

The other picture is one of Alex's arty black and white efforts, which I find really touching. And just to think that his hands were once that size! Aahhhhh!!!

The coach trip up to Horley was uneventful and for once we had a really luxurious room. Watching TV from bed and showering in a large room size shower was indeed sheer luxury and made a change after the shoebox in Brighton.

Good flight with really soft landing en route home and in a mere 3 hours inside the flat. The season finale orienteering event was over the last 2 days where I enjoyed the steep rocky hillsides of the Vertes in spite of feeling quite jetlagged still. We are off to Ber tomorrow where I hope the house is not going to be too cold and look forward to a bit of peace and quiet.

Blogging in the draughty corridor

Just in case anybody is wondering about the title to this entry, it goes like this: we have booked three nights at a B&B in Kemp Town which promised to have WiFi. No sign of it in the room, but we discovered that the hall, staircase and corridor is fine. So if I want to blog, check e-mails, look at Facebook etc. I have to freeze my butt off in the hall, but that's life! :-)

The pictures (with the exception of the last one, which was taken by Alex) have been captured from my videos I have taken in Canada with my lovely new Flip camcorder. What a fantastic little gadget, I love it already. We are going out to dinner with Stephen and Lucy tonight, I will have to use the last 3 minutes on them and then I will have two whole hours of video from this holiday. The next job is to learn editing and putting together a DVD!

We are off to Horley tomorrow to stay at our favourite B&B from which they take you to the airport free as it is in the price of the room. Roy will have a farewell meal of sausage and mash in the lovely 500 year old pub near the B&B, but I will only photo stills by then as the camcorder will be full. Hopefully the next post is from BP.

Mummy's Little Pumpkin

The two top pictures are from last week, but I have just got them from Alex. The first is Roy and me at the Brickworks, potographed from a distance, while the second one is a gorgeous colour orgy in the Niagara Gorge.

The last few days were just as lovely as the beginning of our stay with Alex, Meaghan and Callum. We had a yummy Japanese meal and a Greek one. We had a Fish and Chips takeaway supper one night and Alex cooked big prawns in coconut milk on another night. Gail and Sarah visited one evening when we all had a takeaway curry. You may have noticed the culinary theme here. Alex has put on a few pounds, he admitted, but we enjoyed the food, whether out, bought in or cooked on the premises.

We went to the babies' library session again on Tuesday, when Callum decided to be antisocial and slept through it. Shame, as that was the last session and the lady there was ever so nice.

The new stroller arrived on Wednesday, we assembled it and took it for a test drive. It is a great improvement on the previous one with spring loaded wheels and easy steering. Mind you, Callum still has the miseries as he is put into it. He is a real "perpetuum mobile" so it restricts his kicking and wriggling. Still, once out he loves it, lookes around, gurgles to the trees and then usually drops off.

He is now very talkative, gurgles, smiles, laughs and follows you with his eyes. The cute factor is getting multiplied as the weeks go along and thankfully he is also beginning to grasp that night is for sleeping.

The last big event of the week just before our departure was Halloween, which he celebrated with wearing a cute suit and making a visit into the pumpkin. Sorry about the shaky T-shirt picture, but I do not like to use flash if it is possible to avoid it. His sentiments about his dad are reciprocated!

We left Toronto last night and arrived into a downpour, strong winds and yuk weather in Brighton. Still, what would one expect in November? Home on Thursday if all is well.

The Don Valley Brickworks

We went for an outing to these disused brickworks where the clay exctraction site has been turned into a lovely park with ponds, ducks, walkways and sheer cliffs on the sides. The old factory is being converted into an environmental centre and should look really good in a year or two's time.

The other day we ordered a new stroller for Callum which arrived today. It is really posh and is much more comfortable for both him and Meaghan. Tonight Roy had a massive steak dinner which Alex cooked on the barbecue. So far he had big prawns, big steak, both of which are treats for him. I am having sushi tomorrow and unfortunately it is getting close to us leaving. Another bad bit of news is that we can't stay with Stephen en route home, so I booked 3 nights in a B&B in Kemp Town plus the last night in the usual Horley B&B. They only had a "superior" room left, so that night costs almost as much as 3 nights in the Kemp Town B&B.

Another funny event tonight concerns the cat. She has disappeared into the ceiling tonight and we had to chase her out of there. She has now settled on our bed, where she spends most nights. Lovely creature, I like her, even though Alex is not keen. As it is getting close to midnight I am off to bed.

The second week

Not quite a full second week, but so much happened it feels like it. The weather unfortunately turned a bit cold and rainy, so we couldn't do too many outdoorsy things. We walked, however, to the Danforth and did some shopping one day and followed it up with some more shopping the second day. We bought a travelling cot for Callum and ordered a stroller (pushchair come pram for you Britishers) on the Internet and generally played a lot with the munchkin whenever we could.

Heather and Lyle arrived on Thursday and we all celebrated Alex's 35th birthday at a greasy spoon type cafe which resembled Gutbusters in Brighton for those of you who hail from that neck of the woods. Alex bought himself a beautiful telescope with the money we gave him, which pleased me no end.

Then on Friday we departed to St. Catharines to stay with Heather and Lyle for a couple of days. Callum made a fantastic leap in development right on the first day: he noticeably became more aware, focusing for longer times, following us with his eyes, talking to us and able to hold his head up better. He suddenly became a lot older right in front of our eyes. A true dialectical turn of quantity to quality that was.

I managed to photograph some of the fantastic fall colours on the Sunday on our walks as the weather cheered up by then. On our way back to Toronto we passed through Niagara on the Lake where some beautiful vistas proved to be quite photogenic.

We are now staying at Alex's until we depart on Saturday. Hopefully the weather stays good and a few outings can be arranged. Next post probably later on the week either still from here or from England.

The first week

We have left home a week ago and time flew past in a whizz. After our lovely time out with Ruth on Thursday we were supposed to have lunch with Katy on Friday but she had to dash off to Kent on union business. We did go for lunch at the Black Lion though, which is walking distance from Stephen's house and had their daytime special. That was so cheap that it was probably reasonable by even Hungarian standards nowadays.

The weekend started fairly early when Ruth picked us up at 8am with Ian in tow. The trip up to Cambridge was totally uneventful and we made excellent time, so we didn't have to use the Park and Ride. Parking is not nearly as expensive in Cambridge as I thought. Mind you, compared to Brighton anything is cheap.

The street event was quite good and I came 8th out of 23, which in my current state is reasonable. We went to have a little walk round Cambridge, then had lunch and watched the punts go up and down the Cam. Soon after we left for the Travelodge. We had a nice comfortable night followed by a fascinating wildlife show through the window of our room of a weasel, mobbed by two magpies, hunting for rabbits. A few minutes later it appeared again, but this time with a large, plump bunny in its mouth, trying to take it to his burrow in a hurry. I did not have the camera to hand, which was a shame.

Sunday's event was in a scrappy forest and I was entered for the wrong course. Ended up running up, doing 4.9k which was longer than my course in the Extra Long Championships in the Spring. I was running against women all my junior, some by 15+ years and wasn't last. In fact in that field I was one of only two W60's (the other lady did 82 minutes) and with my 66 minutes I beat 45 women who were all (but one) younger than me. Altogether a satisfying result, even though I felt like an asthmatic goat going round. I can't breathe well since my flu and the three months gap in orienteering will take a great deal of time and effort to get over. Losing a few pounds would also help!!

On our return we managed to catch the last 23 laps of the Brazilian Grand Prix and the celebrations that followed. It was fantastic to watch Jenson Button winning the 2009 driver's trophy, albeit he will only be presented with it a lot later. Then came Stephen's Corn Exchange gig, which was brilliant and we even got invited for drinks afterwards. I made two new friends: Corry Shaw and Julia, Stephen's new PA. Lovely women, both of them and Julia is half Hungarian as well. Small world!!!

And then we came to Canada. The trip was uneventful, although this most certainly was the last time we flew with Canadian Affair. The seats are so narrow that it was extremely uncomfortable, especially that I couldn't read my book without my elbow ending up in my neighbour's side. We were very jetlagged, but spent some time with Alex, Meaghan and Callum on the first day. After a good night's sleep we feel a lot better today and spent a lot of time with Callum who is delightful. I also picked up my new Flip video camera, which is fantastic. The guesthouse where we are sleeping is OK. Bit tatty in places, but will do. It is reasonably priced and we have a whole little apartment with kitchen, bathroom and a good room. The bed is extremely comfortable and we even have cable TV. On Thursday it is Alex's 35th birthday and on Friday we are off to St. Catherine's to stay a couple of days with Meaghan's parents.

I will upload a video about Callum to Flickr later, in the meantime enjoy his little cutie mush on this blog!!

Hike with Ruth

We have landed at Gatwick on time, Stephen and Lucy fetched us and we were in bed by midnight on Tuesday.

Wednesday was spent doing a bit of shopping and now I am the proud owner of the second volume of Michael Palin's diaries. That bloke should be on prescription for depression. I have never laughed as much reading a book as I have done reading the first volume, so I am looking forward to being entertained similarly this time!! I also got the 5th season House DVD and another one of Sharpe with 14 full length episodes for £30 each.

We had fish and chips with Wyn prior to a very good lecture on Christ's Hospital School at the SussexFamily History Group meeting in the evening where Roy could catch up with a lot of old friends he had not seen for yonks.

Yesterday the weather cheered right up, so we went for a hike with Ruth around Kingston near Lewes. You can see the pub where we ended up for lunch, Roy peering into an old Hillman Imp, the phoney 'old' mill being built on the Downs and the lovely friendly horse we met on the way in my pictures.

This morning Roy had a very painful leg, so I think today will be reasonably uneventful, although we are meeting Katy for lunch at the Basketmakers, so we will have to go out. I love that pub, I hope it is still the same as last time. All being well, we are off to Cambridge at 7.50am tomorrow.