It has been quite a while since I last wrote an update, but I'm sure you can understand that I fully immersed myself in the two weeks I spent at home. Unfortunately, my parents were both a little ill over the Christmas period, so we had a slightly delayed Christmas dinner (on New Years Eve.) Not to worry though, it's only a roast. I was much too busy enjoying my time at home to worry about food!
Having the luck that I do, I got to the airport super early to find that my flight was delayed, hooray. Luckily, it wasn't by too much and I managed to squeeze in a quick hello/goodbye with Flora, before she jetted off to Edinburgh and me to Luton.
I returned home to find that my mum had made me an advent calendar, individually picking all of the little chocolates and sweets for every pocket. She's undoubtedly the best mum on the planet and I don't know what I'd do without her.
The day I got back (23rd December) I managed to rendezvous with the lovely Megan and Katie. Of course, we went to stuff our faces with as much food as humanly possible. From what I recall, we ordered three starters, a main course each AND a pudding. Whoops! I don't think I was quite ready to eat as much as I did, but I sure as hell crammed it in. It was so strange to sit in a busy restaurant, listening to all of the people talking and actually understand what they were saying. My eavesdropping skills have most certainly dwindled into nothingness since being in a country where I can barely comprehend the language. Such a shame really, that's one thing I had spent 21 years of my life perfecting and I'd like to think that I nailed it.The following day, Katie and I trundled off to Banbury for a shopping trip. It was surprisingly easy for me to get back into driving again, almost like I'd never stopped. However, my parking skills leave much to be desired. I bought an abundance of supplies, too much probably, but everything is so much cheaper in England so I go a bit overboard. Luckily, I didn't have to worry about weight limits or restrictions, so I basically had free reign.
On Christmas Day we had a weird mix of foods. Some that we always eat at Christmas, some that we definitely don't. For example, we started off with the usual prawn cocktail (yum!) but I am positive that dad wasn't ready for something so rich. It quite literally backfired... I have a bit of a bone to pick with Colmans and their dramatic decrease in the size of their seafood sauce jars, especially when it is just as expensive, if not more than normal. Typical! We followed the prawn cocktail with a jacket potato, accompanied by some bits and pieces like ham, coleslaw, salad, cheese. After that, we had an apple and blackberry pie that mum had pre-made and frozen (what a hero). I lashed on the ice cream and tucked in like I've never eaten it before. It was well worth waiting for!
All in all, the day was super chilled and full of food, although we were much less indulgent than we usually are, which is probably a good thing. Somehow, I managed to get mum out on a walk, but dad was still feeling much too ill.
Tash and I were reunited on 27th December, along with her giant seahorse, human My Little Pony and husband. I got to ride in her fancy new car, which we drove around in with absolutely no idea of what to do or where to go. Somehow we ended up at the Heart of the Shires shopping village for a spot of lunch and a mooch around the shops. Another well-needed, relaxing day!
Megan and Zach (and Fynn) invited Katie and I around for dinner for the classic chilli con carne. I reckon Zach thinks I'm training for some kind of weightlifting competition or something because the portion he gave me was incredible! Nevertheless, I made a decent dent in it, making sure to leave enough space for dessert. We all had a bit of a giggle watching Megan assemble the panettone and sprinkle it with icing. It made a bit of a mess, but we all inhaled it so quickly that it didn't even matter. That was such a great night, we spent most of it laughing and eating, so essentially my perfect evening.
The next day, I drove up to London to see my Slovenian love, Meta. I am so thankful for my parents buying me a sat nav because I'm getting an awful lot of use out of it already. It was a bit of an ordeal to get there and took much longer than expected, due to stupid speed limits on the motorway and regular stops. When I eventually got there, the huge hug I got off Meta was beyond worth it. I immediately forgot about the journey and just soaked her in. It felt like we'd never been apart.
It was almost impossible to find the bloody car, I lost count of how many times we walked around that stupid car park! Thank god Meta spotted it when she did, because I was verging on having a breakdown. We tootled out of the car park and witnessed a mini crash. One thing I noted from that experience was that the noise airbags make is absolutely horrific! I dropped her off in one piece (just about) and we spent a bit of time walking around with Kee before I had to go home.The worst part about making friends from all over the world is having to say goodbye, not knowing when you'll next see them. I imagine it's something I'm going to have to get used to...
The Three Musketeers went to see Pitch Perfect 3 on 30th December and I absolutely LOVED it! It was much better than the second one, although they've stopped doing the mashups of songs. I highly recommend you go and watch it if you can because I'm pretty sure this will be the last one!
On New Years Eve we had Christmas dinner, finally! I've missed my mums cooking and just eating normal food in general, so I thoroughly enjoyed scoffing on my old favourites. Mum and I went on another walk, which was actually really lovely because the weather held off just long enough for us to get around the village and back before it rained. Success! Other than that, we didn't do much to celebrate. Somehow, we all managed to stay awake to see the new year in, but barely. Not long after midnight, dad went to bed and mum and I fell asleep on the sofas. It was such a wild night that I didn't go to bed until 6am...
Tuesday, I watched Katie get a new tattoo for a little bit. Out of the three of us, I'm surprised it's her that has four tattoos, so far. Particularly when Megan and I are still as bare as the day we were born. Anyway, it's looking awesome and I'm sure the little addict has more on the cards.
Sadly, Friday was my last day in England. The two weeks flew by and it just simply wasn't enough. We managed to eat at my favourite pub, The Kings Head at Napton, so that I could repay mum and dad for keeping my car going over the past four months and buying so much stuff for me. It was truly delicious, as always and well earned.
Looking on the bright side, we made it here alive (just) and now I have a car - yippee! The family was impressed with all of their presents, enough to let me sleep and recover from the horrible drive back.
Before I left, I found my old calendar, on which I had written last years resolutions. Last year, these were my aims:-
- To sort out my passport
- To go on at least one holiday
- To join a gym/do exercise classes
- To try driving again
I'm quite impressed that I managed to do three of those and technically I started running so that kind of counts, right?
This year, things are a smidge different. Obviously, I learned to drive last year so I'm looking to take full advantage of that. My 'resolutions' are as follows:-
- To go on more adventures and travel more
- To keep going with my French, however useless it feels
- To sign up to a uni course
- To start learning sign language
- To be more aware of what I eat
- To exercise more
I'll have to let you know how I get on. Until then, all the best!
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