London

So I guess as Jane is being slack I should do some updating…

Well England has been a nice change from the non stop hustle and bustle of the last few months. Needless to say it is a bit colder then Cuba and Spain, however the weather actually behaved itself and the sun has been shinning.

Been great catching up with my sister and Ollie (and her cat which seems to have an identity crisis going on) and relaxing and having some home cooked food. So first day in London required a trip to the local primark (cheap clothing) store as we look to get something different to wear (6 months in the same stuff just gets boring). Also a trip to the supermarket to get some decent beer, followed by a little more relaxing and catching up on emails, washing and sleep.

First weekend and a trip to visit my family in Wolverhampton, then down to a little village for more family. Was lovely catching up with everyone and seeing them all, having a nice walk with Steve and Karen and Jess and the dog of course through the country. The English country side is actually very nice and with the nice weather was even better, local English pub for a few pints made it great. Following day down to Shirley and Ray’s for lunch in there 14th century country house, such a lovely place.

Back to London and one of the highlights for us both, the Paralympics… I will say this now ‘disadvantaged my ass’, these guys (and girls) do things I can only dream about. First night was the swimming finals where we saw Sophie Pascoe win one of her medals (unfortunately was a silver) but we had flag in hand. Now I saw people with no arms or legs swim faster than I can… next day was Athletics finals, that was fantastic, the Olympic stadium was great and we saw so many finals (both wheelchair and non wheel chair) including a great 4x100 relay final. The third and last day we got a day pass where we saw wheelchair tennis (these guys would kick my butt), wheelchair rugby (the most violent sport I have seen) and blind football (which was amazing). Overall the Paralympics were amazing, fantastic, awesome and well pretty inspiring, you don’t go to watch amazing impaired people, you go watch amazing sports people do amazing things!

So after the Paralympics it was time to see some of Jane’s family and friends and a trip down to Eton was next. A lunch on river bank and bbq dinner was very nice, then the next day catching up with Jane’s old uni flatmates, and a nice Chinese dinner.

Well the next few days were spent shopping and catching up with friends and family. Eatinga bit more and spending time with Annika and Ollie (also a trip to IKEA to buy some things  -  luck my sister has a container coming home).

So England came and went. We had a great time and really enjoyed ourselves. We managed to relax and see lots of people. Now Cyprus and my family…