We have had a wonderful 3 weeks back home, action packed catching up with family and friends, all in glorious weather. Thankfully the deluge of rain over the UK arrived the day we left.
I just managed to catch my sister Lynda the day I landed at Heathrow. Lynda was over from South Africa visiting her daughters in London
Lynda’s youngest grandchild, Emily and I bonded
My cousin Nigel’s daughter Katie over from Kenya with her husband and baby son
A couple of highlights, my first night back staying with Luke and Milly in Putney. Milly has recently moved in with Luke and has brought a wonderful touch to the happy house.
Secondly was helping Hannah and Noah, the proud new home owners, move into their lovely little house in Bristol. They have done a wonderful job furnishing it all from charity/second hand shops and a few bits from Mettingham. I drove down with not an inch to spare in the old Audi. They have collected so many wonderful items from their years in Botswana, a centre piece is a road killed Lilac Breasted Roller that Han took to a taxidermist in Botswana, who did a wonderful job, enclosing it in a glass dome that has travelled safely over in hold luggage in an enormous wooden crate! They are so happy to finally have a home of their own.
Thirdly was Phoebe and Dani’s stunning registry wedding in Chelsea Town Hall. What a happy wonderful affair it was, also in glorious sunshine. All the more fun with the usual drama …….. nearly missing our time slot, Phoebs getting dressed in the back of the cab and threatening to get out and cycle while we crawled through Hyde Park! My Mettingham hydrangeas survived 4 days in Bristol and made a stunning last minute bouquet. We finally met all Dani’s Hungarian family, who were all absolutely delightful, including 83 year old granny and her 87 year old boyfriend, who took it all in their stride. It was a lovely short service of vows and a few readings. Both Phoebs and Dani looked amazing in their monogramed Gormley&Gamble suits. Afterwards we went to a little garden next to a church around the corner and celebrated with bottles of champagne in glorious sun again. The Hungarians were very impressed as they had come from rainy Budapest. We then headed back to Phoeb’s house in Leytonstone which was looking glorious with fairy lights in the garden and a fire pit crackling away. We all managed to squeeze in and have a very jolly, delicious dinner. Phoebs had done an amazing job organising it all while working hard at her new business and with Dani away until the night before. The majority of us all headed to Mettingham for the week end and were blessed with more good weather, even packing in a swim in the sea at Walberswick. So impressed with Granny who couldn’t speak any English but laughed endlessly and loved every minute of it, such a character! They all left Sunday midday and we headed to Heathrow at 7:30am the next morning. Luckily my cleaning lady has months to get the house back in order!
The Hungarian family pic on the steps of Chelsea Town Hall, Dani’s sister with a very young baby
Milly was in charge of the Polaroid camera and took this great shot ……she caught the bridal bouquet, much to Hannah’s disappointment!
The young had to catch the tube home to Leytonstone (quicker than driving), Luke looking a little embarrassed!
Some of Dani’s family who came to Mettingham, Gran in front with her charming boyfriend, his mum next to him
It was a long journey back to the boat. Three hour drive to Heathrow, 10 hour flight to Los Angeles, 6 hour lay over, another 10 hour flight to Fiji. We landed at 5:30am, happily the marina where PolePole was berthed was a 20 minute drive from the airport. We managed to power through the day unpacking our endless goodies for the boat, including a new winch, a new ladder for the dinghy, 3 jars of home made marmalade kindly donated by Gay and Stella (master marmalade makers), new plates, chocolates, coffee and much more! No wonder my case weighed 38kgs and required a ‘Heavy’ label! We also managed a small spare part for friends of ours on the boat Alia Vita, they were returning to NZ the next day, so we joined them for an early supper at the marina restaurant….. I was like a zombie by 8pm, hitting bed at 8:30 pm for ten hours glorious sleep.
Rowan who was flying on a different airline to me from Heathrow, snuck in and joined me in the Virgin Clubhouse, I had brought half a truffle Baron Bigod that I could not bring myself to throw away in the house pack up. I was also not risking taking a stinky cheese into the States. You cannot book luggage through in America, no matter what your transfer, you have to go through immigration and pick up your luggage.
Sunrise over Fiji
Rain welcomes us to Fiji
Rain clears and we have a lovely sunset in the marina
Next morning we had a marina guy clean the filthy boat and departed around midday to Musket cove an island about 2 hours away. We didn’t bother sorting the sails as there was no wind but an hour out we were slamming into waves and 25 knots of wind! Luckily we didn’t have far to go, we arrived in the anchorage which is most probably the most popular in Fiji, it was chock a block with boats. In the howling wind it was not pleasant trying to find a spot in between crazily bouncing boats. We finally went to the far side of the bay on the other side of a reef where there were only a few boats and found a good spot. We got nicely settled and an hour later the wind died. We landed up having a very restorative night.
Back at sea with the new ensign I made while back home……. before any pedantic observers mention it, can you spot the mistake?
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