Holiday in Wales and the NW

Ang and I have just got back from a lovely holiday travelling across England and Wales, relaxing in a cottage and spending quality time with friends and family. Our trip started with a visit to Rob and Clare Humphreys in Oxford, Tim Harding in Chippenham and Dan Jones in Bristol before making the final journey across Wales to the Pembrokeshire coast.

We stayed in a lovely converted barn near St Davids and despite the wintry weather we managed to get out everyday to enjoy the surrounding beaches and cliffs – the scenery was pretty stunning but it was so COLD! Because of the poor weather we spent most of the days just sleeping, reading, watching DVDs – generally chilling out after a busy few months at work – it was lovely!

Moving on from Wales we travelled up to the Lake District where we attended a wedding about 10 minutes away from Ambleside. We saw our friend Sarah Hall tie the knott with Rob Gilber at a quaint little church on top of a mountain near the Langdales before heading to a posh country club where we had the best wedding grub ever! We stayed the night at Ang’s sister in Lancaster on the Saturday night before meeting up with old friends at church and afterwards for lunch.

On the way back to Cambridge we spent a day with Ang’s brother and parents in Kirkham and my Grandmother and sister in Manchester. We also managed to squeeze in some window shopping at the Trafford Centre, although surprisingly, Ang was bored after a couple of hours!

Highlights of the week included eating yummy food, seeing old friends, playing crazy golf and air hockey, watching bouncing lambs playing with each other, seeing the sun set over Lake Windermere and sleeping lots and lots!

Click on the links below for some pics:

Wales Holiday

Lake District on Sarah's Wedding

Sarah & Rob's Wedding

You’ve Got to Try It – Once!

Just thought I’d share with you a very special website which I have found both encouraging and enlightening over the past few years. Its run by an American organisation called 7:22 and was set up for the young adult population of Atlanta – every they week upload a video of their meeting where 3,000 attend to worship God and learn more about him.

The bands are fantastic – fresh, energetic and full of passion. The talks are relevant for today’s young people (and they still talk to me too!!) and are full of wisdom and insight. What stands out is the level of professionalism in the music and production – for something that is run by students its amazing (no offence to students!).

If you are not a Christian and want to see what all the fuss is about from the safety of your computer it’s a great place to go. If you are a Christian I hope you will find it as inspiring as I have. So I encourage you try it – even if its just once!

Want to see the videos? Click Here.

Want to see the website to find out more? Click Here.

Weed on By A Lion

Thats what happened to Ang and her sister Helen while walking around Linton Zoo today. There were some little kids winding up the lion from the safety of behind a fence, the lion turned around, paused... then sprayed everyone! What a claim to fame, weed on by a lion! How many people can say that?

The weekend has been quite busy, Ang got back from her short trip to Florida and then her sister and husband (Helen & Brian) arrived mid-afternoon - we've been entertaining since! Lastnight we played a great game of The Really Nasty Horse Racing Game before going on a pub crawl through Linton. Today we popped to the zoo, went to church and enjoyed some great cooking from Ang. Its been a good weekend though a little exhausting!

I didn't get any pics of the lion, but here are some other ones from our visit to the zoo.

Samson the Satsuma

Here is a picture of Samson the Satsuma before I ate him. He tasted good.

So, it does go below zero!

In November Ang and I bought a new car, a lovely sporty Mazda 6 complete with gangsta windows and a rear spoiler... well, since then I have never been sure whether our temperature display in the car showed negative numbers, it always seemed to hover around zero, but never went below. I suppose that just reinforces how warm the winter had been SO FAR. Well, this week I have definitely seen negative numbers on the display - it has gradually crept below zero and this morning it was showing a whopping MINUS 8C! That is just a little chilly! Poor me had to fill the car with petrol this morning - I'm sure my hand nearly froze to the petrol pump. Apparently snow is on the way - BRING IT ON!

Weekend in Norfolk

This weekend we travelled up to Thornham in Norfolk for what Ang thought would be a romantinc weekend away for two to celebrate her birthday. We arrived safely, unpacked our bags and pre-heated the oven for a pizza when there was a knock at the door...

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!

Escape to Norfolk

Frisbee in the Dark

Names in the Dark

Wells on Sea - Walk