The month's seem to be flying by, we can't believe it's mid-March already but it's nice that the nights are drawing out and it's feeling more like Spring every day with some warm sunshine and in a couple of weeks time the clocks will Spring forward. One thing that happens when you are travelling is that you manage to skip the miserable UK Winter which is great as Julie hates it and if it's wet & miserable at the weekend I have to remove all sharp objects from the house!!! We skipped Oct, Nov & most of Dec so for us it's been a short Winter which is great.
I hate to say but we have well & truly settled back into the work life balance although Julie has fallen on her feet as she only works 8 til 4 3 days a week, Mon-Wed one week and then Wed-Fri the next so every other week she gets 6 days off!!! She is really enjoying her new job and her free time although she is always busy doing stuff and says she doesn't know how she fitted in a full-time job!!! I am really pleased for her and it means that she can get a lot of stuff done so free's up more time for us at the weekends which is great.
I went to work one Monday morning and discovered this piece of artwork had been done over the weekend inside the building on-site, I know I am a midget but just look at the size of me compared to it, it's huge......it was really impressive and shows there are some talented kids out there. What was most impressive though was that there was no damage anywhere and no rubbish i.e. spray cans left behind, I hate to think how many cans it took.
Julie also gets more time to see her Mum & Dad which is nice and the other week Julie and Brenda had a spot of light lunch while I sat in my digger eating my sandwiches and apple....!
We had a fantastic kite session down at Camber, probably one of the best uncrowded sessions we have ever had there. Conditions were absolutely perfect and it was a beautiful sunny day and surprisingly warm. They are doing a lot of work there at the moment putting in some new sea defences which we think has put a few people off so that's why it wasn't as busy as usual. The work they are doing doesn't make much difference at all although there are some piles of rocks on the beach downwind and the car park is limited at the moment. Aline and the kids came down to watch and take some photos, thanks Aline. I don't think it will be long until Aline & Dick book up some lessons as they both ski and snowboard and are adrenaline junkies just like us!
I have been keeping busy out in the garage working on the Tiger Cub and also swapped my sunglasses for welding glasses as I have Dad's oxyacetylene brazing set so have been practising some new skills and surprised myself at the results.
The Cub has been receiving lots of TLC, I have stripped down and re-built the engine and stopped the oil leaks and fitted a new exhaust as the old one had a rather large hole in it and was scaring all the horses in the surrounding fields. I am slowly working my way through to get it MOT worthy.
This time last year we were saying our goodbyes to the mountains, Meribel and Pete and Debra who we met there. We went off round Europe one way and they went the other and although we said we'd try and meet up somewhere in the middle we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Pete & Debra finished their trip at the end of September but went back to Meribel in January for a couple of months and we had planned to meet them in January before we headed home but as we left earlier than expected we never got to meet up. Last week they got in contact to say that they were on route home after a fantastic two months and would like to meet up with us on their way back home to the Lakes. We decided to meet them up at Brancaster as it was heading North for them and as Pete learnt to kitesurf while away travelling we thought it would be good to show him our favourite spots up on the East coast.
It was fantastic to see them both again and catch up on a year's worth of stories, it really didn't seem like it was a year ago that we saw them last. Andy & Claire our friends from Northampton also made the most of the lovely weather and came up for the weekend in their motorhome. It was the first weekend away that we have had in the van since we got home it was great to be back in the van but this time only for 2 nights, slightly different from the 350 nights we spent in it last year!!
We had a long walk along the beaches showing Pete the kite spots and then headed to the Jolly Sailors for a well earnt drink washed down with their amazing Fish & Chips, one of the few things we missed while away travelling last year. It's a great pub and we feel like locals even though it's 150 miles away from home.
So that's it until next month.
J&J
x
