Bonnie Scotland

Had a fantastic few days with Jen last week, and am REALLY looking forward to a long Easter weekend.

Here is the low down on my last few days...

Wednesday
Flew up to Glasgow last Wednesday evening. Very easy flight, and was picked up by Jen and her father-in-law (known as "WJ"). We went straight off to meet John and his friends David and Lindsey in their local pub to watch the Scotland V Italy match on TV. We had a really nice evening. Can't believe it was around 3.5 years since I saw David and Lindsey last, and 3 or so since I saw Jen and John - as soon as I saw them it was if we had only been together last week. I guess that is the measure of true friendship!

Thursday
Got up in the morning and was immediately greeted by little Helena. An amazing feeling, meeting one of your best friend's children for the first time (I was almost a bit nervous!). She was gorgeous - a little bundle of golden curls, and lots of attitude! In my previous experience, first borns are a little nervous, perhaps a little clingy, and prone to crying fits. Helena is loud, opinionated, and gutsy as hell! This girl knows no fear! Head first off the climbing frame? No worries!! Fall over and graze your knees? No problemo! She is adorable, and not far off talking whole sentences. This is a girl who knows what she wants out of life. Nobody will be putting *that* particular baby in the corner!

After breakfast, and an introduction to The Wiggles and Dora the Explorer, we headed off in the rain to the Kelvingrove museum in central Glasgow. We had a very pleasant second breakfast in the cafe there, and a wander around some of the exhibits (well... a look at ONE computer exhibit that Helena was rather taken with), and even saw a real life stuffed Haggis, complete with long hair and a fluffy tail... hmmmm....

At lunch time, Jen and I had a look around some of the shops in East Kilbride (unfortunately I didn't manage to avoid Primark, and filled up with more cheap smock tops than any human would ever feasibly require). In the afternoon, we took Helena to one of those soft play centres with the balls etc...? That was really good fun, and we managed to stick jelly tots all over the inside of the car on the way home... heh.

Jen cooked a delicious Spanish chicken stew type thing for dinner, and she and I headed down to their local for a nice smoke-free few beers (has made me unable to wait for July 1st now, when the smoking ban starts!). The evening went well until Jen abandoned me and went to bed... and then it descended into chaos as I sat up until silly-o-clock chatting to John's pares about god only knows what. Good fun though!

Friday
In the morning we all took Helena to a lovely wildlife park for a look at some of the weird and wonderful animals they have there. I was amazed by how many creatures they had there that I have never seen before? Is Scotland *that* foreign?!?! They had Coatis? And some weird Laughing Thrush type bird, the likes of which I have never seen or heard! At lunch time, Jen, John and I headed to the rather packed local and had a delicious lunch (boy, did I need something to soak up the wine and beer from the night before!); mine was Haggis and all the trimmings for starter, and then a delicious cheese and bacon burger with chips... you can see how my diet went this last week! ;-)

In the afternoon we had to leave poor Helena behind (poor Jen was perturbed by this), and we headed back to mine via Stansted. Mark picked us up at the airport (was nice for them to meet at last), and we all went to the local for a few pints and the curry house for a curry. Felt extremely bloated on return home!

Saturday
In the morning, I showed Jen the delights of the village; the bakers, the toy shop and gift shop etc... then we popped to see Mark's parents, and then headed over to Bedford to watch the mighty Stutes play! I *think* Jen quite enjoyed it, and was worthwhile going to see them win! I think she liked watching Lance sail through the air with his usual grace ;-)

In the evening, we met up with Nigel and his mates in town (Russell and Jim); we went for drinks in The Eagle and The Pickerel, which was really good fun.

Sunday
Jen and I went shopping all morning (spent far too much moulah!), had a nice lunch in the Cornish Pasty shop, and then met up with Mark who took us punting up the Cam... was SUCH a gorgeous afternoon, and perfect weather for taking out the punts!

In the evening we went for dinner in The Plough at Coton - I swear they do the best fish and chips I have ever tasted!

Monday unfortunately came too fast and had a good snivel over saying goodbye to my beloved Jen at the train station... she was heading off to London to catch up with more friends of hers.

The rest of this week has been pretty uneventful. Went to see Histon FC play again (and win!) on Tuesday night (YAY!), and Chris from work joined us, which was good. Last night I just shopped at Tescos for Easter eggs, and then spent the entire night trying to catch a tom cat that has been peeing in our house! Poor Mia is traumatised by said cat - so we had decided to trap it in the kitchen overnight and give it a good scare! What we hadn't reckoned on was it wrecking the joint before making a Houdini style escape (GOD KNOWS HOW), so now I think it's in real trouble now! Darn thing!!!

Anyway... have a great Easter! I am planning to catch up with lots of friends and family over the weekend, and can't wait to leave off today!
Much love
Hayls
xxxxxxx

PS. BIG love to Srey Neath and Andy who are getting married in Phnom Penh this weekend. SO sorry we couldn't make it, but hopefully we will catch up with you guys soon. All our love xxxx