The walk

While we were in Wales, Denty came down with a pretty bad case of the ‘flu. It was proper ‘flu with the fever and all, not the man-flu, contrived to get out of hiking type. Anyway, as he was unwell,  before it starts to rain again, I thought I could take a short walk into the village about a mile away to see if they have a little shop to get more paracetamol for Denty.

I had two choices, to walk the single track road or to take a supposed short cut over the hill. So I wandered out of the very long and uphill driveway…

Ruthlin, the cottage in Wales

To celebrate  the first anniversary of our marriage, Denty and I rented a little (well, not-so-little as it was a four-bedroomed barn conversion) in the middle of nowhere in Wales. The building was a barn once belonging to a nearby-ish farm called Ruthlin Mills, hence the converted cottage was named Ruthlin.

It was a mere 200 mile journey, so Denty and I thought it would be nice to make a little detour to visit Stonehenge on the way there.  You see, about 20 years ago, little Denty found a Stonehenge souvenir bookmark in church and has used it ever since. What was once a leather bookmark with the respectable amount of tassels is now a sorry piece of cow hide with 3 and a bit strands of tassel. Since Denty had never seen Stonehenge, we thought it would be a great opportunity to get him a new bookmark.

After the little detour, we continued our journey to Ruthlin.

Yorkshire tea

Denty, Paddy and I went to Harrogate last weekend. We almost made a beeline to the teashop after parking the car. Well, what else do you do in somewhere so quintessentially English? To make it even more English, we even (Denty was very keen) queued up at Betty’s Tea Shop for 30 minutes.

The wait was definitely worth it. I had a sapphire blue ceylon tea and a fresh fruit tart. The tea definitely tasted better than the ones in the Ritz and Claridges.

After a happy face-stuffing session and a little wander, we headed to the apartment we rented for an evening of loafing.

Paddy enjoyed watching the autumn leaves from the window.

Dog dog in Dusseldorf

I had to go to Dusseldorf for five days, and obviously, as Denty would not fit into my hand carry, Dog dog came with me.

We landed in Dusseldorf at 10pm on Sunday night and Dog dog went straight to bed.

I read with him for a bit while waiting for our room service dude to come bringing our plate of sepiarisotto (squid ink risotto) with octopus and truffle foam.

Anyway, from Monday to Thursday, we were subjected to many lectures and discussions. The tedium was fortunately punctuated with a visit to a traditional beer hall, one visited by Napoleon some years ago…

The Amsterdam adventure

Yesterday morning, we went to Amsterdam for a day trip. We had to catch a 8.30am flight, so Mini Dog Dog and I had to leave the house at 6am. When we got to the airport, Mini Dog Dog demanded that I head straight for the coffee place, so that he can nurse his headache over a tall, white Americano.

30+ days later

Changes that has taken place:

• clothes feel a little tighter
• Denty has a tan
• Stimpy, the last remaining hamster is dead
• I had donut (courtesy of MM)
• obtained a lasting dislike for Latvians with bad breath, smelly feet and has no regard for personal space (poor Muks sat next to one of those on the flight home)
• obtained less than favourable impression of LA airport
• am now a respectable matron.

The next 30 days

The long awaited day is finally here… Denty and I (plus enk-Bob a.k.a. Mitch) will be flying to New Zealand tonight.

30 days. We will have 30 marvellous days (not with enk-Bob a.k.a. Mitch).

When I come home, I will:

• write about the 30 days
• write about the 30 hour flights
• claim my donut (the chocolate custard one) from MM.

Weather report II

Weather report

Muks landed

Back on the lair, sleeping