Day Nine Hundred and Thirty Two

New Years Eve 2011

A relaxed day around the house with a trip to Waitrose to get some supplies for tonight.

Rob and Jo stopped by with baby Isla to meet my folks and then we all headed to Neil and Suzannes to see in the new year.

Some pics (taken by Kay)


Isla and I

Kate, myself and Craig and Kays dog Sam

2011 has been a good one, Kate and I getting married was the highlight of the year. Here's to a good 2012.

Day Nine Hundred and Thirty One

Friday

We got up in Basingstoke and said good bye to Sam and Amanda who were heading back to Bristol.

Kate and I braved the sales in Basingstoke, it was pretty busy but not manic. After a spot of shopping and lunch we headed back to Yateley. Late afternoon we drove to fleet and hopped on a train to Waterloo. Kate caught up with Rebecca and then we went to London Bridge to meet Stella and Ian & Jon and Andrea for dinner. these are our friends from Colliers Wood.

We had a nice dinner at Dim T overlooking Tower Bridge and took a few pics afterwards. 9bit grainy I'm afraid)





We caught the 22.39 train back to Fleet and were home by 11.30.

Day Nine Hundred and Thirty

Thursday 29th Dec We headed down to Breakfast in the hotel at 8.45 which was very nice. Once we had packed up the folks, Kate and I headed back to Yateley.

From there Kate and I drove over to Godalming to meet Anna and Mike for lunch at their place. It was a chance to meet baby Emily too. Anna served a lovely chicken pie which went down very well. It was great to see Anna and Mike have taken to family life so well.

Soon enough we drove home and then over to Farnborough to meet Hazel and Peter and Sam and Amanda at the Aviator restaurant for dinner. I wanted to take hazel out to celebrate her 40th together we'll be unable to do so in February as we'll be back in Oz.

Fantastic restaurant, fantastic food and company.

I recommend anyone in Hampshire or nearby who wants a posh night out to check out the Aviator.

http://www.aviatorfarnborough.co.uk/brasserie

I'll post some more pics here when I get them from Peter of us,but here are some of the food I had

Day Nine Hundred and Twenty Nine

Wednesday

Today we went to Vicky and Elliotts wedding in Yateley followed by reception at Eletham Hotel in Hartley Whitney.

Was a very nice day and good to catch up with old school friends. We had a nice dinner and drinking and dancing in the evening. A few pics below...

Day Nine Hundred and Twenty Eight

Tuesday

A fairly quiet day at home overall. Writing this 2 weeks later so struggling to recall what we did!

Day Nine Hundred and Twenty Seven

Monday (Boxing Day)

Got up and had a nice breakfast in Old Basing followed by lunch as well. Result.

In the afternoon we all headed back to Yateley and spent a lazy afternoon with TV and Scrabble.

Day Nine Hundred and Twenty Six

Sunday (Christmas Day 2011)

A leisurely morning in Yateley before we all drove over to Hazels and Peters for Christmas Day. Was a perfect day with a nice snacky lunch of stuff we bought form Borough Market followed by a full on Christmas Dinner at 5.30.

Was nice to see Peters sister Jackie and her husband John as well as their children James (with girlfriend Tash) and Jo (with boyfriend Sam).

There were presents throughout the day and a time lazing in front of the telly in the evening.


Willow under the tree

Alv & Crys

Kate and I

H & P

All ready for dinner

Day Nine Hundred and Twenty Five

Saturday (Christmas Eve 2011)

A very quiet day spent at home. Kate has got a cold so we have been dosing her up with cold tablets and cough mixture. She seems to be doing OK.

We were due to have a visit form Rob and Jo with baby Isla followed by drinks down the pub but it seems sensible to not expose the baby to germs or hit the pub on this cold evening. Finished off all the final bits that needed doing for Christmas.

Day Nine Hundred and Twenty Four

Friday

A day of shopping followed a Skype call to Sydney with Carol, Chris and Hannah. We hit Camberley and then M&S at the meadows. It was not as crazy as we expected it to be.

In the evening we had a nice dinner at home in the company of Pat and Graham.

Day Nine Hundred and Twenty Three

Thursday

We checked out of the hotel and walked along the river to the London Aquarium. We saw most of it until a fire alarm meant we had to bail out. We started again after that and finished off before going for lunch with Kathleen, again in EV.


Some Spanish tourist took this for us

Kate took some good pictures along the river too


Big Ben/Parliament (obviously)


Kate's pics of the buses on Waterloo Bridge

After lunch we took on Borough market, it was pretty crazy in there but we got lots of goodies and food for Christmas day.


Borough Market with Shard of Glass in background (soon to be Europe's tallest building)



Crowds

Took the train home and Alvin picked up. We had a quiet night at home in the evening and went to bed early.

Day Nine Hundred and Twenty Two

Wednesday

Crystal dropped us off at Fleet station in the morning and we made our way up to London on the train. We spilt up and Kate headed north to meet Souraya for lunch and I headed south to visit the Estate Agent. Was good to meet Scott who sold our flat, gave him some TimTams as he is an Aussie from Queensland.

Headed north again, checked into the hotel in Southwark and then went to meet Kate on Regents St. Was good to catch up with Souraya too.


Regents St


The Girls


In the evening after a brief return to the hotel we headed to EV and caught up with old work friends.

Day Nine Hundred and Twenty One

Tuesday

Happy Birthday to my mother, 65 today!

opened presents with the birthday girl in the morning and at lunchtime took her out for a pub lunch.

In the evening we all went to Old Basing for dinner at hazels to celebrate the Birthday again.

Day Nine Hundred and Twenty

Monday

A relaxed morning at home before Kate and I went out shopping for a Christmas tree for Hazels house. The first place we went out to was sold out which was a bit of a worry but second place had plenty.

Spent the afternoon decorating it with following result



Had a chicken and mushroom risotto for dinner which I cooked. headed home to Yateley about 9pm.

Day Nine Hundred and Nineteen

Sunday

Up at 5.40am, on the road at 6.05am in minus 2.5degree temperatures to pick up Kate from the airport. Alvin drove to airport which was handy.

Soon enough my lovely wife emerged from behind the doors into my arms and greetings form my folks.

We rugged her up and took her home.

A hot brekkie, a skype call to Bill and Carol, a short stroll and shopping in Waitrose followed by lunch and scrabble made up most of the day.

At 5pm Kate was finished and headed to bed, she has not done too bad with jet lag but i suspect will be awake at 2-3am. lets see....updates tomorrow.

Great to have her back with me.

Day Nine Hundred and Eighteen

Saturday

Up a bit later than rest of week and did some shopping for food etc in preparation for Kates arrival tomorrow.

In the evening I spent a wonderful few hours catching up with old friends at Nick and Nicolas House. great to see everyone and meet the lovely Isla who was 4 months old today.

Great to see Rob and Jo take to parenting like ducks to water.

Headed home at about 11.30

Day Nine Hundred and Seventeen

Friday

A morning around the house and then in the afternoon I drove to Colliers Wood to pick up a parcel which was sent to the old flat by mistake. Collected this from the estate agent who kept it for me. Then drove from Colliers Wood to Shepherds Bush to go to the Empire to see the Wonderstuff.

I met Stu, Dean and Rob in O'Neills for food and drinks before we went to the gig. The Empire is still a superb venue and the band were great. Hard to believe its 20 years since the album ' Never Loved Elvis' was released.

After the gig drove Dean and Rob home and got in at 12.30am.




Using the 'miniture effect' on new camera

Day Nine Hundred and Sixteen

Thursday

Not a great deal to report, all in all a lazy day spent around the house in Yateley with the folks.

Day Nine Hundred and Fifteen

Wednesday

A day out shopping with the folks in Basingstoke. was quite a quick trip in the end as we were back in Yateley in time for lunch.

Rest of day lazing about and helping Alvin defrost the freezer, my regular job on visits back to the UK.

Day Nine Hundred and Fouteen

Tuesday

Woke up at 3am again briefly and then up at 8am.

Planned to go to London with Hazel today but she called form Basingstoke to say trains were delayed. (second day running I've failed to get up to the smoke) We decided to go to Reading instead. Was a very nice day out and we had lunch at one of Jamie Olivers restaurants which was nice.

Back to old Basing to catch up with the cats and then back home to Yateley for the evening.

Day Nine Hundred and Thirteen

Monday

After my 3am wake up for an hour crashed again until 7am ish.

Had a good skype call with Kate first thing.

In the morning I tried to drive to London to pick up a parcel which is held at estate agents but the A3 was blocked so bailed on that and went shopping in local M&S and Tesco instead. Afternoon and evening spent in Yateley. crashed out again at 9pm.

Day Nine Hundred and Twelve

Sunday

Arrived in Singapore for a quick break before climbing back on board the plane for the 14 hour leg to London. Forest leg seemed quick and was less than 8 hours. Second leg was OK, had a secon dinner and kept awake until about 5am Sydney time before sleeping for a few hours. Woke up at midnight UK time and had another 6 hours to go or so.

had the usual nonsense of flying around in a circle outside Heathrow before landing.

Grabbed baggage which as predicted took ages to appear. Then met the folks and Hazel in arrivals, good to see them again.

Most of rest of day was spent around the house in Yateley, finally crashed at 7pm and slept through til 3am.

Day Nine Hundred and Eleven

Saturday

Woke up and was presented with a wonderful bacon and egg breakfast eaten in the garden at Willoughby. Kate and I then nipped out to do a bit of shopping. Soon enough we headed back to the airport where I said goodbye to Bill, Carol and Kate and headed through to catch a Qantas flight to the UK.

The remainder of Saturday was spent in seat 73G on the Airbus A380 to Singapore.

Day Nine Hundred and Ten

Friday

A nice day off doing final packing etc for trip back to UK. Picked up Kate just before 5 and we headed home to pick up our stuff. We then drove to airport and grabbed some dinner before flying down to Sydney.

Bill and Carol picked us up and after a quick trip home in car, teas and catching up we hit the sack.

Day Nine Hundred and Nine

Thursday

Last day at work for a month, did some mind numbing stuff sorting out kits and stores. Picked up Kate and we headed home. Had a takeaway for dinner, checked ourselves in for flight to Sydney tomorrow.

Day Nine Hundred and Eight

Wednesday

Another usual day at work and night at home. Had a good Skype call with folks in the evening as well as speaking to Carol briefly.

Day Nine Hundred and Seven

Tuesday

Another usual day in the office although I'm not doing much as I'm winding down for Christmas. In the evening Kate and I met Alex who was up form Sydney. We went for Japanese in the Valley at Wagaya and then headed home. Was nice to see her in Brisbane and she crashed on our airbed over night.

Day Nine Hundred and Six

Monday

A usual Monday at work, struggling to get much motivation in my last four days before Christmas!

Picked up Kate and headed home. Sorted out travel insurance this evening.

Day Nine Hundred and Five

Sunday


We went to the Southbank Markets in the morning

http://www.southbankmarket.com.au/

We then headed into the city centre to do some final Christmas shopping and buy a few bits for trip to UK. Less than a week until I'm on a plane to Europe and less than two weeks for Kate.

We had some Antipasto for dinner and had a Skype call with folks.

Day Nine Hundred and Four

Saturday

We headed to Chermside to do more Christmas shopping during the day. In the evening we went to Liquid down the road for some dinner. Didn't rate the service or food much this time around.

Day Nine Hundred and Three

Friday

Drove in early as I had to attend fire warden training for the building. Was a bit of a farce as building has no chief fire warden and no one is really responsible for overall safety. I asked if this was allowed within legislation and apparently it is. Ah well if there is a fire I'm outta there quick smart.

An easy afternoon and after work I picked up Kate from her works Christmas party over in Kangaroo Point at the Story Bridge Hotel.