Hi All,
So here we are sat on the sofa back in our house in front of the log burner typing this blog update, not quite as exciting as some of the places where we sat and typed our blogs!!
So it’s back to normal for us now after a very busy and emotional few weeks, what with getting our stuff back in the house and saying our goodbyes to Dad. The funeral went really well and I know it sounds wrong but it was a really good day as funerals go, the service was just what Dad would have wanted, a celebration of his life and achievements and a few jovial stories along the way with over 100 people in attendance. Again the wake was just perfect, I am sure if Dad had been a fly on the wall he would have been very proud of me, Leigh & Joanna and our families. Thank you to everyone that came along to the service and the wake in Dad’s memory. I did have a bit of sore head the next day after a few too many tots of rum which was Dad’s favourite guilty pleasure!!
Not sure if I have mentioned it before but one of Dad’s wishes was for me to have his 1963 Triumph Tiger Cub motorcycle so I now have that in the garage. It does make me laugh as it had one oil leak which I managed to stop by fitting a new oil seal but when I started the bike it seemed to spring a leak somewhere else so a bit more TLC needed (it’s a nice excuse for me to go and have a tinker in the garage). It’s work in progress but hopefully it won’t be long before it’s back on the road, mind you I need to adapt my many years of riding modern motorcycles to this pre-65 bike as the rear brake and gear change are completely the reverse to modern motorcycles (just imagine swapping your pedals in your car - how you would get on!!).
Julie and I did a floral tribute of the Cub and were really pleased with it
We managed to fit in a quick weekend to Brancaster on the East coast and grab a bite to eat and few drinks with friends in one of our favourite pubs, it was great to be back after 13 months as the food is so good and Julie had been craving her fish & chips and we weren’t disappointed.
Early the next morning we headed to the beach car park to beat the tide before the road flooded as it was an exceptionally high tide. It was a toasty 2 degrees outside while we were sat in the van having a cup of tea watching the sunrise on a beautiful sunny winters day. Not to be deterred by the temperature we got changed into our winter kite gear, grabbed our kites and went and had a fantastic session - the first one in UK waters for sometime, but it felt good. They say the early bird catches the worm which is very true as it was only us two and a couple of friends that got to the car park before it flooded the road so we had the whole place to ourselves for a few hours.
It was never set in stone that when we left our jobs all those months ago that we would have a job to come back to but luckily I have been able to return to the same company, the same position and even the same machine which I am very grateful for. Again it feels like I’ve never been away, just like I walked out the door 13 months ago and I have walked back through that door 13 months later and everything is just exactly the same. I seriously thought that I would find it very difficult to adjust back into working life but to be honest it hasn’t been that bad although the first morning the alarm clock went off was quite a shock!!!
Julie on the other hand hasn’t gone back to the same company or job but maybe that’s something for the future but in the meantime she has found herself a little part-time payroll job which ticks all the boxes for now and again is only 10 minutes from home. It’s quite strange how things work out sometimes and how the job came about (thanks Alison!!).
As Julie sold her mini to help finance our trip she needed to find a small decent car to do her long commute to work and do the Lidl’s shop on her days off!! So after trawling the internet and nearly being scammed by a dodgy dealer (but that’s another story…and a lucky escape) she found herself a lovely VW Fox in mint condition with low mileage, full VW service history which has had only 2 lady owners from new. Thanks to our friend Martin for taking Julie to check it over and pick it up. So now my VW van has a little baby sister to keep it company on the drive.
Almost exactly a year ago while we were in Meribel we met Aline & Dick and their two children, Bethan & Finn who hired a motorhome and came to Meribel for half term. It turned out that they only lived about 20 miles away from us back in the UK. When they left we promised we’d meet up with them when we got back so true to our word we have been in touch and we managed to meet up with them last weekend. It was great to catch up and spend the day just chatting about anything and everything, and being shown around their beautiful cottage. They are really easy going and enjoy the outdoor life just like us so it was only natural to go for a lovely walk followed by a de-brief in their local pub and then back to theirs for a lovely roastie and yet more stories.
So it really is back to reality for us now but we have so many memories to keep us going for now.
Better go, got to get up for work in the morning…….!!!
Look out for more updates.
J&J
x
