It's a Family Affair

Family is a wonderful thing, whether you grew up with them or you are meeting for the first time you have a connection to hold onto, as some distant relations at my second cousin once removed's (I think) wedding proved when we discussed our long line to relation, crying "you're family" embracing me, literally. The invite alone was testament to my lovely family. I had not previously met Will so it was an honour to be able to attend the wedding and meet him, his new wife, and much more family!

The wedding was beautiful. Seeing the Midsummer Night's Dream seating plan for the dinner tipped me off straight away, Will and Lucie are my kind of people. A lovely ceremony in a lovely setting was followed by dinner with a lot of wine and then even more dancing. We danced the night away finishing up with Bohemian Rhapsody, which the DJ was shown is not a song to be cut off in the middle. When he stopped the music it continued in the bellowing voices of those of us remaining on the dance floor.

The next day a catch up with a family friend continued my trip. Intending to drop in for a chat of course turned into a good few hours talking and catching up on the gossip of our mutual acquaintances. It was juicy gossip too, involving prison sentences and babies with disputable fathers!

Family is of course something which is not all smooth sailing and in the case of my brother's fiance the bumps have been many. A lot of the family have not gelled with her so I was nervous to meet her, but we did ok. I found her a bit rude in a couple of conversations but most of the time she seems reasonable and I could get on with her. I made my attempts at suggesting the both of them make more effort in communicating with my parents so hopefully they take heed of that. And hopefully neither of them stumble upon this blog because wouldn't that be a touch awkward! Ha. It was genuinely lovely to see them, though.

Having dinner with (two of) my cousins and aunt was a great catch up. They enquired as to when my brother would get married, no date set but we all promised to be there with bells on whether they want us or not. We were told it will be a Pagan ceremony. My older cousin was an absolute gem and bought me a few sweet gifts. Wine, cider, and shower gel, carefully checked for vegan suitability.

Spending a few days with brother and fiance wasn't the easiest game since they are both fairly solidly interested in not much more than games, but we did our best and even passed the time with a few games, getting granddad playing Wii (Nintendo land) and xBox (drums on Guitar Hero). He is a bit of a dark horse and was actually not bad at them!

We also got to see my younger cousin a second time for a drink in Leicester between taking a wonder round the shops and down the river. Then yesterday granddad and I set off for home with a stop on the way to visit someone else dear to me- Shakespeare.

Stratford-Upon-Avon is beautiful, whether Shakespearean heritage interests you or not the town is lovely, centered on the river, bustling with tourists, on that particular day enjoying fantastic sunshine. We got tickets for the hop-on hop-off tour bus and visited Anne Hathaway's Cottage, the church where Shakespeare is buried, his birthplace, and Mary Arden's (his mother's) farm. The history is fascinating, both of the families and the period. Well worth a visit.

Now back in Maidstone I have spent a day shopping and made plans to see more old friends. Home is keeping me well.

Enter Nostalgia

As was expected the nostalgia on this trip is strong, and I've made a good start on it.

On Thursday, a brilliantly hot, sunny day, with no particular plans, granddad and I decided we must go and enjoy that sunshine. I picked Tonbridge castle, a place that was prevalent in my childhood. We used to go there for things like Scout and Guide parades, and we often swam at the swimming pool nearby. So we drove via Yalding and Paddock Wood (both very relevant to me as some of you will know, if anyone is reading this other than my mum) to Tonbridge, and went for a lovely walk at the castle. It was a scorching hot day so after a while a cool down was in order so we bought ice lollies and sat in the park. I had to bust a move or two on a playground pole but forgot to get any photos.

Friday I went up to London and met up with Connor. We visited the Queen and then visited Georgia at the pub she works at. Georgia wins really, would visit her over the Queen any day. We had a good NZ in London moment there, then Connor and I continued on our adventure, got some takeaway lunch things to eat in the park, and walked round stumbling on the sights (Big Ben & Houses of Parliament, London Eye) then we were too bloody hot and went to Costa Coffee for cold drinks. Then Connor took me on a wild chase because his phone's map did something funny and sent us the wrong way for his interview, so we hopped in a cab to rectify our problem, then I headed back to Victoria Station to journey home. South Eastern trains gave me the proper service, complete with 40 minute delay.

On Saturday I had a family visit, seeing Aunt and cousins in Paddock Wood, meeting their playful pup (who is actually quite a large dog that thinks it is small enough for jumping up). That was about it for then, quite in contrast with the hectic day in London.

After that lull in excitement the feeling about Sunday is something like this: fhaungfjfrknhgsjk!!!!nfkdsngkj!!!!!!

Keyboard mashing is the closest I can come to describing it in writing. I was off to see my childhood best friend, after at least 8 years apart. I think we both had apprehensions. What if we don't get on now we're grown up? Does the other drink and party? Do we still both love walking, swimming, playgrounds, Disney, a good mix of sweets and healthy food? We can now ecstatically report that we are still a house on fire. Over the two days we shopped, cafe'd, ate salad, walked, swam, bowled, all while reminiscing, and we made plans for two weeks time when I get to see her again! 

I also met her fiance and their two lovely wee girls of the feline persuasion, Poppy and Milly. I heartily approve of this little family and I am super excited for them and their exotic wedding later this year, which my heart truly desires to attend but my bank account is sulking.

The Great British Summer

The next big step on my life journey: home. After 8 years I have now returned to the place which I grew up in, the place I will always call home. I have a month to cram in a whole lot of catching up with people and a bunch of sight seeing, not of the usual tourist type, but of all the places I loved growing up here.

I spent an awfully long time getting here. With 8 hours on a bus and roughly 24 hours in the air, adding in all the bits in between I had about 45 hours travelling, and only got about 5 hours sleep in that time. It was my first time flying with Singapore Airlines and I am pleased to say the experience was good. Service and food was good (good as aeroplane food gets). As is usual for me on flights I couldn't get to sleep and watched a lot of movies.

Landing in London brought a fantastic feeling to me, seeing the sights which I left behind 8 years ago. Then I exited Heathrow to the 30 degrees, blue sky, sunny afternoon. A stop off at Tesco's for a sim card and a couple of food items, and I was at my home for the month, grandad's house.

I managed to stay up until 9.30pm, and slept until around 7am, waking up a couple of times in between. Now at just past 8pm I am just beginning to tire again so I think I can say I have successfully beaten jet lag, as long as I don't stay up terribly late tonight!

With another brilliantly warm summer day today I had a good start to my trip. A pretty relaxing day with a few chores sorted out. I managed to leave my phone charger behind in Auckland so I went to buy a new one, then we got some groceries, and then went off to the farm which my granddad used to work at to pick cherries. He gets invited back every year for some cherries, among other things including the work christmas dinner, and I feel very lucky to be benefiting from that this year! We picked lots of cherries, ate plenty as we picked and brought a big bowl home.

After lunch my great aunt and uncle came round and we think the last time I saw them was at my mum's cousin's 40th birthday party, which was 14 years ago, when I was 7, so that was a good catch up despite me having been too young to really remember them from previous meetings.

I made potato top lentil pie for dinner since despite saying it is not right I spend my holiday cooking my granddad has accepted that I actually love cooking and he can expect me to do plenty of it while I am here.

Nothing planned for tomorrow, but friday I am headed into London to see Connor, and hopefully Georgia too... both people I know from NZ. Figures the first friends I catch up with are not actually childhood friends but highschool ones, but whether it has been 6/7 months or 8 years all catch ups I am sure will be fantastic.