Glorious Summer Days and Long Weekends, Oh and two very grump Cats!

Its been a while since we put in a long post. (Ok its only a week or so, but still.)

Last weekend we popped up to London (has a nice jet setter ring to it don't you think?) to see the boys, do some window shopping and see some of our friends. The boys were a bit grumpy with us, and as it turns out a lot more grumpy this last weekend, but more on that later. I took Sammy into town to Westfield shopping centre, a link to their website is in the previous post. Chaps, seriously, this is the mothership of all motherships, when in comes to shopping centres. Sammy had her "kid in a candy store" grin on her face and we spent a good couple of hours browsing all the stores. So much so that we ended up erm, a bit late for dinner with our friends Paul and Denise. But the dear friends that they are, we were well received and as is usual in their home, treated like royalty. We can't wait for them to come down and visit us in Cowes! It was a fabulous evening, with great food including a Moroccan dish which we must try and put up on Sammy's Supersaladtarian page, with unique flavours. Conversation flowed, as did the red wine, but we were tired so it was an early night. Ok so an early night is 02.30am, but we have been known to call it a night at 4am there. Still it was a really fabulous evening and a lot of laughs.

On Sunday morning we left Paul and Denise (a bit late, can't imagine why), and drove down to Reading to meet Brett for lunch. Luckily for us Brett travels up from SA for SABMiller around once every second month, and it was fantastic to see him. Shaun also made the trip to Reading to join us, great to see him after his holiday back in SA. So we had planned to drive a little closer to London with Brett, as the lucky guy had tickets to the Emirates, to watch Arsenal play Liverpool (that's football I think, but as its not rugby, my interest waned quickly). However a small drama unfolded when I realised that one of the tyres on Whiney was worn down to the canvas on the inside. Dangerous and illegal of course so we were very lucky to discover a Kwikfit open on a Sunday in Reading. As it turned out this was a blessing in disguise. The car actually needed three new tyres, but it was going take the whole day to get done. So instead of leaving Reading we found a great spot for lunch right on the Thames (we think, a really lovely river lets say). It was a great afternoon. We dropped Brett off to catch a train to London and then took a walk down the river. The weather is absolutely gorgeous, so lots of people were out and we had a great time.

Brett, and I looking for a place for a wee cheeky beer. We found one!

Boats and a Swan. No clever caption on this one.

Ya so, the locals don't get much sun, so when it comes out, so do they......

Dozens of these beautiful Swan's up and down the river.

Lunch Venue, The Island, not bad, nice location, good Tapa's if a little small, not bad pricing.

Those smiles are the "Yes! We have found a pub" type.

The lads, top chaps, lekker okes, cool cats. Chose applicable tag for your age and location.

No one messes with Sammy when we are all together.

Another birdy scene

On the hunt for branded t-shirts ice cream. We did find some.

Just awesome.

It was a great weekend! We are getting really used to being here now, and the lack of rain has been fabulous. Not missing it at all, but we know it will come. Still, in the meantime we will enjoy it to the max. Work is going well and I needed to go up to the north of England on Thursday. Sammy came up with me and we stayed over with Aunty Mary in Earlsdon. Wednesday night was uneventful but we went to my cousin Michelle on Thursday night for dinner. Dinner was simply fabulous. A salad of baby leaves,fresh mint leaves, pomegranates and slow cooked (12 hours) lamb was a revelation. I will be repeating that very soon, hopefully for Paul and Denise's promised visit. In addition Michelle modelled a cooked goats cheese, rocket and vine tomato salad for Sammy. Its almost embarrassing how well we are being looked after by family and friends alike! As Friday was a public holiday, we took our time getting up and going. Sammy drove us down to Woking to see the boys again. Unfortunately, they have decided that they are beyond grumpy with us now and it was quite a difficult visit. We got a warm greeting but that quickly turned into an hour of disapproval and pretty much ignoring us after Sammy finished brushing them. We hope that they will forgive us when we bring them into a nice warm home, and Jinx can once again roam the streets and command his territory. (Please no one tell him that he is going to be a house cat from now on!). Still they posed for a few photo's just to make us feel even more guilty....

Do like a brushing I do!

The ear says it all......Grumpy!

Aaaaand this is how I ignore my mom and dad!

Jinx cleaning, an obvious sign he is ignoring us. (He is a dirty kitty, only cleans when he has to)

Oh well, we can only hope they are ok. On our way home on the ferry on Friday we were lucky enough to see Azura and sister ship Ventura leaving Southampton. Some more information on them here. Some pics below too. We braai'ed with the Kinnears on Saturday, and then had an Easter egg hunt and picnic with them yesterday which was great. There is a superb pic of Connor below, which tells a tale! This week is a short week and I have a busy three days. We plan to go to Osborne house to watch the Royal Wedding and that is part of a 4 day weekend. Awesome. We are off to London again, this time to see the sights, and to go to Yupa's thai restuarant with Keith on Saturday night. Can't wait!

Ventura about to leave Southampton

Ferry was super full on Friday night

Azura about to leave the docks too

Sammy trying to read, the wind was blowing and it got a bit chilly!

Azura in front of us. Amazing size

Ventura, her identical twin

Alongside the Azura, taken from inside the ferry

Only photo of the braai. Still trying to figure out what Sammy was frowning at!

Easter egg hunt.

Northwood House grounds.

Connor literally devoured this easter egg like he was eating an apple

Another tough day on the island

Not sure about the sulky look, I was far from sulky!

CHOCOLATE!!!

Sammy um, enjoying her picnic?

Today we rented some bicycles and Conan joined us for a ride. It was fantastic to be back on a bike, and Sammy and I absolutely loved the ride. We have planned to get bikes again, but need to save a bit first. So it was very cool to hire the bikes and go for a ride. We rode along cycle paths, through Newport and back through East Cowes.

Sammy enjoying the first ride in a long while for both of us

Conan lead the way

The Medina tidal river, a few hours after this photo, the water would have been 4 metres higher.

Same T-Shirt as last weekend.......

Beautiful field of Oil Seed Rape. Unfortunate name, but makes for unreal scenery

Sammy on the cycle path between Cowes and Newport

More scenery

On a bridge on the cycle path

Taken close to East Cowes.

One final story for today. Riding along the promenade, minding our own business, there was an almighty bang. As Sammy and I abandoned our bikes in terror, looking for cover and the nearest arms cache to fight back, we realised it was the boat club cannon, which had been fired above our heads to start a race. Real South Africans! Offside chaps, next time a little more warning would be fair.....