SICK AND TIRED

So My Beloved was due to arrive home last night at a very stupid time, but unfortunately for him he had hailed a taxi driver with limited petrol, although he was adamant that the kangaroo jumping was in fact due to a faulty engine and not lack of fuel, needless to say My Beloved arrived by the skin of his teeth at the airport to be informed that they had in fact shut the gate 10 minutes earlier than his itinerary actually indicated.... It would have been nice had they informed him of this, but had he been at the airport early enough he would of actually known this.  Needless to say a very unhappy Geordie spent another night in Cyprus in the same clothes as no spares had been packed for such emergencies.

Poor Lou Lou has taken the lurgy and is now moping around holding her self as still as possible whilst traveling forward, no easy task, but if she moves too quickly we have to get her to a toilet double quick for fear of her vomiting up the walls. We think she has some kind of flu bug as we both ate the same things yesterday and if it was food poisoning she would have been splashing the car wind screen all the way home from Haifa.

So today Lou Lou didn't get out of bed until around 12, mainly because she wore herself out throwing up all through the night, when she did get up the first thing on her mind was topping up her tan, she lasted about an hour and a half possibly two before she had to walk double quick back to the apartment and only just managed to get home before vomiting again, me I'm hoping for this bug as having eaten my way around Israel with Lou Lou I could do with a crash diet....

Lou Lou before she got sick 

Life in a Letter Pt 1

Since my very last public blog Lou Lou and I have Journeyed to Jerusalem, Hurried up to Haifa and shuffled around the shoe shops, we have had a ball warding off the market vendors and picking through the packables.

Jerusalem was Joyous, we wandered around the sight of the crucifixion, got lost in the alley ways of the Christian and Arab quarters, and ate chocolate on the verandahs overlooking the walled city. Breakfast was taken with Natalie in Cafe Louise, a true Israeli breakfast which would flatten even a greedy breakfast eater, but we managed to work our way through it all be it slowly. Bahai was beautiful and we visited the boys in Haifa and collected bacon from The Prosser, we snuck up on Nelly my very wonderful last landlord, her sense of humour is sharp as a pin, and she is now making it her mission to find Lou Lou a Husband, we decided not to inform her of Lou Lou's boyfriend as this would complicate matters and create more questions, but we laughed and giggled like school girls at this wonderful French woman with the Israeli accent who spoke to us in English, I truly miss my life in Haifa and the people who shared it, and currently the neighbours from Haifa are petitioning Schlumberger to get my Beloved back as we speak and we have strict instructions to visit very very soon as they all miss us.

My Beloved is no longer in our company having travelled to Cyprus with a very important document for some Knoble geezer, it's not even a 48 hour trip but its long enough for him to be missed. Unfortunately for Lou Lou and I we have had no one to warn us of impending changes in height of pavements and steps and slopes that suddenly jump out at you when your least expecting them and have spent much of our free 48 hours catching each other falling......

And so the time has come.....

There's a sad sort of clanging from the clock in the hall
And the bells in the steeple too
And up in the nursery an absurd little bird
Is popping out to say cuckoo
Marta, Gretl, Brigitta
Cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo
Children
Regretfully they tell us
But firmly they compel us
To say goodbye to you

Children
So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, good night
Marta
I hate to go and leave this pretty side
Children
So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, adieu
Friedrich
Adieu, adieu, to yieu and yieu and yieu
Children
So long, farewell, au revoir auf Wiedersehen
Liesl
I'd like to stay and taste my first champagne
Yes?
Captain
No!
Children
So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye
Kurt
I leave and heave a sigh and say goodbye
Goodbye
Brigitta
I'm glad to go, I cannot tell a lie
Louisa 
I flit, I float, I fleetly flee, I fly
Gretl
The sun has gone to bed and so must I 
Children
So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
Guests
Goodbye

Chocolate can kill you, according to Lou that is....

Well we took a swim first thing, now you would think nothing could go wrong with a little dip in the pool - but you would be wrong, after watching Lou Lou elegantly enter the pool I stepped on something I had been warned about previously, the plastic slats at the side of the pool, my left foot gave way and I transferred all my weight right, very quickly, unfortunately the right foot then gave way, and I was left with no other choice but to throw myself at the pool and hope I hit the water without breaking something, the fact that there is CCTV on the pool would have led to me being embarrassed had I not been laughing so much at being such a clutz.. Lou was no help as she had heard the splash and was trying not to drown laughing. Note to self do not step on the slats they move...

We headed for the beach and had a lovely morning sunning ourselves, both of us dozing off, I only woke because I kept jumping on the sun bed, Lou on the other hand woke because she could smell burning flesh, luckily not mine.  We headed for home collected the bikes and headed for Max Brenner Chocolate by the Bald man, ooooooooh it was lush sitting watching Lou Lou and her plate stand full of chocolate delights, myself I ordered a rather small portion of waffles with chocolate and ice cream, and I finished the lot.  Louise nearly finished but was starting to gurn about being stuffed and she may die at any minute from way to much chocolate, I decided it was best to ignore her.  Being genetically challenged in the balance department became a bit of an issue with the bikes and part way home we decided to push them until we came to some roads that weren't busy.....

Carmel Market, Tel Aviv Day out

Our Day out in Tel Aviv

from Fruit to Fruit cakes and back again

This reminded me of Mr Wilson

My Beloved and I lounging

And snogging

Fishing

Not a green tomato in sight

mmmmmmmmm sweets

Baklava and Knaffi

Fig or Fidge as its known locally

Ah this reminded me of my Grand Daughter

My New clock its only taken me 10 months to find just the right one
and I love it

LOU LOU has arrived

Wooohooo Lou has arrived, and the flight must have been good because she came through smiling.

So today we have been to the gym and I whooped her ass on the treadmill, and when she could take no more I let her sit on the bike, then we took a swim in the pool before heading for the beach to catch some rays.

Lunch was taken at the Marina where Lou decided on spicy Jalopeno Shashuka a traditional Israeli breakfast dish, I personally have managed to avoid this tomato based dish since arriving in January but Lou Lou had a need and would except no subsitutes, thankfully she loved it. 

Late afternoon we took another swim in the pool before supper, My Beloved was sweating his little body off at the gym on his own, and then we had a lovely supper before heading to the Marina for a walk around. Supper was Bolognese made by my own fair hand, and the beef was from the Russian supermarket in Netanya and I have to say it was mighty fine, as is the two tonne of ham I purchased whilst I was there.

I always though I was unique

I'm not disappointed that I have recently found out that I am not unique, just a little shocked.  I always thought my inability to remain on two feet or even upright on two wheels was not actually an hereditary trait but more clumsiness, but now if it is hereditary which one of my parents passed on this bumbling gene I ask myself.  After another spill and clattering the knee left side this time, I had a conversation with Lou Lou, she informed me she has the same issue and generally takes out anyone in her close proximity, and considering David cracked a rib recently falling from his bike maybe I'm not so clumsy after all just genetically challenged. I'm typing this with one finger, whilst holding my mac, waiting for my genetically challenged Little Sister at Ben Gurion airport. 

It's raining, It's pouring, this is getting boring

Having moved to a sunshine island one does not, nor even want rain. But the fact that only I had the rain and no other was due to the rain being indoor and coming through the door frame, now you have to give that man above a clap for that, that is what you call a true manipulation of the weather.  Luckily for me I have a man that can, and he did.  The ceiling panels were removed the pipes manipulated and straightened and the rain ceased.  All was sunny and dry again in the House of Mather, well apart from the towels and tea towels used for mopping purposes that is.

Air conditioning is great if it works properly............but when it doesn't don't walk through rainy door frames your gonna get wet.

Had a Complaint so here is the next blog!!!

Ok I have been a little quiet for the last few days, and have received a complaint via Scofcom the independent regulator and competition authority for the Scottish communications industries, considering the complaint came only from Scotland and the blog is now followed by people all over the world can I just say, Cathy I will do my best not to disrupt service in the future unless a holiday request has been filed with the appropriate authorities.

I have to say I have not actually been on holiday just a little preoccupied, in my defence that is.  So here goes, what have I been up too since my last blog, well we were Prossered over the weekend, Mr Prosser arrived first thing Saturday morning and left again first thing Sunday morning, he came apparently as he hasn't seen us for a while, but we know his cunning plan was to eat our bacon as his cupboards are bare of bacon. We had a lovely day at the beach, well Mr P and I did, My Beloved was very under the weather due mainly to an alcohol allergy suddenly developed overnight.....having been laying off the alcohol for a while trying to drink your body weight in one evening because you can proved waaaay too much for him, so he lay like a corpse on the sofa whilst Mr P and I sat chatting at Bell beach.

Eventually My Beloved called for directions and arrived at the beach looking for a hairy dog, which he had, no animals were harmed during this experiment but at least it was successful as My Beloved was like a wilted flower given water, all of a sudden life sprang back into his limbs and colour arrived in his cheeks, although this could have been from the breeze on the beach. We spent a lovely afternoon at the beach chatting and putting the world to rights, We suppered at Benedict's and this was after walking to Benedict's for lunch and being told that there was an hour wait, offfft that wasn't gonna work for Mr P and I, especially as I had already made him walk all the way there and he really doesn't like to walk, I could do no more than promise him beer and walk him back to the beach. 

My Beloved ordered the Mexican breakfast, I took an egg dish which came in two ramekins, with a separate ramekin for the soldiers, ohhh those soldiers were amazing, they were a lovely think break cut into slices and the ramekins contained obviously the eggs, but one had king prawns in with cheese on the top and the other was a mushroom egg dish with cheese on the top, I was in child heaven.  Mr P took a steak dish and we all munched our way through our dishes, personally I think my dish was the best, but the boys may disagree.

I have reorganised the apartment downstairs and cleaned and washed and ironed everything that needed doing, the beds are fresh and Lou Lou will arrive on Monday for her holiday, I can't wait, My Beloved is off to Cyprus on Monday until Tuesday, nothing to do with Louise coming, and luckily I checked her arrival dates as I was going to go with him, now that would have been funny, Lou Lou arriving at Tel Aviv and having to wait 24 hours for her lift .....................

A Rather Weighty Problem

Feeling rather stiff after the fall from the bike and the two day DOMS I slithered out of bed and went about my tasks before I realised I was actually supposed to be collecting the car, and then collecting Julie for our trip to HaCarmel Market Tel Aviv, so I rushed around running through the shower, stopping only long enough to get the soap off, then I was on my way to the Office, now I decided today to try a different bus route, and yes the bus does take me to the office, which really is walking distance, but it went via the Marina, so I was almost at the office before the bus doubled back to the Marina, then headed back to the office, but at least I know that the 13 heading to the office will get me to the Marina, which has to mean that it will get me back from the Marina too, you gotta think food shopping.

So I collected the car, then I collected Julie and we headed into Tel Aviv, and having checked with google for the nearest car park, I was heading towards the beach before we knew it. We found a space, parked the car and headed into the market, a wonderful place full of delights to please even the most miserable of people, first stop was coffee, then it was time for sewing needles and thread for Jason, do you know how difficult it has been to find these simple things. Then we headed for the start of the market and worked our way back, through the fruits and vegetables to the spices and dried fruits, and the cheeses and store after store was a feast for the eyes, and the prices were ridiculously cheap, I had to keep reminding myself we are out for the next couple of evenings or my fridge would have been overflowing with goodies.

We found our way back to the car and headed home, but not before taking a trip to the butchers in Herzliya, now this man has great meat, but if I tell him once, I tell him dozens of times don't schnitzel the chicken, today just like all the others he ignored me and cut my lovely chicken breast against the grain, I swear I am going to have to schnitzel him before he takes any notice of me.

Homeward we went and having dropped Julie back to her apartment I then wrestled with the oven, the damned thing is so irritatingly obnoxious, I set it to top and bottom oven, which meant that the outer ring of the grill was on, and left it to heat up, this took quite a while but eventually I was able to put in my dishes, the trouble is opening the door to put the dishes in loses all the heat and it takes an age to come back to temperature, don't think I will be trying cakes for a while.

I collected My Beloved from work and he headed to the gym, whilst I carried on with the supper, not feeling like the gym today mostly due to a tricky back and sore arms from my gym sessions two days ago, lifting those veggie bags today was a touch torturous let me tell you.

We had a quiet evening in just chilling after dinner, well we would have been chilling had we been able to get to grips with the air con, still can't quite get the settings right, I personally am convinced it has something to do with the swimming pool next door and the sauna and steam rooms underneath us......

Rain you must be joking

I was sitting tweaking my blog when I happened to look out the patio doors, I could not believe my eyes torrential rain dinging down off the patio, I didn't sign up for this, although I have to say the patio did need a hose down and the seating was a little dusty from the usual humidity over night so the rain although unwelcome did make everything sparkle again, but it lasted way to long for my liking.

It didn't take long before the sun was back in its rightful place and you would have thought the downpour would have freshened up the atmosphere but no, when I took myself off to the Mall via the beach the heat was just as intense as usual and the humidity still sticky.  The Mall was over run with families and the shops were open and shut, it really seems that shop keepers please their selves as to if they do or do not open on certain holidays, the supermarket was open although there was no meat on display, the bacon shelf was sadly lacking and the fruit and veg were very weary looking.  

The downpour had created quite a mess on the beach and the beach cleaners were out collecting the debris and bagging it up, the drains obviously were unprepared for the rain as were the large flower pots outside the Mall, the bases had all fallen out, probably due to the weight of water.

My Beloved arrived home and we decided not to visit the gym but to take ourselves off for a bike ride, we cycled all around the Pituach, from our house to Apollonia National Park, then back along the cliff edge, non to clever for someone with my balance skills, we came down past a beautiful house, with a walled garden, as we were cycling down the side of the house I noticed a poster on the wall of a person using a hand gun, just then I noticed the American flag, and realised we had just circled the American Embassy, offfft, I smiled sweetly as we cycled past the guard room.......

We then headed towards the Marina, the stalls were in place and the vendors were displaying there wears, I purchased some smelly things to hang in the bedrooms and then we headed to Giraffe, My Beloved was now flagging due to lack of food and thats never a good sign, so Giraffe it was for supper, Chicken fried rice for My Beloved, and Giraffe soup for myself, although once again I was unable to finish my supper, I really wish they made that soup for one person.  Once supper was finished we took ourselves off for another jaunt around Herzliya, we meandered through the streets checking out the amazing housing and checking out the gardens, then I tried to once again kill myself with my bike, jeeeezo its not my fault they have a habit of placing a concrete pimple in the middle of the paths to stop the cars parking, but they really should have flashing lights on them, or at the very least sirens, I tried and failed to go over it, I just smashed right into it, and yes it was immovable, I didn't crack a rib this time thankfully, but I did smash my foot off the pedal and bash my hand a little, and yes it's gonna hurt in the morning......

I'm not lost, I'm scoping the area!

So yesterday I decided would be a good day to get out and investigate all that the surrounding areas have to offer, I still know very little about Herzliya, or the suburbs surrounding it so time to get the maps out and get on it like sonic.

I walked to the office collected the car and headed in the direction of Tel Aviv, it wasn't that I was actually going into the city I just needed to get my bearings and I find the best way to do that is to get myself lost and find my way home again, My Beloved hates this, although since moving out of Haifa which I have to say is a rabbit warren of one way streets, and paths that go nowhere, he is a lot more comfortable being lost, he is dare I say it even getting to know the roads, which really is amazing as this guy could get lost in a one way street. So I drove around scoping the area, I found a lovely furniture shop which obviously I had to check out, then back on the road again, much like Haifa where I had the twin towers on the mountain to get my bearings, here I have the motorways the route 2 and 20 are on the beach side of the area, the 2 runs from Haifa to Tel Aviv, and the 20 runs through Tel Aviv to meet the 4 which if you stayed on it would run you to the border of Gaza, best to avoid that one me thinks. Anyway having done a kind of circle of the area the motorways were now on my left side which meant that I was headed at least in the general direction of Herzliya, and what do you know I found the shopping area with the car wash I had discovered a while back on another scoping expedition.

I decided to give My Beloved a little treat and get the car washed, so I drove into the parking space with the idea that I would get someone to tell me what I should do to get the car washed, I soon found out when a rather strange looking Russian started shouting at me and pointing, so now I knew that I shouldn't park where I was parking, even if I did want information and by the extended finger routine I was getting I decided it must be his way of telling me, 'you must go over there lady'.  So I drove over to the line up for the car wash, so then I was in the queue, I had no choice should I not like the prices, and then we have the problem with the Hebrew again, the guy at the start took me to see another guy who although spoke good English proceeded to try and empty my purse of all my money, I held on tight and handed over the 30 shekels required to get the car back and washed and wiped down and in one piece, phew.

Then it was shopping time, its a little like Chico time, it makes me smile and want to skip and dance, I browsed the shops and I even purchased something, no windy licking for me yesterday, I had cash in my purse and I needed to spend it. I now have a very clever little bag that doubles as a ruck sack too, a bargain I tell you, an absolute bargain. I then had a spot of lunch before I could muster up the energy required to run the gauntlet of the supermarket.  Had I realised it was yet another holiday I would have set off  for the food run earlier, I felt a little like Dale Winton was hiding in a corner and at any moment would shout out supermarket sweep, I hit the aisles at speed, threw in things I might need, but probably wouldn't use, and then I was at the till, unfortunately I was behind a couple and their twins who only had a few items so you would have thought this would be the quick till, but in fact they took at the very least 30 mins to get through the till because the husband kept disappearing into the store to collect things, check prices, and generally piss me off, and he then lost one of his vouchers under the conveyor belt, now I do have a little sympathy for anyone that loses anything on a conveyor belt, having lost a passport in Egypt many moons ago, but a voucher, give me a break, this gentleman was lucky I didn't give him a break, somewhere around neck area....

Our evening was spent with me throwing together the things I had purchased in the hope that it would resemble a gourmet meal, I think it reached drive through because it definitely wasn't gourmet, anyway while I toiled My Beloved streamed the football, it's a shame really being a Magpie wasn't as thrilling as being a Little red devil but I won't gloat.......

Gym, Swim, Beach.........

Having spent an uncomfortable sweaty night trying to sleep I eventually gave up, I need to work out how to get the air con settled into a routine that will not freeze me to death, or cook me through.  I keep trying different settings, but when you wake because your body has decided to self combust you know its just not working for you.

We headed for the gym first thing and attacked the weights, throwing them around aggressively, pretending we knew what we were doing, then it was time for the swim, well it was actually a paddle as I couldn't be bothered to pull off the sweats and change into a bikini just to have to change again to go out to the beach, so I paddled in my shower and then threw on the bikini before we headed for some R & R at the beach at the end of our street.  I was expecting the beach to be busy by the time we arrived at 11am but was pleasantly surprised to find it underpopulated, we found sun beds without resorting to threats and settled in for the afternoon, the sun was riding high and the temperature was around 27 with a breeze, personally I believe it was higher as I was very grateful for that breeze as it cooled my skin and saved me from turning into a snotty heap on the sun bed.

I had a conversation with the waitress who kept me topped up with coke zero, which I have now found does not kill the stomach or create pains that are incapacitating, no more diet coke for me, Im a  coke zero girl from now on, anyway back to the waitress, I asked why the beach was so quiet and was informed 'its because the summer has ended!!!!', how funny, this must be Autumn then, it can't possibly be Winter because it's not cold, and yes the leaves are starting to drop from the trees, but I put that down to the coptic winds battering it's way through the streets last week rather than a Mother Nature seasonal thing. This means the beach will be mine for the foreseeable, anytime I want to get a bed I just have to walk to the beach and take my pick, no more turning over to tan on both sides to be confronted with a man in his undies parading through the aisles, I have never seen so many boxer shorts before in my life, but now I have been privy to numerous pairs being worn for beach attire, and not all of them bonny!! They are after all an under garment, not a let's have it on display garment.

I decided to make a lovely dinner for the two of us last night, the trouble is once again I am trying to work out how to use a new oven, this one is the most peculiar oven I have ever come across, it wont work unless you put on the Shabbat timer, we found that out just after we moved in, it doesn't have a fan assisted oven unless the grill is on and if you have the bottom heating element on it takes an age to heat by which time you could have gone for a take away and been home before it was ready. So dinner took an hour and half longer than it should of, but thankfully it was lush by the time we ate it. I will have to speak with my good friend google and see if he can come up with some suggestions on how best to use and abusive my new oven, either that or ask Siri......

Does My Bum Look Sore in this

Well since my last blog I have taken quite a turn for the worse, the gym and swim sessions have obviously started to work as I now find myself unable to walk in an altogether upright position, and my feet just seem to slide along the floor as any impact through the legs creates a rippling effect of pain up my legs, the aches in my upper torso are no better, having sat in the car the other evening, with keys in hand, imagine my surprise when I found myself incapacitated by my own body weight, as you know the seat is on the wrong side of the car, but I found myself with my right hand which was holding the keys was behind my back and trapped, and for some reason inexplicable to myself I had thrown myself into the car but obviously tried to leave my arm on the outside, this I could understand if it was in fact in front of my body, but behind it? what is that all about? The worst thing about it is that I didn't just do it the once, the second time I had to enlist My Beloved's help to retrieve my arm as I was completely stuck. On pondering this conundrum I am beginning to think that my arm believes itself to be in the UK and is actually reaching for the car door to shut it!!!!!

This morning was spent sorting through the house, and then I decided to take a dip in the pool, so I stuck my head out the door and around the wall and low and behold the pool was empty so I dookered up and hit the pool, it was lush the sun was shining and the water was lovely and warm, well at one end as the sun only catches the top end of the pool at that time of the morning, but trust me the rest of the unlit pool wasn't cold, but I couldn't multi task and swim and tan at the same time down the deep end.

Once I had worn myself out, or actually bored myself with the swimming I had a little rest on the sun bed, this allowed me to dry off, the of all the things people arrived to spoil my solitude so I left.  I then showered and headed over to Julie's house for a catch up and a water, having cycled there in the heat the last thing I was needing was a coffee, we chatted for a few hours before I said my goodbyes and headed home to await the arrival of the man to put the electrics through the wall to the bedroom in readiness for the Hot man coming back with my second magic box for the TV.

Eventually the gentleman arrived and the plug was placed in the bedroom and the point for the TV, then just as he had left My Beloved arrived home from work, we decided to hit the gym straight away before we could talk each other out of it, the legs are still a touch tender from yesterdays session but I persevered through the pain and eventually we were done, time for another quick shower and out to Netanya we headed, shops and food were the order of the day, and the food took the form of Indian just for a change, having not found what I was looking for in Netanya we headed back to Herzliya Pituach and our favourite Tandoori, the eyes were bigger than the bellies and we now have enough left overs for me not to have to cook for another day, HOORAY.......

Who Says Romance is Dead

Well getting out of that bed was a little tricky, not because I was tied up in the sheet due mainly to the fact that I had rolled around the bed making sure I had slept on every inch, but because my head and body seemed to be at odds with each other, the head was already in the pool and had done the work out, the body just needed the energy to catch up, my world was topsy turvy and the only thing I could do was stay where I was until such times as things became normal, this happened sometime around mid morning when I finally managed with loads of effort to drag myself out of my bed and begin the tasks that should really have been finished by this time of day, you know the things, clean face, wash hair and shower.

Once those tasks were finished I set about the house, floors washed and washing sorted, grass swept, patio cleaned, that coptic storm has a lot to answer for, the sand it had deposited in the garden once again was now the colour of red clay, and covering everything, usually in Haifa the colour was yellow like sulphur, but it appears Herzliya has red sand.  My Beloved had informed me when I arrived back that he had been watching water spouts out to sea during the late afternoon, personally I don't care for spouts or coptic storms especially when they make a mess of my garden, and the surrounding streets, once again all the cars have a covering of sand all over them, thankfully we have underground parking.

I almost went to the pool for a swim but imagine my horror when I walked out the front door to see people in my pool, I was so disgruntled I went back inside and sulked.  I did take the bike out, that was after I brushed it down as I say the storm dropped sand everywhere and the bike too quite a hit, so once brushed I set off tot he shops for supplies, I hadn't realised quite how hot it was until I was outside, I presumed because the garden is enclosed it made it hotter, but no it was ruddy hot everywhere, but not just hot, it was very, very humid.  I slogged my way back to the house and waited for My Beloved to arrived home from work.  We hit the gym as soon as he arrived and then supper was made, chicken curry just for a change.

We then took ourselves off for a romantic evening at the cinema, that was once we figured out how to get there, the motor way didn't go the way I expected and we had to do a huge loop to get to where we were before, and would you believe it, all you have to do is a U turn and there you are, at the front door of the cinema, there was no need to go to Tel Aviv at all.

Tickets purchased and popcorn ordered, unfortunately they only have salt in Israel, I had to have some because its the law when your watching a film, but I will be putting my foot down next time as salt just doesn't do it for me.  Anyway our film began, and we were all snuggled into our chairs ready to watch Expendables 2 -
blood, guts, and gore with loads of humour thrown in, I love it. We giggled all the way through, all the favourites were in it, and the one liners were great, I do love romantic films.

Wedding Dances and Bacon Rolls

Amanda, Tony and I all took turns for the shower, obviously trying to get three people in at the same time was gonna be tricky so we scheduled, I would recommend this, although being short I would have had the best air supply being closer to the ground, where as those two would have been fighting to breath being as their heads are in the clouds.

So we were all pretty when Lainey arrived followed swiftly by James and Susan, we all made our way to the buses which were waiting to transport us to the wedding of Sam and Louise, it was a very slow journey for some reason, known only by the the driver I would say, but we arrived and we were greeted by an array of people spilling out of the doors and into the car park, we fought our way through and headed for a table, obviously closer to the downstairs bar, and the ladies toilets, it's always good to keep them close to your table.

The girls looked gorgeous Sam in her beautiful wedding dress, all corseted and billowing, Louise looked equally stunning in her suit, and they both looked so happy, although when I caught up with poor Sam she was bustling at the heat and had already slipped off her pretty shoes in favour of the comfortable ones.  The boys all looked amazing with their kilts, from Daddy John to Nico and Sean, and of course little Nico and the younger boys, there really is something about a kilt that just makes a man look handsome, not that those lot needed any help in that direction, the bridesmaids were stunning and everyone had enjoyed their day so far, the band kicked off with the Grand march and from then on the floor was never empty, Traffic was the band and they have always been a crowd pleaser. We danced the night away with only a quick break for bacon and sausage rolls, then it was back to the dance floor.  At the end of the night we said our goodbyes to the happy couple and the family and were sent on our way with wedding cake back to Turriff on the bus.  Even the lashing rain could not detract from our evening, nor could the spider climbing over Tony's head looking for a ride back to Turriff, poor Tony was getting slapped around the head by not only his wife but a lady from Peru, they eventually managed to dislodge the said spider and all was well again.

My last day in Turriff was whirlwind again, bags packed goodbyes done, and off I went heading back to the airport, it didn't feel like I had been home for five days it just went in a blur, but my time was filled with good friends, plenty of Indian food and my Grand Daughter Amelia and little Olly, I still didn't manage to catch up with everyone, there just isn't enough holidays for that so I apologise if I missed you, maybe next time.......

My Beloved collected me from the airport after a torturous journey home, the last leg of the flights was the worst, uncomfortable seats and painkillers in the hold! I really should have just drunk myself to sleep.... I was so glad to see My Beloved at Tel Aviv, and we drove home to Herzliya Pituach catching up on all that had been happening since we had been parted.