The Toby Carvery is next door to the Tarvelodge and so we decided to have breakfast there and then do some shopping. There are excellent shops at Westwood! The breakfast (another of my bargains, 2 breakfasts for £6!!) was help yourself and Mal certainly did! His was enormous but of course this meant we didn’t have any lunch.  So, bargain hunting around the sales.

In the afternoon we went to Tesco and stocked up with food and I have to say for an overflowing trolley it came to less than we expected.

Early evening we had Scarlet and Jack on the web cam. Poor Jack is now covered in spots and was lying on the settee looking very sorry for himself but Dad gave him some ‘magic medicene’ and of course he was plastered in calamine lotion. He did look poorly. Later the Cardiff family all came on the web cam, Rhys had taken the older boys to the big fair they always have in Cardiff but later they came on the web cam when they were home.

We then went into the clubhouse at the caravan site to celebrate the New Year with all the other revellers!! It was certainly lively in there.

 

 

Thought for the Day – “Youth is when you are allowed to stay up late on New Years Eve. Middle age is when you’re forced to.” ~ Bill Vaughan

We left Torin’s after saying goodbye to the twins. Jack had developed a few spots and then we were told that children at their nursery had chicken pox!! Oh dear we are due to visit Marion and Bryan and Bryan can not come into any contact with ‘bugs’ because of the treatment he is getting. But they checked with their son in law doc and as long as we leave it 48 hours and both Mal and I have had it, then it is OK.

We had booked into the Westwood Travelodge for the night (one of my £10 bargains!) It was so cold when we arrived last year, we thought it was a good idea to have a night warming the caravan up!  So, we dropped things off and booked into the Travelodge. I have to say the staff there were excellent and asked if we would stay there again as Mal was so funny! I don’t think we will be as it is only about a mile form the caravan.

We met up with Tris, Amanda and Violet and had lunch in the Toby Carvery. It was lovely seeing them. After lunch Dom (Mal’s middle son) joined us for a drink.

Next we had both made opticians appointments and so off we went. Mal was told at his last eye test that he had pressure in his eye. This time we went to a different opticians and no problems with either of us.

In the evening we went for a quiet drink.

 

 

Thought for the Day – “If you can give your son or daughter only one gift, let it be enthusiasm.” ~ Bruce Barton

 

A very early wake up call and Ozy’s taxi came and collected us at 5.30am to take us to the airport. Pegasus flight and we were lucky enough to have leg room seats. All on time and we arrived at Stansted to pouring rain at least it wasn’t below freezing like last year. We collected our hire car and drove to Torins. Torin and I went and collected Scarlet and Jack from nursery and we had a lovely time playing with them.

In the evening Claire, Torin and Mal and I went out for a Thai meal at the newly opened Bangkok Lounge in Shefford. Mal was not impressed when his starter arrived and had a long hair in it! He told the waitress who replied, well, it wasn’t hers! That didn’t inspire us. The food was OK but I have been to better Thai restaurants. We paid the bill but then I spoke to the gentleman behind the bar about the hair in the food. He told me the manager wasn’t there, sorry! I was not impressed. I have emailed them giving them a chance to comment before I put a review on Trip Advisor!

Back to Torin’s and a few drinks there before going to bed. A long day.

 

 

 Thought for the Day – “Live so that when your children think of fairness and integrity, they think of you.” ~ Jackson Brown

 

We had a lovely walk in the mountains with Rosie, another 8 degree morning. We then went to Atakara to buy Cyprus Today but they said they didn’t have any, so I guess they were not printing today.

The Turkish lira is now creeping towards 3 to the pound. 2.975 at the moment.

As I mentioned on here the other day, we are very pleased with Multimax (our internet provider) and Mal has written about it – Multimax

Now here is a bit of good news that others with housing problems may be of interest   Kulaksiz Victim successfully sues TRNC Government

 

 

 

Thought for the Day –  “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.” ~ Albert Einstein

Back to the bargain hunting! Lots of sales on at the moment and a new one here from Monarch see link.

We went out in the morning to sort out our house insurance and also to pay Multimax (our internet provider). I have to say after the first month of their service we are very pleased. We had to laugh because when we told Extend we were leaving them, they were here within half an hour to collect their equipment. What a pity they weren’t that speedy when we had problems and being continually told that the service was bad weekends and whenever it rained, that it was either because “everyone was using it” or “it’s the weather” and the latter was about a week after the rain.

Thought for the Day – “A positive attitude may not solve all your problems but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.” ~ Herm Albright

Quite a sunny day although the temperature had dropped a bit, eight degrees when we took Rosie out. It appears some parts of the Uk are warmer than North Cyprus overnight.

Here is something you may like to know about today see link

We had a very lazy day and were entertained again by the Cardiff family on the webcam. In the evening we caught up with the Christmas Downton Abbey.

It looks as though Josie likes her baby doll we bought her for Christmas! I think the noises it makes (crying etc) is driving everyone else mad though.

 

Thought for the Day – “Chidren are the only form of immortality that we can be sure of.” ~ Peter Ustinov

I was woken up by a massive storm at 4.00am. In the end I gave up and got up. Surprisingly Mal followed at 4.15!  It was going to be a long day.

We took Rosie out and were rained on, on the way home. We had our Christmas breakfast and opened all our presents. Thankfully I have a new laptop, just in time before my other one totally died.

We then had the family from Cardiff on the webcam for two hours! Lou and Rhys were up early and sat waiting for the boys to wake up, that’s very unusual. We also spoke to Torin and my sister who managed to have the loft ladder collapse on her legs the previous day and was lucky not to have a broken leg. Bryan is unwell and so they struggled to get Marion’s leg out of the ladder. Oh dear. Tris, Amanda and Violet came on the web cam too. What did we do before Skype?

We then went out for our Christmas lunch with Margaretha, Christa and Robin. We went to Cousins Restaurant for a traditional Christmas lunch and we even had crackers! We had a good time with good company.

Back home and we had another three hour web cam link up with the Cardiff family. In fact that only came to an end when we had a power cut! They couldn’t resist it on Christmas Day!

 

Thought for the Day – “Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold everything is softer and more beautiful.” ~ Norman Vincent Peale