A Battle, A Wedding and A Crisis Averted

Old Blighty-how I've missed you!!

I think it was a good plan to have let 4 years past before returning as it stopped me from randomly bursting into tears at the sight of a double decker bus, a fluttering Union Jack, at the whiff of cod and chips with vinegar and at the sound of the woman who does the voice over on BBC One. I love Melbourne but I do miss London. Especially my family. I miss them the most. Actually my family and Portuguese Custard Tarts. Not to pick favourites.....

(Tarts!)

It's been a wonderful return to the city-although way too short. I had a lovely taxi driver who did a detour on a prepaid trip down my old street in Brixton to see my old house. Brixton has completely changed and is now gentrified complete with Hipsters and a food court in the old market. I still managed to spot a couple of my old favourite mens clothing stores (long live The Baron), Tube Station Evangelists, crazies and I'm sure the local drug dealers are still skulking around. Had two wonderful nights hanging out with my family before heading to the Big Event. Also, just a little bit of shopping.....

My cousins wedding was held at a wonderful spa retreat near Battle in Hastings. An old family friend organised a tour of Battle where in 1066 the reign of Anglo-Saxon rule was quashed by William The Conquerer. Embarrassingly our group of ten Australians at the beginning of the day were only able to offer up three things they knew about the Battle of Hastings 1) the French were involved (not quite correct) 2) it was in 1066 (thanks to the chef from Roller Door cafe) and 3) someone got shot in the eye. Julius did a great job and by the end of the day we were all experts on the subject. Favourite fact of the day: when William the Conquerer died he was so fat that when they were pushing him into his too-small crypt in France his stomach exploded. Fascinating.

(Battle Abbey)

Had a wonderful time at the wedding. Managed to find a cheap and cheerful fascinator so was feeling the part. Sadly it rained all day but the ceremony and reception were fantastic. We are very lucky to have Naomi joining our family. It was well worth 27 hours on the plane to see Erik's face when she came in. That and the seven layer cheese tower served as the 'wedding cake'. Big night had by all!

Sun was shining the next day for the all important cricket match. I sadly could not stay as was due to head back to Kent to see the family. It was Bank Holiday Weekend which traditionally should have the first bit of good weather in the lead up to summer. We were not disappointed! Had a wonderful English Seaside Experience which included Mini Golf, Fish and Chips with mushy peas, a 99'er (that's a soft serve with a flake for those that are also confused) and a wonderful pub meal in my Uncles favourite pub. Shock of the day came when I overheard a child ask his mum 'if that orange stuff is sand'....Yes son, it is.

 

Cried 4 times in one day saying goodbye to various family members and arrived back in London physically and emotionally wrecked. I must have looked sufficiently rubbish because three people offered to help me with my bags and someone offered me a seat! Cheered myself up with a delicious lunch at Moro followed by some drunk shopping. Luckily I decided buying the £230 necklace at the beginning of my trip was not a good idea. 

I'm now sitting on the tube heading to Heathrow to get my flight to NYC after 24 hours of frantically trying to catch up with as many people as possible-the woman at the tube station was amazed at how many stations I had touched on and off at. This cumilated in an awesome night drinking marghatitas and eating tacos with various friends and cousins because frankly-I'm not going to eat enough tacos in the next 6 weeks. Luckily writing this is distracting me as I've REALLY had enough of crying on public transport!!! 

As to the Crisis Averted- I swear this stuff only happens to me. Call it Shugg intuition or maybe just assuming the worst but for some reason at 10:30 on Sunday night I was feeling anxious about my flight to Guatemala on the following Sunday. So-got my ticket out and double checked-yes flying NYC to Antigua (the city where my tour starts) on sun at 8:30am. I then looked at the airport I was due to land in and thought the name wasn't particularly Latino sounding...so I googled it to find it located on a small island in the Caribbean. HOLY S@&T (actually I said something much worse but my gran is following this blog). Urgent email sent to travel agent who confirmed that yes she had accidentally booked me to fly to the country of Antigua. What frightens me the most is how far would I have gotten before I realised. Would I have boarded the plane? Would I have found out on arrival when I was welcomed to the Caribbean and I yelled back 'Baaacon' in shock. I don't know but I'm pretty sure that I would have probably vomited and most likely done something worse at the same time in pure fright. As I said before-A Crisis Averted. It's all fixed now and onward and upward.

Hopefully that's the worse thing that was going to happen. Hopefully....

Over and out.

(Ps that's the best cocktail I've had in ages-Rhurbarb and Ginger Sour at Gilbert and Scott)