UK and BACK

The plan to go back to UK for Lucy’s 1st birthday was a good one. We booked the flight and Michael suggested we took the car back to Spain. This opened up the possibility of taking electric blankets and duvets and microwaves from the house, and more clothes and hairdryer, and before we knew it the boot of the car was stretched to capacity. I soon abandoned the idea of finding new clothes from the suitcase and managed to live out of 2 carrier bags for the fortnight.

We forgot to bring back some decent cutlery and a blender to make soup, but these were mere details. What we loved was seeing all our families and friends, being picked up from the airport, by Sue, staying with Barbara – a haven of tranquillity, Dinner with Di, The German market in Leeds with Ju. The fun factory in Menston with Michael and girls, The birthday party with everyone! We were able to have lunch with Michael’s daughter and family, Michael was given a personal photo album of his granddaughter’s wedding in Cyprus. We had a relaxed time with Nina, enjoying her free day with lunch at Epsom racecourse, and then the last 3 days in Southsea /  Portsmouth with Bren before catching the ferry to Santander. a spanish tapas bar and yes we went up the spinaker and had amazing views of Portsmouth. The trip home was very exciting. Firstly we escaped the big freeze by a day. We could have been stranded in snow in Madrid. However placing total trust in the satnav, and with no map – for goodness sake, we became lost in the centre of Madrid and added 200k to the journey, arriving home sometime after midnight. We were very very lucky!

We lost no time in putting our presents under the tree. Christmas came very very early in Alfaz!