Slow leak

After I got home last night, Tryfan was playing a video game for a precious few minutes, and he said in a rather casual way, "the ceiling is dripping" and then went back to playing his game. Well. It turns out that we have had a slow leak for months and months, and today it finally dripped its way down to the floor below.  Whoops!  So that was the end of Tryfan's video game and we all helped try to minimize the damage but mopping things up but it was too late. 

So we've had to move all the stuff out of the room and take down the ceiling panel so that a handyman can come and repair it, then we will need to paint the whole ceiling and probably do the walls too.  Eye roll. 

Some old friends in Scotland

This week I was up in Aberdeen from Monday through Thursday and it was great! 

I was mostly there for a conference which ran Tuesday through Thursday, but I did a different work thing at our office in Aberdeen on the Monday and then the highlight of the trip BY FAR was getting to see Christian and Sally on Wednesday night.  

Christian picked me up from the hotel straight from his work in his camper van and we drove to their house quite far out of town, where we went on a hike with Sally and another friend, then back for dinner.  

Rhodri and I used to hang out a lot with Christian and Sal when we all lived in Perth, Australia at the same time in 1996.  We saw them at some point in the early 2000's when they lived in north Wales, but we hadn't seen them since.  It felt so wonderful to reconnect with them, although too bad Rhodri wasn't there with me.  Anyway, we vowed to make plans to see each other in the near future, so that will be great.

Gong Bath

I first heard of having a Gong Bath about 5-6 years ago and I've been curious ever since! Tonight after work, my 'mermadam' friends and I finally went to such an event in the nearby village of Ardingly.  It was a strange but memorable evening!!

The King's Coronation

Now that the bluebells are finally here, its time for the warm spring to start and for the 'summer' to kick off. In fact, Prince Charles is becoming King Charles this weekend and we will get a day off for it! Woohoo! Village picnics have been planned and everyone is sprucing up their properties with bunting and other festive decorations.

Here at the Jubilee Green, we had a community picnic and BBQ, and it was just fine! Not super fun, but there was enough of a crowd to make it feel festive.

More bluebells

They are now spectacular and I can't get enough of them!  Here is Annie on one of my favorite sections in the Chelwood Vachery.

 

Bluebells at last

The bluebells have been late this year, and I'm sorry that Leann and Pat missed seeing them in their full glory! It has been a really cold and long spring, so all of the plants have been a little bit reluctant to wake from their winter hibernation.

Long lost friend finally comes to visit

Dearest Leann, our long suffering and amazingly resilient inspiring next door neighbor from when Rhods and I lived in Reno, finally came to visit us for 10 days and arrived yesterday with her boyfriend Pat.  She came all the way over here just to visit us!  We had such a brilliant time together. They stayed with us for the weekend, then headed over to Italy for a few days Mon-Thurs, then came back to us for one more day before flying home.

Rhiannon went into London as a tour guide for Leann and Pat and they had a great time, coming home with lots of stories about the day.  We had a hilarious time over dinner laughing about their encounter with the male model David Gandy!

Its sad to say goodbye to them but we are so grateful for them to come visit!

Quick tour in Europe

I've had an exotic few days where I first went to the Hague (via Amsterdam) in the Netherlands for 2 days, then to Paris for 1 day (where I got to see Flo!), then home.  Here is an official photo from the first part of the trip. 

As part of the Hague event, we went for dinner at a beach cafe. It was surprising and beautiful!

Originally I thought our Paris meeting was going to be at the site next door to Flo's house, but it was moved at the last minute so it looked like I wouldn't be able to see her!  However, by great coincidence, I was flying into the Orly airport only 30 minutes after Flo's flight to the same airport was arriving! So the two of us got to hang out together in the airport for an hour or so just catching up. I was so grateful for the chance to be with her, even if just for a few precious minutes.

It was a beautiful day in Paris and I felt lucky to be there, if only for the day.  I took the Eurostar back to London in the evening and got home around 11pm. Not bad for a whirlwind trip of 2 countries in 3 days!

Still swimming, more the merrier

The Saturday morning sea swims down at Tide Mills are such a wonderful part of my life. Its great when new people come along and we share a morning of beauty and togetherness in the sea. 

Easter weekend, us girls

 Since the boys were away in the Netherlands, Rhiannon and I went into London and had a little mini adventure. It was only about 24 hours long, but it was still great. We started by having lunch at The Ivy Asia near St Paul's Cathedral (which was amazing!), then went to the Van Gogh exhibit and then walked to our hotel on the banks of the Thames.

We had a strange but nice room and we settled in before going for dinner at Wagamama on the other side of the river by the Tate Modern. 

The next morning (Easter Sunday!) we went for a rooftop brunch which was quite entertaining, then rode the bus to the Columbia Street Flower Market, which was busy due to the Sun and the fact that it is only open on Sunday mornings!

We got home in the late afternoon and reunited with Annie (who had been over at Camp Denslow Party Palace) and spent the rest of the weekend in low energy restful mode.

Boys on tour

The Forest Row Football team has gone for a weekend football tournament in the Netherlands. Rhodri and Gordon drove a big bus full of boys all the way from Sussex. 

This is the place that they stayed in - these really cool little bungalows.

The team played really well throughout the weekend, but then they lost in the final to a team from Belgium. But the whole experience was really great for everyone and they got home safely!

Learning to drive

We've been taking Rhi to a business park near Maresfield since the businesses are closed over the weekend and it makes for a great practice driving area.

Provisional license

While our girl is home, she has decided to learn how to drive so she applied for a provisional learner's license.  She is pretty excited about it.  Look out, Sussex!

Mothering Sunday

Today was Mothering Sunday (Mother's Day) and we had a lovely day. We went for brunch at Wolfox in Brighton, then I had a Thai massage. I feel so blessed to have such a loving and thoughtful family.

Rugby boys

Tonight Tryfan and some of his teammates had a match down in Brighton.  These 15 year olds are looking so tough but also cute.

Snow!

 We woke up to snow the other day and it has actually stayed around all week due to the cold temperatures. Beautiful and novel for us here in the south of England. 

 

Plumbers in the house

 We've had a leaky tap (faucet) in the kitchen sink for a few years now and Rhodri has fixed it several times, but now its time for new tap altogether!  Rhiannon came home last week and even though there are mixed emotions about that generally, it is so wonderful to actually have her here at home.  She and Rhods had a bit of a laugh installing the new sink faucet.