Our (Mud) Island Adventure: Family Visit

Hello dear friends,

So with the Christmas celebrations out the way, and a slow Boxing Day to recover, Sammy and I packed our bags and headed for London to spend some time with Nat, Dom and the kids. But before that, we were spending the evening with Andy and Hen, and going with her folks to Twickenham to watch Saracens take on Harlequins in the Aviva Premiership. We arrived just after lunch at Andys home in South Wimbeldon and settled into a nice cup of coffee before going to the station to meet Hen's folks for the trip. We were a little too happy to be catching up because we suddenly realised the time and ended up running for several blocks to make the train. We support Saracens as they have a number of South African players including John Smit who joined them after the World Cup. They have only lost one game this season, and Harlequins who were hosting, were unbeaten and solid favourites to win. Approaching Twickenham was just like going to a rugby game in South Africa, complete with a stand cooking wors and selling Biltong and beers to a very long queue of ex pats and locals who wanted to try the cuisine! By the time we got up to our seats, we were pretty impressed by the stadium, we are spoilt with enormous stadiums in SA and Twickenham is of the same standard. It takes 83000 people and there were 82500 people in attendance, a world record for a regular season club game anywhere in the world. The atmosphere was brilliant, the roar only bettered by the SA vs All Black game at the huge Soccer City stadium (or whatever it is called now, the National stadium? Venue of the Football World Cup Final) To top that, Andy ran for the beers (thanks Andy) and Saracens ended up putting in a stellar performance to win the game. John Smit played his role, coming on in the second half and sorting out a very dirty Harlequins prop forward who was tame as a lamb after scrumming against the legend that is our retired Bok Captain. Naturally I was wearing my Sharks jersey, under my jacket of course! It took an age to leave the stadium and Andy and Hen and Sam and I ended up in Wimbeldon village for dinner at the pub where they met. It was a fabulous day!

The next morning we got up early and went to meet Nat and the kids. We were super excited to be seeing them, and as they had arrived early, we arranged to meet at Hamleys. We ran around the store like two headless chickens looking for them, and it was joy to find them on the second floor. It had seemed like a lifetime since we had seen them. We had a brilliant first day with them, doing some shopping, doing the Ripleys Believe it Or Not attraction in Piccadilly Circus, looking at Trafalgar Square and some of the other sights and ending up at yep, you guessed it, Yupa's for dinner! Andy was so tired he fell asleep before the main course so we ended our evening early. The next day we took the family to the National History Museum, Science Musuem and Harrods, before a fantastic dinner at Zizzi in Chiswick. The next morning the family headed off for Manchester and Sammy and I went home happy and tired after a great time with the kids, New Years eve to look forward too, and more time with the family straight after that.

New Years eve was spent with our friends Rich and Carmen, and Ryan and Phillipa at a really good little local italian resturant called Il Gato Nero (the Black Cat) just up the road from us all. A brilliant dinner followed by champagne to see the new year in at Ryan and Phillipa's home was a perfect way to end what has been an unbelievable year of adventure. We were sad to see the back of 2011, but we cant wait for all the adventures 2012 has in stall for us. We didn't last long after midnight, the excesses of a long christmas holiday were starting to take their toll on us.

A few days later Nat and Dom and the kids returned to London and we went back up to meet them and spend some time with them. We finally got to meet Gus's wife Natalie and his kids that evening, and as always spent some good time with Keith, who always opens his home to us to stay when we are in that part of London. The next morning we met up with the family near Tower Bridge for the London Dungeons experience, which the kids loved so much. It was our second time and it never loses its charm and fun, and scare factor. We also took in the War rooms and Nat and the kids did the Tower of London whilst Sam and I walked around Fenchurch street and surrounds before we said goodbye to Nat and Dom, and headed home with Andy and Bella with us for a few days. It was a brilliant few days, we so loved having the kiddies with us, and we took them to see the sights and Corfe Castle which Andy loved, as he decided in London at the Tower that he was a Knight, and spent great quality time with them. It was so hard to take them back to London to go home with their mom, but we know we are seeing them in March when we come down to South Africa for a few weeks! We can't wait to see all of you, as many as we can, but before then we have lots of work to do. But we are counting the days.... Much love as always Rich and Sammy