hmmm

ok so now Ryan's prescription sun glasses are missing.

They're always in the same spot on the shelf. And they're not there and they don't appear to be anywhere alse. This house is not big and we've searched high and low.

Any ideas?

I hope this is not going to be one of 'those' trips. As long as the passports and tickets (now that we have them!) don't go missing/get stolen like on the way here I'll be happy.

Oh and as long as the sun shines in Fiji.

Ryan's language is rather... colourful at present.

Till the next drama

Mez

PHEW!

So we're packing our bags tonight right ready to head home for a bit of a holiday and two week long party thanks to my brother and my sister both getting married and the phone rings...

"Hi is that Maryanne?"

"Yes it is"

"Hiya Sarah here from the Flight Center. So are you all packed ready to go?"
(here I am thinking that this is nice she's just ringing to say have a great trip - you know a bit of a customer relations call)

"Yeah we're all good thanks" says I.

"Well I've just been looking through our files and have discovered your tickets still here"

(I think a few bad words)

"oh dear! I thought that we were using e-ticketing"

"Yes but you need these tickets, they are your e-tickets"

"oh good golly!"

(it's 7pm the Flight centre office is surely closed and we leave in the morning a Saturday - late start at the Flight centre)

"Where do you live?"

(I give her the details making it more complicated than it is, probably confusing her terribly)

"I'll bring them round in about an hour. Without them there's no way you will be able to get on that plane"

"thank you thank you thank you!"

(I relay everything to Ryan and thank God profusely for His impecable timing in this phone call - that we were home, that she is willing to drop them off, that we have the money to buy her a bottle of wine to say thank you.)

I would have been devastated had we made it to Heathrow lined up in the long check-in queue only to discover that 'I'm sorry Mr and Mrs Monastra but without the ticket you cannot fly'. Ryan would be somewhat annoyed and fuming that he'd left all the planning to me and I, well I would take a long time to get over it.

But again thanks be to God and to Sarah from Flight Centre. We will be flying tomorrow.

PHEW!

Lets hope there are no more surprises on this journey!

Home here we come

More of the Major Oak

Having hired the car on the weekend to get to the Catholic get together OCT06 we decided that we'd take a trip to the near by Major Oak. It's located in Sherwood Forest just out of Nottingham.

We foud this website about the Major Oak and all these tree lovers who have left comments about how much they love the Major Oak. People writing from Canada and America wanting saplings of this well known (though we'd never heard of it) tree.

Anyway a few details about the Major Oak. It is pretty amazing.

Height=16 metres,

Average diameter=337 cms

Weight = estimated 23 tons,

Age = has been here for an estimated 800-1000 years.

As you can see in the movie clip there's a big hollow in the tree. You don't really get the sense og how big that hole really is. Legend says that it was made by Robin Hood's men in 1216. Today, that hollow has been known to shelter 34 school children! So it is big!

Here's some photos that we took.

It's like THIS big!!

Like Ryan's new hair doo!

The Major Oak

Here is a little snippet of our trip the The Great Oak. He's a bit of a star really. Been around for a very long time. The poor fella is so big and old that he needs help just staying upright.



Enjoy

Latest Happenings

Hey ya'll. It's been a while since we posted anything so I thought I'd have a go. We haven't been up to much so there isn't a heck of a lot to report really.

Ryan worked three weekends in September and the one weekend when he wasn't working he went on a pilates course up north with another physio$ from work. From what I gather it was well worth it and he came away with the latest practices and some new moves to experiment with. I had just come off four 12hr night shifts that week so I was happy to just stay home and recover.

This week, each night, as we've looked out the window we've watched the flashing lights and whirlings of the various rides at the Goose Fair. Despite the name this has nothing at all to do with noisy birds. Apparently the Nottingham Goose Fair is one of Europe's largest traveling fairs with a history that dates back over 700 years. There are over 500 attractions including the latest white knuckle rides, children's and family rides oh and CANDY FLOSS!!

I'd heard mixed reviews on the Goose fair. One lady I work with said she wouldn't take her son because it was too dangerous, a taxi driver told me that what was once a nice family outing was not so anymore due to the gangs that loiter and cause trouble. And then I'd hear how fantastic it was and from those that go every year not missing it for the world! Hmmm to go or not to go...
We went. And I wasn't disappointed. We didn't see or have any trouble. I must admit whenever we went through a big crowd of people I did walk behind Ryan holding onto the backpack on his back so no-one could get to it. After all the stories I'd heard I thought it might pay to be a little cautious.

The place was buzzing with food stalls and rides of every adrenalin pumping kind. Just quietly Ryan's not too keen on roller coasters and I'm not keen on rides that are likely to make my stomach churn so we watched with glee more then we had a go. And we managed to spend 30quid(don't convert or you'll be horrified!) in the space of just over an hour on various games. Ryan won me a Winnie the Pooh look-a-like on one of them! Your typical fair fun really!

So here's a few photos!

Looks exciting huh?

Ryan played one of those shoot the target win a prize games. Despite the alignment of the sight thingee-jiggy being way off he did pretty well. Not enough for a prize though.

A real life merry-g-round! With horses and all!

I know I know you can't see it really but that what it is!

Pardon my excitement but i'd never seen one before.