Holiday Round Up

We forgot to take the lead to connect the DSLR camera to the laptop on holiday with us, so here is a holiday round up using some of the images we missed.

Saturday

An Uncle visits, Tewksbury town and abbey.

Sunday
Feeding the neigh-bours, Gloucester town and cathedral.

Monday
Alfresco chef, eating outside and later by lamplight.

 

Tuesday

Beautiful carrot and coriander soup with Uncle Mike and driving the tea trolley afterwards.

Wednesday 
More steam railway pictures 

Thursday
Outside our little cottage on a quiet day. Our last full day here.

Journeying Home

Despite my still feeling unwell we were packed and ready to go by half past nine this morning.  The first leg of the journey was fairly uneventful but by the time we hit Birmingham we had become embroiled in several tail backs due to road traffic collisions.  We had also narrowly missed an altercation with a stray traffic cone in our lane!  Needless to say I managed to stop in time but then had to endure horn pipping from lorry drivers who were oblivious to the obstruction in the road!!  It is amazing to see how people behave behind the steering wheel and traffic chaos does not bring out the best in folk :-)

We had two stops coming home, one was a planned break and the other was I am feeling to unwell and exhausted to drive break.  Costa coffee kept me going but boy was I glad to be home.  Time on the road was 8hrs for a journey that could have taken 3hrs on a straight run!  There were several times we were crawling along at 8 miles an hour!

 Second motorway stop and the kids watching "Dad's Army" on the portable DVD player.

Good to be home.

A Quiet Day

 " See the little bunnies sleeping way past noon, shall we go and wake them with a merry tune?

They're so still, are they ill?"

Yes!  One with dodgy blood sugars and the other fighting a viral infection :-(

They did however rally as the day wore on and so I am cautiously hopeful that our journey home in the morning should be OK.  They weren't the only ones poorly, I also succumbed to a nauseating migraine attack but thankfully with a combination of analgesics, anti-inflammatories and sleep, I too was much improved later in the day.  A good job too, since the house needed packing up!

 

 The winds howled, the sky grew dark and it rained after tea.  That was fine since I had carried all that needed to be packed to the car.  The forecast is sunshine tomorrow, so here's hoping the weather person has interpreted the chart correctly :-)

The reward for all my efforts was a quiet cup of coffee and a read, much appreciated.

Dean Forest Railway and A Poorly Pip

The day started off reasonably well and our trip for the day was The Dean Forest Railway as featured above.  We also had an extra visitor accompanying us since Uncle Andrew decided to stay on an extra day:-)  The kids were over the moon at that piece of news!  Our journey began at Norchard to Lydney Junction and back again with the view to finishing the circuit of Norchard to Parkend after lunch.

 Lovely Uncle Mike, who hosted us for lunch at his house yesterday and undertook all the driving today, a two hour round trip accompanied by an interesting commentary on the local area.

Sadly we did not manage to complete the round trip as Pip suddenly spiked a temperature and complained of pain in her back and widespread bone aches and a headache.  She had been restless in the night and had complained of a sore throat upon awakening.  Our priority was Pip so we cut the visit short and made the return journey home, it was definitely the best decision as she has been in bed since 4pm this afternoon and asleep for most of that time.

 

 Peter Rabbit looking after a Poorly Rabbit.

 I cannot remember the last time we actually had to use any analgesics, it has been a long while, however we have a journey home to make on Friday and so these are on standby to help should she still be unwell at that point.  I am hoping that a good night's sleep will be just the medicine she needs :-)

 Evening Sunset.

 Evening Sky.

 

 Flowers outside the back kitchen door.

As I type Benedict is actually asleep, despite insisting that he was not tired!!  It has been a long while since he has been asleep by 9pm, just hope he isn't sickening for something!

 Despite Pip being unwell we still had a lovely day.

Hubble Bubble, No Parking Trouble

Uncle Andy, Dave's brother arrived today and he will be with us until Tuesday evening.  Our museum visit today was the soldiers of Gloucestershire museum
We decided to eat out for lunch and the one place we wanted to visit was this place.  Dave and Benedict had popped in yesterday for a shared latte whilst Pip and I were in the Tailor of Gloucester shop and we were really impressed with the vibe.  We were not disappointed, the food was exceptional, the gluten free range was extensive and the staff were warm and welcoming.

 Bacon and cheese burger served with rosemary french fries.  Dave and I shared a double wild boar burger served with the same fries.  The food really was exceptional.

 Soldiers of Gloucester Museum.

 Battle of Alexandria.

 The Desert Rats, spot the extra recruits!

 Now that is what I call a tidy room and bed!  I'm pretty sure this will bring back memories, eh Dad?!!  Hospital corners on the sheets too :-)

 As you can see this cross was carved with a nail, you can read about it here

Pip looking very much like Frank Spencer

Uncle Andy helping Benedict carry his Bergen back pack.  These packs can way up to 35 kilos, imagine having to carry this, whilst wearing a flak jacket, attempting to avoid enemy fire all in a sweltering 40C.

Reporting for duty.

 Pip and I in the kids area, answering a quiz about the sort of foods found in the second world war rations.

The museum albeit compact was very  well laid out with lots of interactive screens for the kids and plenty of things for them to handle.

I was spared some of the tea duty as Uncle Andy had brought a primus stove and so he cooked sausage and bacon buns for tea.  Despite the cold we ate alfresco:

   Uncle Andy and Benedict discussing the various methods of sausage cooking!

 Sometimes it really does pay to listen to a kid, Benedict cam up with the idea for the onion and chilli garnish as well as the toasted buns.  Looks like those hours watching food network are paying off :-)

 A lovely end to a happy day.