KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
SURPRISE!
Tim & Debs Yau were standing on the porch with sparklers in hand - and Ang, with a huge smile on her face just couldn't believe it! I'd arranged Tim and Debs to join us for the weekend and they'd managed to arrive early and hide while we were getting ourselves into the cottage. Ang was so pleased that they were there to join us and we quickly lit the fire, had our pizza and chilled in front of the open fire.
Saturday morning saw us get up lazily, have a cooked breakfast and then head to the beach for a walk to Holme. It was a good walk, with the sunshing and the the tide all the way out. Tim and Debs managed to try out their wellies for what they decided was only the 8th time in the past year (despite travelling the world). Tim started feeling ill so we stopped off for drinks and chips before Ang and I walked back to the cottage to jump in the car and pick them up.
In the evening we had another meal, watched a film and played frisbee in the dark with a special frisbee that had lights on!
Tim & Debs left us on Sunday so we had a lazy morning before heading out to Wells on Sea where we went for a walk along the beach again. We spent most of the afternoon on top of a sand dune watching the world go by - people walking dogs, families playing cricket, and kids jumping off sandy cliffs(!!) - before heading back to the car through the pine forest. Fish and chips were consumed on the way back to the cottage and we were lucky enough to watch the sunset behind a windmill.
It was a really fantastic weekend - one that Ang and I will remember for a while!
Anyway, we started the long job of searching for a house again. We’d originally put our offer in on the house back in September 2005, so the market (and prices) had moved on by then. We were really hoping to move to the village of Linton as this was right in the middle of our two jobs. There weren’t many houses on the market and we were getting desperate… but we wanted to remain patient and wait for the right house to come along.
Our big holiday this year was a trip to Natal in Brazil at the end of March. It was a great time of chilling on the windswept beach, floating in the pool and discovering a tiny bit of the scenery, culture and history of such a vast country. We really enjoyed our short stay in the comfy hotel and came back to England feeling thoroughly refreshed.
Arriving back in the UK we had just a few days to finalise packing everything from our house into boxes before moving it all into storage and moving to a rented room in Cambridge. When our house purchase had originally fallen through we decided that we would move out of our house in Little Thetford at the beginning of 
At the end of April my work (ESco Business Services) moved into its new purpose built premises on a picturesque hillside in the Essex countryside. It was huge step up from the converted piggery that we had previously worked in and has really helped to make it a great company to work for.
The day we moved into the house we also inherited two cute little fluffy kittens called Josh & Toby. Our friends Ben & Becs had had to give them up because poor Becs was very allergic to them. They have brought real joy and companionship since we’ve moved to Linton and they are always a pleasure to watch as they still act like little kittens on their mad half hour.
One of my highlights from 
In 
One of the best parties we attended this year was for Laura, a friend from work. It was held at the beginning of 
Soul Survivor 2006 was one of the highlights of the year for me. It is a Christian annual youth event held in Somerset and we took the youth group from church down. The week was full of good sung worship, teaching, great bands and fun back at the campsite. It was great to see the youth group bond with each other as well as grow in their own relationship with God.
At the end of 
On the Sunday we drove to the Eden Project (below) which was pretty awe-inspiring and kept us entertained for the day, but as we were just setting off to head back to Cambridge the car made some very scary crunching noises... that was the end of the Vectra! We had to make the long journey back to Cambridge in a little Corsa – never again!
The end of September saw us take a short trip north to Thornham in Norfolk for our cluster weekend away. (Our cluster is a group of about 30 people from church who meet together every 2 weeks.) Again we were blessed with lovely weather and managed to do a walk across the muddy/sandy beach before heading back to the cottage (below) for a lovely dinner with everyone else.
Our second major holiday this year was a long weekend break to Ireland in 
In 
In 
The final highlight of the year was our New Year’s Eve party which we again hosted at our house. Ang had arranged a murder mystery evening with our friends in Cambridge and everyone made a great effort to dress up and act their characters. Unfortunately I ended up being the murderer so couldn’t take part in the sleuthing, but it was a great evening topped off with karaoke at 1am!
I will definitely look back at 2006 as a year of changes. Moving house was a hard experience, especially as for four months I didn’t know where I was moving to, but looking back now it has definitely been worth it, I am really feeling like the house is now becoming a home. It was also hard to see good friends move on from Cambridge, but at the same time I have met new friends and will hopefully develop just as good friendships in 2007. I am really forward to the year ahead and the ups and downs that will come my way!
