Christmas & New Year: A Trip Back to Home Mk. I

Ok, so, yeah, long time no see. If my memory serves me right I'm supposed to be picking up from about the 15th of December. I'll be honest: at this point I can't really remember what I did the rest of that week but I DO remember the weekend that followed!

On the Friday, Rachel and I met up in Zürich after work. We made our way across the street from the HB to do some ice skating in the courtyard of the museum there. It was an embarrassingly small rink but we still managed to have some fun. I was impressed with how easily skating came back to me considering it had probably been a few years since I'd last done it! After that we grabbed some fantastic gluhwein (mulled wine) and raclette (melted cheese with potatoes) then headed back to the train station to check out the christmas market there. It was pretty impressive, lots of stalls selling lots of cool stuff. Rachel got most of her christmas shopping done and I led us to some delicious apple fritters and some more (sub-par) gluhwein. We looked for a place to grab a drink but everywhere was just stupid busy so we elected to go home instead.

The next day we made an effort to get up early and do some more xmas shopping. I had to get gifts for people in the UK and she had to get stuff for her family as well. We grabbed a quick lunch out and then more or less rushed home to get ready for the evening. Rachel's grandmother was celebrating her 80th birthday and had invited us (as well as probably another 20 of her family) to a nice Swiss/Scottish (yes, Swiss/Scottish) restaurant to celebrate with her. It began with a nice (albeit cramped) apero of white wine and then continued with a 4 course meal: Salmon salad, Soup, Entre featuring steak, lamb and various veg, and a mixed plate of dessert. I was so happy to be eating good quality red meat I almost cried. Fantastic.

The next day, we decided to have a mini christmas because I would be leaving later in the week. I made crepes for breakfast, we exchanged gifts, watched some xmas movies, went for a walk and I cooked turkey for dinner. A really nice day overall!

On wednesday I was scheduled to leave for the UK. I say 'scheduled' because at about 10:30PM the night before my 10:10AM flight I checked my email to find that my flight had been cancelled. Being unable to get through to sleazy jet's customer service I elected to go to the airport at the normal time just in case. Ended up having to rebook (for free thank god) onto a flight that evening. Despite having ample time to go home, I ended up wandering the airport, sleeping and reading for about 14hrs. I also made it out to Oerlikon to meet Rachel for lunch.. She actually also came to the airport after work and waited it out with me - very nice of her :) Anyway, by the time my flight was scheduled to board, a message popped up on the departure screens: DELAYED. Ended up waiting another 1.5hrs in the terminal for the plane to arrive, then all the time for boarding, then all the time getting a spot on the runway. When we finally got to Gatwick we sat on the runway for 50 minutes after touchdown waiting for a bloody bus to come and take us to the terminal. Ended up getting back to Uncle Mark's place at about 1:30AM on Christmas Eve. Lame.

Oh well, got there in the end! Christmas Eve I spent most of the day with TJ playing video games and watching TV. Had a chance to hang out a little with Natalie as well. Leanne however wasn't feeling to well. Also accompanied Mark to buy some wine for Christmas dinner and while we were out he drove me around the old neighborhood. I was amazed at how much I remembered it! It hasn't changed that much, its just a little more overgrown and some of the shops have been rebranded. That night we went out for a pub dinner. Well, actually it was just Mark, Carole, TJ and myself because Leanne was sick and Nat stayed to take care of her. I had a big old juicy beef burger and a sticky toffee pudding. Yum.

Christmas Day! May have actually been the first one up but stayed in the room. TJ came and got me for present time. It was cool and strange at the same time to experience somebody elses traditions instead of your own for christmas morning.. Still. Got through pressies, had breakfast, cleaned up, played some more Xbox with TJ, helped him set up his new laptop and then sat down. Carole's father arrived and then helped to prepare some of the veggies for dinner. Carole's sister and nephew showed up, had some drinks, socialized, ate dinner, sat fat and happy for the rest of the night.

Boxing Day we went into Windsor. Saw the castle, walked around the town, had a coffee, walked from the castle to the guy on the horse (the long walk) and more or less back again to get to the car. That tired us right out and we pretty much just crashed for the rest of the time.

The next day's highlight was going to see Avatar in 3D in Bracknell. Played games with TJ in the morning, Habib showed up unexpectedly, went and saw the movie, got burger king, went home, TV, chatted.

The following day we went to Portsmouth (everyone but Nat). The girls did some shopping, the boys went to the arcade. We met up with Habib for lunch and more or less headed home.. Not overly eventful but a nice day regardless.

The next day I got sick. Really sick. Woke up with a stomach ache and was freezing cold. Planned on getting my hair cut but didn't feel well enough. Laid on the couch instead and watched Top Gear. Got up to answer the phone and ended up puking. Felt better so I got up again to get some water. Came over all dizzy and hot and puked again. Spent the rest of the day in bed. This resulted in going to Lil's that night being delayed and unfortunately didn't meet up with Steph and Gail and that.

Ended up going to Lil's the next day, got there at around lunch time. Went to the pub for lunch, managed to keep down a ham sandwich. We were joined by one of Lil's friends and her kid (who, Georgia will join me in saying, trod unforgivably on one's nerves) and we decided to try and go and see Sherlock Holmes. Unfortunately it was sold out so we rented some movies instead and spent the evening in.

The next day I was due to meet Rachel at the airport. However, she was also flying easy jet and so inevitably she was delayed by about an hour and a half. I took this time to go and get a hair cut. Martin then took me to the airport where I waited for her to come through. Instead of her coming through, she called me saying she lost her ID card. Silly girl ;) Long story much shorter we eventually made it to Kork's place on New Year's Eve.

He had arranged tickets for us to go to a party at a local(ish) pub. He didn't realize until after we got there, however, that it was a masquerade party. We thus had to make a quick trip to a store to buy some masks. At this point, Rachel and I were more or less exhausted and took a nap before getting up to eat dinner and go.

It was a pretty cool night but also strange in a lot of ways. We had fun though!

The next day Rachel and I went into london (a little too late perhaps) and walked from london bridge along the Thames to Waterloo. We stopped in at the Tate modern on the way and also saw the sights like St. Pauls, Millenium Bridge, London Eye, Big Ben, etc. Also found a delicious can of Old Jamaica Ginger Beer. YUM.

Went to London the last day as well. Spent the first few hours there chasing down documents so Rachel could still go home and then headed to oxford street for some shopping. Ate lunch in a nice Tapas restaurant and I managed to get some choccies, sweets and crisps to remind me of my youth. That night we went out for curry with Kork and Kelly and then hit the hay for an early morning the next day (our 7:45AM flight was, of course, very delayed).

Good times though, glad I went back to the UK! Sorry for the long post!