Aftermath

We woke quite early considering the lateness of our bedtime and showered before heading down for breakfast, the Little Prince's were still sleeping so we left them to it as they were both knackered from the excitement and journey from their homeland.

Breakfast was full English and lush, we were joined by the Bride and Groom and baby Jasmine and I got to feed Jasmine her bottle whilst Silvia took her breakfast, then it was time to wake the Prince's before we took a wee walk into the centre of Newcastle.


On our return we took a rest in Starbucks and called the Prince's who joined us for coffee, unfortunately My Beloved's spare leg got in the way and he ended up wearing a flat white from knee to foot, we collected our belongings from the hotel and made our way back to the Mother in Laws to get organised for our Sunday lunch, 20 folk and numerous cars later and we arrived at a lovely little pub to enjoy Sunday lunch of Roast beef, it was ginormous, 8.95 for a monster of a meal, but I managed to finish mine, but I couldn't managed a sweet, I think I would have burst.


Then it was back to The Mother in Laws for a wee snooze before organising cases for travelling back up the road tomorrow.


An early night was had by all, well almost as the eldest Prince couldn't sleep because of My Beloved's snoring, in his defence it wasn't too bad, but maybe because I'm more used to it, MAYBE!


Monday 30th July


Cases packed and Prince's loaded none too happy with their early start, next stop my second Mother in Laws for a quick coffee before she was due to leave, we said our goodbyes and drove off into the sun, our journey ended around 5.30 ish back in Turriff.


We were lucky enough to get a visit from The Parkers, Baby Addie, Finn, and Mummy and Daddy, Susan and James, time for another snuggle with a baby for a while, then the curries were ordered and supper was collected, emmmm mmmm, gonna miss those curries when we go home.

Craig and Silvia's Wedding

We woke early after having a very interrupted sleep due to noisy neighbours, all night long they romped around the streets shouting at each other, eventually the police arrived thank the lord.

We left the house around 10.30 with our over night cases and arrived in Newcastle city centre around 10 minutes later, we were given the key to our room, just the one as the second one would be ready later, so the four of us all got organised and primped for our day out.  We took ourselves down stairs around 12.30 and found the rest of the family along with the Bridegroom and groomsman Craig and Glen, both boys looked lush, they don't scrub up to bad for a pair of Geordies!! We chatted with Tracey and Richard before heading up to the Wedding room, we found our seats and waited the Brides entrance, and Craig waited nervously at the front.  The music began and Madeline walked in front of Lily and Eva, and then Silvia on Michael's arm looking absolutely stunning in a strapless dress flowing into a train and with a corseted back, they all looked so beautiful, and as we sat it reminded me how lucky I am with my Mather man, they are a lovely bunch of lads.

The ceremony was lovely and they were soon pronounced man and wife and were walking down the aisle together as Mr & Mrs Mather. Champagne reception and photos were next, getting everyone together was a logistical nightmare, grandchildren, aunties, uncles and on and on, the photo angles got wider and wider.

We then were seated for our wedding dinner, and speeches and the cutting of the cake, the day passed so quickly that it was soon time for a half time break, we took ourselves back to our room, eventually I returned to the wedding dance which was in full flow sometime around 9pm and we sat and chatted and danced the night away, My Beloved being down to one crutch kept walking away with out it, and even managed a couple of dances throughout the evening.

We had a last night pit stop in Greggs for sausage rolls for My Beloved, who would have thought you would get a 24 hour Greggs with its very own security guard, as Craig said is that in case someone gets out of control because they have been mixing their pasties...........My Beloved had in total seven sausage rolls today, and then has the nerve to say WE are going on a diet when we get home.

The Beautiful Mather Boys

Glen and Nicola

Craig & Silvia, Michael, Madaline and Jasmine

Me and My Mother in Law

Siblings, Glen, Craig, Kelly and Garry

Bing Bang Bosh

Friday 27th July

Shopping at the Metro my day from start to finish

Light Water Valley

We woke early mainly due to the fact that room was so hot and stuffy, bags packed and off we set for Light Water Valley, but not before we stopped at McDonalds for breakfast as the Eldest Prince had been awake most of the night having to get out of bed early she was feeling a touch sick.


We arrived at Light Water Valley just around 11am and paid the extortionate entrance fee, then we were off, well almost Eldest Prince doesn't like rides that go round and round, but the up and downs were ok, so it was the water ride first, followed by the roller coaster, and then the Ultimate and huge, huge roller coaster that throws you all over before bring you to a halt.  The Princes cued for the ride and eventually got their seats, locked and buckled they were on their way, their faces were a picture of fear and excitement, which was half way between attractive and not...... When they were transported back they were full of tails of glee, and eventually went back on the ride again.


We were dragged from pillar to post around the Valley and watched as the Princes went up down but not round and round, then it was get your photo with a bird of prey, of course Youngest Prince chose the Eagle Owl called Rocky, the biggest bird of the lot, and struggled to hold her arm up high enough for her photo, Eldest Prince chose a Harris Hawk called Vivienne, slightly smaller and easier managed on your arm.

We ate a late lunch before heading off for Newcastle and the family, just before leaving the Little Prince's purchased a mask each one of Ant and one of Deck, and are planning on making a dance video with them on.  We arrived just before 5pm and already the wine and beer was flowing, it would have been rude not to join in and we hate to appear rude. Craig arrived with baby Jasmine and I got my first snuggle off the new baby Mather, she is just gorgeous and very contented.


Our evening was spent drinking and laughing with The Mather's on mass, I eventually took myself off to bed as way to much wine had been poured down my throat against my will of course......

Ant and Deck

Over flowing with coffee

Tuesday 24^th July

Today we woke early and headed into Turra town, firstly to pick up the lenses I had ordered, then a quick trip to the Accountant, and then it was time to visit Baby Hudson and Mummy Shannon, we arrived and were greeted by a beautiful bouncy baby boy, so like his Daddy, we spent a lovely hour in his company chatting with Mummy and his sisters Tyler and Kennedy before we headed off to our next visit.

Next up was Issy, we arrived just as David was finishing his lunch, Junior Donald was also home and we again chatted away and caught up with the news from The Donald Clan.  Its great catching up with everyone but an hour just isn’t long enough.

We left The Donald’s and headed over to collect the girls who were just getting out of their beds, once collected we headed to the driving range for the girls to thrash a few balls around, I bumped into a dear friend Jenny and organised a night out when I’m home in September. My Beloved snuck off whilst I finished my coffee and was busy with Jenny and as I half expected smashed his first golf ball, apparently straight as a dye, let me tell you he was lucky he didn’t die when I heard that he had actually done what I was expecting, he tried to convince me he took it easy pffft.

Home to Turra and I dropped the Little Prince’s and My Beloved at Manda’s house whilst I shot over to Fees house for a quick cuddle with Bobbi-Jane, so cute and all smiles, then it was back to Manda Janes to find the Little Princes and My Beloved had stolen Olly and taken him for a Portsoy ice cream, he came home covered in chocolate and ice cream but he wasn’t moaning.  We spent a relaxed evening in doing nothing, this visiting is very tiring you know.

Wednesday 25^th July

Offft early start for us today, My Beloved drove to collect to Little Prince’s and then we were on the road again. My Beloved is starting to get more driving in now, but just for small amounts of time, so far the longest has been an hour, and as it was motorway driving it wasn’t too bad, well until the bloody workmen decided to jump out at the cars and brakes had to be applied rather quickly…..

First stop was McDonald’s for a pee break and Strawberry milkshakes times three, none for me I just can’t see the point of turning yourself inside out trying to suck that crap up a straw.

Back on the road again, and as the Little Prince’s slept the miles crept in and up, next stop Amble quick visit with Mother in Law number one, did I happen to mention I have two Mother in Laws, I can’t decided if its double trouble or twice as lucky! Or maybe its one of each!!!!.

We dropped the Mother in Law at the pub and were on our way again, heading for Harrogate, we eventually arrived very tired and very hungry, having left Turriff sometime after 9am it was 7.30 before we parked our cases at the Holiday Inn in Harrogate, then headed out for Italian at Vivaldo, we had a lovely meal before heading back to the hotel, although we were all shattered myself and the eldest Prince didn’t sleep to well, the heat in the rooms was stifling.

To be honest I was really expecting to be freezing coming back to the UK but the weather has been fantastic so far, well apart from the first day when the heavens opened and we hid under the bus stop that is.

My Beautiful Grand Daughter

I got out of bed this morning after the most god awful night of no sleep and loads of pain, first thing on the agenda was get a Doctors appointment, and yes Mrs Receptionist it is bloody urgent, so at 11am I took myself off for my 11.10 appointment, an hour 20 mins later I was home again having had my kidneys scanned and my body given the once over, thank goodness for thorough Doctors, I now have enough pain killers to last until at least next trip home or long after if I eat them slowly.

Next on the agenda was a visit to The Demonic one, we arrived sometime after 2pm and spent a lovely afternoon basking in the sunshine of Elgin, the Princes played with Amelia on the Kinnect machine thing and My Beloved and I watched with great amusement, unfortunately for them James took a turn and beat them all. One of the Demonic ones friends bought over a home made cake for us all, decorated with chocolate and smarties, we ate out for supper at a local Italian restaurant, Amelia's half size portion arrived and was the same size as the adult portions which didn't stop her finishing it all, then it was time for home.

We dropped off the Princes and drove home to Fullwood House for an evening of chat and red wine, well for My Beloved anyway antibiotics and alcohol don't mix, so its gonna be a sober week for me then...........offfft

Playing with the ipad

London Baby, no internet - no phones = no life

Day one 19th July

I woke early and set about the house sorting our all my clothes for our next jolly holiday, My Beloved lay in his bed until the siren went off and I had to wake him for fear of a missile being dropped on his bed and launching him into oblivion, or was it out of oblivion.  Apparently after a quick text to Dina it was a testing, testing, one, two, three type of siren, phew, I really wish someone would let us expats know when the testing is occurring.

I lounged on the sun bed for a while before needing a second shower then it was time to take a hike to the Dan Pan and walk Darren’s suitcase round, obviously via Mandarin for an Iced coffee and cold coffee, then in by The Crowne for a quick chat with Sharbel and Roni, Mickael and the boss man, all are doing well. Then it was home again for the last of the packing before heading out for supper at Giraffe.

We were bedded just after 9pm as having to be up at 1.30am, was going to be a little tricky.

Day Two 20th July

Offt 1.30am came around way too quick and not before the eyeballs had time to smooth over, and the wrinkles to disappear although if I’m being honest botox is the only thing that would sort that out.

The journey to the airport was tiring and the arrival was mad, the place was hooching with like minded people trying to get anywhere else but the airport.  When we eventually checked in we were asked if we would like to delay our flight and receive a superb reimbursement for our inconvenience, unfortunately for us we had booked a taxi from Heathrow and were unable to take them up on their offer.  Having not allowed My Beloved to come off the crutches has his benefits, first in the line up for the x-ray machines, first in the line for boarding, I think we will keep those babies for quite a while yet. 

The plane journey was torturous, as the back just didn’t like the upright chairs, sleep was hit and miss as was the breakfast, then I ended up watching over My Beloved’s shoulder as he watched Sherlock Holmes, bit of a pain in the arse when I didn’t have ear phones, and lip reading is a bit of an issue as I’m half blind, who thought age could be so annoying.

We eventually landed at Heathrow very grouchy, our taxi driver was ready for us and we made our way through London town, oh how I love London, everyone is geared up for the Olympics, they even have games lanes for the buses and Olympians personal transport, it was so nice to see how London has changed since we were last here, and how much fancy housing has been built on the Thames.

We arrived at David’s and Louise was waiting for us, quick cuppa and then we headed of to the pub for a spot of lunch. We decided to walk back from the pub after Louise had offered us a lift in her street Ka, obviously it would have been two trips as there isn’t a lot of room in a Ka for a man on crutches and his wife, and so began our troubles, we left the pub shortly after Louise and got no further than half a road away when the heavens opened, this was not the sort of rain that you could ignore and having slightly lost our bearings we found a bus shelter and waited out the storm, thunder and lightning flashed and rolled and the rain kept coming, so we just waited and waited and waited, eventually it relented enough for us to make a dash back to David’s house, but what a squelchy journey it was, open toed sandals are not the best tools to keep ones feet dry.

Dave arrived home only to find I had locked him out and couldn’t let him in, it wasn’t that I didn’t want to, we just couldn’t figure out how, eventually the house keys were passed through the letter box and he let himself in, apparently I had managed to double lock the door and shut it when we arrived back for our walk in the rain, very clever of me really, but good job Dave was coming home or we would have been locked in for the duration.  Denise arrived sometime later and we all strolled off to the local Indian restaurant, our first Indian since leaving in January and it was lush, oh how I miss Indian food. We had a lovely evening chilling and chatting and drinking copious amounts of alcohol, my liver will need a dry out when we get back to Israel, or maybe not…..

Oh its good to be home with the family, it reminds me why I love them, and why we live in Israel, nutters the bloody lot of them, and none more so than David.

Day Three 21st July

Dave shot out of the house unfortunately not at a time his boss would have been happy with, on exiting the drive way both wing mirrors were clipped, the telegraph pole across the road was whacked and to top it all because of the tightness of the parking executed by his beloved wife, he hit her car too. Not a good start to your day when your running late.

My Beloved and I took a stroll over the supper market and collected food for the family BBQ, having prepared the marinades we then walked to the pub, only because I had no internet and the wifi is free with every beer you buy….

We had lunch whilst we were there and then took ourselves off to Eltham high street in a taxi, we both needed sims that would give us access to the net and messaging.  Taxi back to Falconwood and Lou Lou and Rob arrived, we organized the food ready for Chef Denise to throw it about the BBQ, then the family started to arrive cousin Mark with his girlfriend Nicky and children Matthew and Amelia, along with them came cousin Sue and her grand daughter Ellie, then cousin Debbie hubby Gel and daughter Emma, what a great evening we had, the Turley’s and the Birds reunited, there were a few Turley’s missing but distance can be a right bug bind when families try and get together.

The girls, they say cousins are your first friends they are not wrong

The rest of the tribe

The Children, so well behaved who entertained us with magic tricks
and gymnastics

We had a great evening sitting in the garden, even the weather behaved for us, and although I did have to steal a jumper from little Bro it was a very lovely evening, chilling and drinking and eating and drinking……….

Day four 22nd July      

Still no internet to speak off, having recently moved into his new house,  my brother was informed it would take 3 weeks to set up his internet and broadband package.  In this day and age of high speed broadbands and internet highways should it really take that long, having no phone until yesterday was a like having a limb removed, not a pleasant experience, so needless to say the blog has not been updated for a while.

We Left David’s around 10 to begin the next leg of the journey, back to Heathrow and a plane to Aberdeen, the journey across town was great the weather was beautiful and we saw all the lovely sights of London, we did the works, Buckingham palace, Hyde Park, we did the Oval at Kennington, and Mi5 on the Thames, The Cumberland Hotel on Marbel Arch where I used to work, and much, much more, we even saw the new BMW’s that will be used to transport the Olympians to events, all lined up along a leafy street.

We eventually arrived at Heathrow said our goodbyes and headed into the departures at T5, Wagamamas first for food, then off to the plane, a short and uninteresting flight to Aberdeen and then we were met off the plane by the Little Princes, hugs and snogs all around and then we collected the hire car, which would have been all right had I not stalled it at the first junction and not having worked a  push button hand brake before I struggled to get the car to start before it tried to roll backwards into the taxi behind us, eventually we were off again, then we arrived at Turriff and The Fullwoods, Olly was getting his supper and went very shy when we arrived, fortunately that didn’t last long, and he was smiling and chatting in no time.

Supper was take away and then the girls were driven home by Manda as I had taken a moment to get a snooze, then it was off to The Crown to see the Local publicans and family, Lainey and Dave were in so we caught up with them and laughed at there sun burnt faces, having spent the weekend in sunny Perth at the Rewind festival they had managed to burn their faces and necks and apparently a small patch on the legs between the tops of the willies and the bottom of the shorts, definitely a farmers tan.

Out Of The Furnace into the Humidity

We packed our bags and our days in Eilat drew to a close, we made our way to the airport and rang the gauntlet of security at the airport, no we are not carrying anything for anyone else, no we don't have any weapons, we are British after all, and yes we did pack our bags ourselves, an yes when I went to pee I took my bags with me..........


The flight home took an hour and I did my best to snooze in a chair that was made for someone with a spine like a steel rod, and no recliner button, then we landed at Haifa, coming in was amazing to see the shoreline, all our favourite haunts, the beach the harbour, the twin towers all whizzed passed, and then it was fight time at the entrance, all the passengers from our flight trying to converge on the double doors at once, but I am getting very good at using my trolley as a weapon, good job really as I left my AK57 in Eilat.


Ah home again, the air was ripe as we opened the door, mainly due to the overly ripe curry being left on the hob, offt not what you want when your returning home, bags unpacked, washing done, and time to chill before the next leg of our journey.

Last Day in Eilat

Well we woke early and headed off for Dekel beach, we arrived by taxi and found ourselves a spot on the beach, the water was very inviting just for a change but on investigation way to rocky for My Beloved to get in and out safely, we took our breakfast overlooking the Red sea, eating in the sunshine, today is the first time we have made breakfast anywhere since arriving in Eilat, so we thought it only correct to partake of an Israeli breakfast, which consisted of omelette, salad, bulgarian cheese, cream cheese, tuna and pittas, oh yeah and two brown rolls, it was heavenly.


We lounged for a while before fluid was required, once rehydrated we decided to head back to the Dan beach as this would let My Beloved get his hydrotherapy, we made the mistake of letting the taxi driver take us to another beach but on arrival the place was hooching and space was at a minimum, so we did no more than jump in another taxi and this time we kept course for Dan beach, the beach was quiet and we found ourselves three beds, two for My Beloved and one for me and settled in for the day.  First things first into the water we went exercises done it was time to dry out in the sun.


The guy selling water appeared sometime later and we snaffled a huge bottle of water in no time, Eilat definitely makes you thirsty, and now our bellies were rumbling, so we headed to The Boston cafe grill bar thing and ordered the fish carpaccio and the beef carpaccio and shared them, they were delicious and all washed down with the recommended wine of the day.


Back to the beach we toddled and lay in the sun for a while before the sea called for us again, this time I had an inflatable thanks to the nice gentleman next to us, and was able to paddle out to sea and lay in the water.  Eventually we left the beach and made the last trip back to The Crowne Plaza, showered and snoozes were done then it was time to head out again, we settled on Agadir for supper then a quick trip around the corner to Mike's place for the rest of the evening, we sat happily drinking together until some loud mouthed New Yorker arrived and disturbed our peace, man she was bad, for someone as deaf as myself I couldn't block out her repertoire, I almost asked her to take her dirty mouth somewhere else because she was ruining my karma.  She eventually left followed by a few lap dogs, and our evening continued peacefully, well apart from the music that is, then it was time for home, but not before buying water to take to the room, I am not getting caught out again without water....

Next time we come I'm gonna stay here, The Hilton Queen of Sheba !

Late Start

We snoozed until after 11 this morning, but this was probably due to the fact I dragged My Beloved out of bed at 5.30 on a mission to find water, no room service at that time meant we had to go find a shop, thankfully the 24 on the supermarket wall did actually mean 24 hours  and we bought enough water for the unquenchable thirst that was threatening to dry me out, first bottle was drank outside the store, and the second was almost finished before bed.


So we woke late and headed for the beach, but not before a pit stop at CafeCafe for a spot of lunch and light refreshments, another bottle of water drank and still the thirst rages on, we found a spot of the beach and lay ourselves prostate for the afternoon, the sea was beautiful and inviting and we swam out to the pontoon and back, then dried off again before taking another dip, we eventually left the beach around 3pm looking for more fluid, this time it was the grape variety, you wouldn't believe how difficult it was to find a cafe/restaurant that sold decent wine, Emerald Riesling aint wine - Boston Cafe Bar did the trick and we supped our wine sitting outside, the lovely gentleman put the air con on for us but all it did was whip the heated breeze into a frenzy thus failing to keep us cool.

Sunset over the mountains

Time for a touch more sun, and a snooze and then more swimming before heading back sometime around 7pm we stopped in at Mike's place on route for a quick drink, more water for me, and more beer for My Beloved, oh and a basket of chips, not a good move when your already gasping for water, and seeing as My Beloved adds salt like it's going out of fashion, my hydration levels began to struggle again, two bottles of water were ordered from room service, I don't think I have even had such an unquenchable thirsty like it, we eventually showered and headed out across town.  By the time we arrived we were desperate to sit and dry out, My Beloved ordered shrimp tempura and myself I ordered a vegetable platter which when it arrived was served on a plate the size of a small football pitch, I struggled to eat much at all, I ordered three drinks straight off, one water large please, one diet coke and one wine, the wine took all night to drink and the soft drinks were guzzled immediately, one thing I have noticed in many of the restaurants and cafes we have frequented since arriving in Israel is the seating, the chairs are so uncomfortable you struggling to find a position that allows your body to relax, and tonight was no different, by arse was dottled, my hips were aching and my legs were hanging at least two inches of the floor, you cant sit on the edge of the chair because the lip is so small you virtually hover, needless to say I made my uncomfortable feelings known, My Beloved having longer legs that me just raised his eyebrows and did his best to ignore me.......

Swimming with the Dolphins

A Day in photos

Garry facetiming with the Little Princes