In March, I moved from Southampton to Blyth to live with Kieran. He and his parents had been renovating the flat left in their family after his great-grandma passed away a few years ago. At the time, it had a wet room for a bathroom and they decided needed a lot of work doing to it. John did the majority of it and everyone has agreed it looks lovely. It’s definitely very nice to live in and I feel I’ve mostly adjusted well to living up here. It’s definitely been strange living so far away from all my family. Before I left, Grandad John’s health had started to go rapidly down hill. He’s 83 today and has done incredibly well to stay quite healthy in his senior years, especially considering he had prostate cancer in 2015. Grandad has always been the head of the family, loved and admired by us all. He’s just such a great man. But age is slowly taking away the Grandad we know him as. We think dementia is taking hold, his hearing is deteriorating and he doesn’t interact much any more. These days, if you want a good conversation with Grandad, you have to start and keep it going. He still loves talking to us and you can tell is so happy when someone starts chatting to him, but he just doesn’t get involved any more. At family gatherings, he used to be centre of the conversation, chatting to everyone. Nowadays, he just sits in a corner, observing and taking it all in, with the odd comment every now and then. That made leaving that little bit harder. It’s a horribly clear reminder that he is getting older and isn’t going to be around for ever. Nan Marg and Grandad John, Dad’s parents, played a massive role in my childhood — they pretty much helped raise me. While Mum and Dad were out working, unable to do the childcare, Nan and Grandad took it on gladly. Nan has told me so many times how she’s so happy that she’s been so involved in her grandchildren’s lives. So am I. They’ve been the best grandparents. But they’re not getting any younger and things are difficult for them at the moment, for Grandad because he can see Hes changing and for Nan because she’s having to look after him more and more. I used to spend every Wednesday with them and I miss those days. But I know I am really lucky to have had so many with them. Saying goodbye in March was hard; we all went out for a meal the evening before we travelled up here and I was so glad we spent it all together. Even before I moved, we’d already agreed my first visit back. I was to travel down sometime at the end of May to spend my birthday with them. It was nice, as we drove away that Saturday morning, to know I had a fixed point when I’d be seeing everyone again. I think it was a comfort, especially for my first few weeks up here while I settled.
So, 2 weeks ago, it was time to make that planned trip back down south. Kieran and I had booked our plane tickets some time before, trying to get the best price we could. Like everything else, flight prices have increased a lot. On Wednesday 25th May around 4pm, after Kieran had finished work for the day, Lesley arrived to take us to the airport for our flight down. Once there, we had to wait a little while for assistance to arrive but they soon came and took us through security, where I even had to take off my shoes to walk through the security scanner, because boots aren’t allowed. We sat in departures a while and then, when we boarded, we found they’d boarded the rest of the passengers before the special assistance passengers, which explained our wait. This meant that the plane was dlayed taking off. It was a smooth flight and somehow we landed 2 minutes early in Southampton. During the flight, I’d listened to my music, only pausing to accept the complimentary water, shortbread and caramel wafer, feeling suddenly strange about going down. It was weird that it was finally happening. After so long of looking forward to seeing everyone again, I was actually on my way to doing just that. In reality, 11 weeks isnt long at all. but it had seemed long. In another way, though, the time seemed to have flown by.
as we departed the plane, the lovely assistance lady, Alison, whos helped us on many occasions before was there to greet us. she remembered me well, even knowing to ask if I was coming back to visit as I’d told i was planning to move to live with Kieran earlier in the year. in arrivals, my tiny little sister — obviously not tiny at all any more — was waiting excitedly to meet us. i hugged them so tight. note: T is now using they/them pronouns and going by the name Harley. they’ve explained this to Mum but shes not quite ready to call them Harley yet. Kieran and I are doing our best to support their wishes. harley had been the name Mum and Dad had chosen for them before they were born, when I thought I was having a little brother. strangely, it kinda suits them. My brain still thinks Tamsin sometimes and it’s strange calling them Harley between ourselves and to them but Tamsin to people they haven’t explained to. all in good time, hopefully. Harley guided us out of the airport to the car where Dad was waiting. it was so good to see them both again. as Kieran and I hadnt eaten and Dad had time, we headed to the mcdonalds in Eastleigh for some dinner. Harley and I ordered at the self-service machine while Dad and Kieran found a table. Kieran had the McSpicy vmeal with a coke; I had a double cheese burger and fries; Dad had a large fries and a large latte; Harley had a flake McFlurrie and a coke 0; Harley and I shared 6 chicken nuggets and bought a portion of the new cheesy garlic bites which we all shared and agreed were lovely. Afterwards, we headed to the hospital to pick Dad’s girlfriend Michelle up from work. Dad dropped the 3 of us back at Mum’s house before they went home themselves.
when I’d originally planned this trip, it had obviously been with the intention of going back to Southampton how it normally was and seeing everyone as I usually would. however, Mum’ partner Simon had surprised her with a holiday away to Benidorm with his brother and sister-in-law. It was a treat for her after the year she’s had, including all the worry as she had tests to see what the problem was, the complex operation, finding out it was cancer and then the recovery that has followed. when he’d booked it, he hadn’t realised he’d not only booked it during my visit but over my birthday too. Mum was very excited about going on holiday — it was her first since going to Greece in 2019 with Harley and Dad — but was disappointed and apologetic about missing my birthday. To begin with, I’d been pretty gutted; it’s quite childish but I haven’t spent a birthday without Mum yet. To get to 25 and manage that is quite unusual, I think, and not really a big deal. To be honest, I think I was more disappointed that Mum wasn’t going to be there for my whole visit, instead only 2 days out of the week I was down. So arriving back to what had been my home since I was a toddler for the first time after moving away was bittersweet. It felt very strange to be there, even with staffy dog Suggs enthusiastic welcome. It was very nice to discover that although he is still 100% bonkers, Suggs behaviour has improved a lot. He was instantly besotted in Kieran, who had found himself a new shadow who was very excited to have someone to play with. he brought Kieran his favourite ball and they spent some time playing out in the back garden, Kieran doing his best to tire Suggs out, something nobody has yet achieved.
everyone had a long lie in on Thursday morning before Harley had to go to their afternoon class. Kieran spent the afternoon going through Mum & Dad’s CD collection, some of which Dad had left behind when he’d moved out, and copying the ones he wanted onto his laptop. At around 4pm, Harley arrived back from college, driven by Auntie Clare who’d come to see me with Nan and Grandad. It was so good to see them all and lots of hugs were exchanged. While we were all chatting, Harley answered a knock to the door which turned out to be the lovely Jenny who’d popped by to say hello and drop off a birhtday card for me. It was such a nice surprise to see her and next time I go down I’ll try and set aside some time so we can go for a coffee and a catch up. Jenny and I email regularly and I enjoy keeping in touch with her. She helped me so much in Southampton and I wishe I could transport her to Blyth to do the same.
after everyone left, the three of us got ready and got the bus into town to meet up with Josh. We’d arranged to meet for dinner at Pizza Hut. We’d agreed we’d meet up anyway but Josh had a 5 years of service meal offer from work and Kieran had the meerkat meals discount to use. Therefore, as it was on the list of options for the discount and always somewhere we love, we’d agreed on Pizza Hut. Josh had up to the value of £50 to spend that work would reimburse if he kept his receipt. As Kieran’s meerkat meals offer is 2 for 1 on everything except deals and sharing dishes, we pretty much had the pick of anything and didn’t need to worry about the price, which obviously meant we took full advantage.when we were seated and the waitress took our order, she said she recognised me and Kieran. It turns out she was the waitress in the Hedge End branch of Pizza Hut, now closed down, that served Kieran and I on our very first date night. Kieran and I remember her too because her service was excellent, especially as she adapted to our needs effortlessly, to the point where you wouldn’t even notice the difference. At the time, we’d nicknamed her Clare, not actually knowing her real name but deciding she suits a Clare. I spent the whole evening trying to pluck up the courage to ask what her actual name is but didn’t manage it. If she ever serves us again, I’ll make sure to find out. Yet again though, Clare, thank you for being amazing. Your service was faultless and it was lovely to have you again. She made funny little comments to Harley; like when we ordered refill drinks and salad bowls, she teasingly said to them: “I suppose that’s up to you to sort out then”. Sometimes, people are so afraid to make jokes about disability because they’re worried of the response. Some people are very defensive about their condition and wouldn’t appreciate a funny comment, however innocent the intention, because they see it as the person making fun of and being offensive about them. To be honest, if the joke is lighthearted and made without malice I don’t really see the problem. I’d even go as far to say that sometimes it makes the occasion more enjoyable. Because *Clare knew it was ok to joke around with us it made our experience more relaxed. We knew we didn’t need to worry about any discrimination or accessibility for this outing. It’s really nice to have that feeling and lovely that she remembered Kieran and I so well too and seemed genuinely interested to hear how we were. In keeping with our plan to take full advantage of the discount, I think we all ordered as much as we could. Harley and I had salad bowls; everyone except Kieran, who had beer, had refill drinks; we shared chips and cheesy garlic bread; Kieran had a stuffed crust spicy meat feast pizza with chicken wings; Josh had a pepperoni stuffed crust pizza; Harley had macaroni cheese, chicken bites and a chocolate cookie dough; I went for a Hawaiian pizza with added mushrooms and a white chocolate salted caramel cookie dough. Safe to say we were all absolutely stuffed and the bill exceeded Josh’s £50 gift. If we hadn’t had Kieran’s meerkat deal it would have been double. I’d like to say we would have been less greedy if we hadn’t had both of these but I’m not sure.
Feeling very full, we headed for the bus stop. Wehn our bus came, we said goodbye to Josh, who’d let it slip that he was coming to my birthday meal on Sunday. As we got on and I tried to pay, I struggled to find the contactless pad to first use my buspass and then my bank card. Not only did the driver not try to help me, she then let another woman boarding the bus after us barge past and pay while I was still floundering. We were stood in a line of three — Harley then me then Kieran — so the other passenger had to push passed all of us to get by. It was really disrespectful of the driver and rude of the other woman. Harley was absolutely seething about it and we discussed it for quite a while after we arrived home.
After Harley returned home from their morning lesson at college on Friday, the three of us went on the bus into Woolston. I wanted to get a few bits and pieces for the house and we were going to Nan and Grandad’s later for dinner. I suggested to Harley and Kieran that we go to Woolston a bit earlier than planned and I’d treat them to a Subway. It was a gorgeous hot day and just right for a Subway; plus, it’d been ages since I’d had one. Everyone agreed. Once in Woolston, we went into Lidl first and got the bits we needed. Then, we headed for Subway. Kieran had a hearty Italian meatball marinara with jalapeños, a chocolate chip cookie and a Mountain Dew; Harley had a hearty Italian with chicken, ham, crispy onions and sweet onion sauce, a chocolate chip cookie and pepsi; i had nachos with meatballs, a peach iced tea and a lemon cookie, which was new; I got a portion of hash browns and potato wedges for us to share. The food was lovely. While we’d been ordering our food, my phone had rang but I’d ignored it. I realised I had a voicemail and found it was from the recruitment team at Greggs, offering me an interview for the role I’d applied for a week or so earlier. No, the role isn’t serving customers in the bakeries, obviously. It’s working in their head office answering complaints and queries via telephone, email, web chat and social media. When I’d applied, it had actually been one of the few I hoped I’d get an interview for. Unusually, it didn’t ask for experience I don’t have and I thought I’d actually be able to complete all the necessary tasks. I decided not to phone them back in Subway but told Harley and Kieran what the call was for. They were both pleased but Harley’s response is the reason for this post’s title. In their attempt to congratulate me on getting an interview and refering to previous interviews I’ve been unsuccessful in, they said: “Well you’ll definitely get this one, Greggs take anyone”. As soon as they realised what they’d said, we all laughed about it. Obviously, they didn’t mean it how it sounded and were just trying to be positive for me. But as phrases for possible blog titles go, it’s a pretty good one.
Once we’d finished our food, we caught the bus up to Nan and Grandad’s where they were just arriving back with Auntie Clare from Grandad’s hair cut and Nan’s 4th covid vaccination. While Kieran sat out in the lovely sunny garden chatting to everyone, Harley and I popped round to the nearby convenience shop so I could buy the items Lidl hadn’t had that we needed. Then, we all sat out in the garden enjoying the sunny weather. A little while later, Dad arrived from work and Auntie Clare was persuaded to stay for dinner too. We all had curry with naan bread. As requested, Nan had made her amazing apple crumble for pudding. I’d joked that I wouldn’t come for dinner when I visited if she didn’t make it. It didn’t disappoint. In fact, I think I could have eaten the whole lot had she let me. We spent the rest of the evening at home watching Gogglebox.
We spent Saturday with Dad and Michelle in town. We went into West Quay where Dad, Michelle and Kieran got Costa. Meanwhile, Harley and I went to see the Eastleigh Guide Dogs fundraising group who were set up trying to attract donations. David, who I’ve met several times before, had messaged the night before to say they’d be there if I wanted to pop by and say hello. It was lovely to see him again and make a big fuss of Winston, his curly coat retriever withdrawn guide dog who helps catch people’s attention. Afterwards, we all went to Apple as one of Kieran’s airpods wasn’t working properly. As there was going to be quite a wait, Harley and I headed off to do some of the shopping: Lush, Primark, Savers two crystal shops and Shoe Zone. While we were doing that, the other three went to Asda and then Hinds jeweller’s where Kieran was able to get his engagement ring reshaped. It hadn’t been round for quite some time. We all met up and went to Poppins, Dad’s favourite place, for lunch. Dad had his usual brunch with beans, Michelle had a salad and Kieran, Harley and I made up our own breakfasts. After, Dad and Kieran went to HMV while Michelle, Harley and I went to Pound Land. While Harley and I were in Card Factory, Michelle bought Dad a vape. Before I’d moved away, he’d decided to quit smoking and had been doing quite well for a while. In a bid to save him money and stop him smoking actual cigarettes, Michelle decided he should try a vape. It was certainly a funny novelty that afternoon, especially because he was calling it his “puff puff”, but he seems to have stuck with it since, maybe because of the cola, caramel latte and cappuccino liquids he chose for it or maybe because it’s saving him money. Either way, it’s better for him than the amount of cigarettes he was smoking each day.
Dad dropped us home and Harley spent the rest of the afternoon tidying their room while Kieran and I listened to music and I sorted out my shopping. At around 5 o’clock, while Kieran was out in the garden playing with Suggs, the Disney boat’s horn went off. I’d first heard it a couple of years ago when it had first come to Southampton. I looked forward to hearing it from my room whenever it was in because it could always make you smile. It had been around a few days before I’d left and I remember thinking that I’d miss it’s little tune. Mum and I used to call to each other from whichever room we were in that we could hear it. It made me smile to hear it again and I’ve since found a video of it someone has posted on YouTube.
At around 6:45, Dad and Michelle picked us up and we all went to Nan and Grandad’s so we could watch the Champion’s League final between Liverpool vs Real Madrid together. Nan did a little buffet of crisps and dip, cheesy savouries, marshmallows & maltesers, egg or ham sandwiches, chicken goujons, duck spring rolls, Greggs sausage rolls and breaded cheesy bites. The food was lovely and it was nice for us all to spend the evening together. Unfortunately, the football wasn’t so good; kickoff was delayed by half an hour because of problems outside the ground when fans were trying to get in and it wasn’t being handled very well. Liverpool lost 1-0.
As Mum wasn’t there to uphold our usual traditions of everyone gets up at a sensible time on their birthday, on Sunday morning we got up around 10. Kieran went downstairs and put the Stevie Wonder birthday song on the CD player, so that tradition continued. Once we were all showered, we FaceTimed Mum so that I could open her presents. I was as always very spoilt by her and Harley. I also opened the other cards there for me, including those from Kieran’s family we’d bought down with us, and found that I had a Costa voucher in my email InBox from Jenny.
At 1:15, Dad and Michelle arrived to take us out for my sort of surprise birthday meal. It had meant to be a complete surprise — all I was supposed to know was that I was seeing everyone on my birthday — but Dad had let slip that we were all going for a meal. Luckily, he hadn’t told me where we were going and nobody else had either. It was The Hut, our nearby Beefeater, which I’d enjoyed going to many times before. There to meet us were Josh, Nan, Grandad, Auntie Clare and Uncle Dave. Once we’d sat down, I opened more gifts from everyone else and was again very spoilt. Unfortunately, the service and quality of The Hut wasn’t at the standard we’d been expecting. There were quite a few things missing from the menu, which meant people had to find alternatives to what they’d actually fancied, and some of the meals weren’t particularly enjoyable. The service itself was also very slow. Kieran had calamari as a starter, the chicken melt for his main and a sticky toffee pudding; I had potato dippers, the chicken melt and a peanut butter and banana sundae; Harley had potato dippers, lasagne and a mini sundae; Josh had lasagne and a triple chocolate brownie; Dad had potato dippers and the chicken melt; Michelle had a prawn cocktail and lasagne; Uncle Dave had chicken goujons and a mixed grill; Auntie Clare had a prawn cocktail and a lasagne; Nan had roast lamb; Grandad had a prawn cocktail and a small steak & mash. Originally, Grandad had wanted roast chicken, Kieran chose fish & chips and chicken wings and Nan ordered steak & ale pie but these were all unavailable. Kieran, Dad and I agreed there wasn’t enough of the toppings and sauce on our chicken melts; Harley and Michelle said there lasagne was watery. So overall, a pretty disappointing meal. Despite that, it was lovely to be with everyone. Auntie Clare had also brought a birthday cake, a slice of which I somehow managed to squeeze in. The worst part of it all, of course, was saying goodbye to everyone. As we left the restaurant, I had to say goodbye to Nan, Grandad, Auntie Clare and Uncle Dave, who I wouldn’t be seeing any more while I was down. Then, when he dropped us home, I had to say a big goodbye to Dad as I wouldn’t see him again until next time. As time passes, I hope the goodbyes will get easier.
I spent the rest of my birthday watching The Chase and Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, which was obviously a very good ending to the day in my opinion.
For breakfast the following morning, Harley showed me how to use my new bagel slicer, a requested birthday present from Mum as I’d been struggling to cut in half the bagels I’d bought at home. Turns out it is of course simple. While I ate my first self-sliced bagel, Kieran had a crumpet. Harley and I spent the day tidying and cleaning so that the house was presentable ready for Mum coming home in the early hours of the morning. Once everything was done, the three of us headed into town on the bus as Kieran had promised to buy Harley dinner at Ed’s, somewhere they love going. On the way, I had a quick look in Schuh to see if I could find any nice Converses to buy with Mum’s birthday voucher, but didn’t get any. At Ed’s, Kieran had hot wings, a Coney Island hot dog, chips and beer; Harley had chicken tenders, cheese & bacon loaded fries and a banana milkshake; I had chicken tenders, halloumi fries, waffle fries and the Go Bananas (peanut butter, banana and caramel sauce) milkshake. We enjoyed our meals, and the milkshakes were of course faultless, but Harley and I agreed that the chicken tenders weren’t as nice as they used to be. Also, we’d had to complain about Harley’s loaded fries as they’d arrived stone cold. As we were sitting there, we discovered they’d ran out of gravy, gherkins and nachos and by the time we left there was a 30 minute wait for a table because the chef had gone home ill.
On the way back to the bus stop to go home, we stopped at Costa so I could use Jenny’s birthday gift voucher and also take advantage of the free cake because it was my birthday Costa Club offer. Unfortunately, when I tried to pay, the till wouldn’t accept either voucher, meaning I paid in full for the lot. To add to my annoyance, my white hot chocolate with coconut milk seemed to be missing the chocolate part and was just hot coconut milk. Thankfully, Kieran enjoyed his iced Frappuccino and Harley their berry cooler. I’d also bought Kieran and I biscoff rocky roads, which we enjoyed later.
That evening, when she arrived at the airport, Mum phoned Harley to say her flight had been delayed. We’d all been a bit nervous this would happen given all the delays and cancellations on flights over the last few days. Mum promised to keep us up-to-date and Kieran kept an eye on the departure board online. Once they’d finally departed, Kieran checked their plane every now and then on his flight tracker app. We watched Hebburn for the rest of the evening and every now and then Kieran would freak me out with a little fact about Mum’s flight, like how many thousand feet they were flying at.
Eventually, Mum got home around 5am on Tuesday morning. I’d somehow fell asleep despite worrying about the flight and woke to the sound of car doors outside the house. On her way up to bed, Mum came in and had a little chat with us; she sounded absolutely knackered. That morning, Kieran and I stayed in bed until 10 and even then I tried to be quiet, not wanting to wake them. But Mum was already awake and got up just as we did. Mum made us cups of tea and toasted me another bagel, obviously not needing to use my bagel slicer but using a knife like any other normal person. The majority of that day was spent sitting in the front room listening to Mum, and Simon when he joined us, tell us all about their holiday. They’d bought us little souvenir gifts home, including a fridge magnet for our flat. That evening, Kieran ordered a Chinese takeaway for dinner for everyone. I ordered chicken with cashew nuts & crunchy veg and special fried rice; Mum chose mushroom chow mein and smoked shredded chicken; Simon asked for king prawns in peking fruity sauce and Thai special fried rice; Harley chicken balls with sweet & sour sauce, chips and curry sauce; Kieran had a house special curry with chips. With the place we used, you can request free dishes with certain prices when you’ve spent over different set amounts. Mum said, using her last order as reference, that the platter of mixed sides we were going to order — including prawn on toast, spring rolls and seaweed — had come free. We also asked for free prawn crackers as they’re free over a very low spend. When the meal arrived, we hadn’t been given our platter so assume the offer has changed. However, the meal was lovely regardless. We shared some of it; for example, I had some of Harley’s sweet & sour sauce and chips and they had some of Mum’s shredded chicken. Usually, whenever we used to order there was always dishes everyone wanted some of so it just made sense to share things if more than one person wanted it, rather than buying far too much. For the first time in a long time, when everyone had finished, after a couple of us had second helpings, there was hardly any food left over. Mostly, there’s always some stored in the fridge for someone’s lunch the following day. Everyone thanked Kieran lots because it had been a lovely meal and nice of him to offer to pay. I think Mum was especially grateful; she was starting to feel the tiredness of the night before catching up on her and seemed relieved she didn’t have to cook. That evening, we watched Jools Holland, DIY SOS, Gavin & Stacey and Naked Attraction. Introducing Mum and Simon to the audio description on Naked Attraction was very amusing. When Kieran and I went up to bed, we watched some Friday Night Dinner outtakes on YouTube.
Wednesday meant the last full day of our visit. On Thursday morning, we were catching the train at just after 10 so wouldn’t have any time to do anything. Mum and Simon took Suggs to his grooming appointment while we got up and sorted ourselves out. When they got back, they said they were going into town to get some bits done so I decided to go with them. Both Harley and Kieran said they didn’t want to come. We went to the bank, Pound Land, Primark, Wilco and McDonalds. The last place was because we were feeling hungry. Kieran hasn’t yet let it go, feeling he was cheated out of lunch. As I’ve pointed out, we couldn’t exactly bring them McDonalds home. From town, it would be freezing by the time we got it there. I had a double cheese burger, chips and a mango smoothie. When we got back and I told Kieran what we’d done, he assumed Harley would agree with his outrage. Disappointingly for him, Harley wasn’t that bothered.
Later on, Kieran cheered up quite a bit as we headed for the Harvester in Whiteley. He’d been browsing the menu for the last few days trying to decide what to have. In the end, he had jalapeño poppers for a starter and the dirty bird burger — a beef burger with a hash brown, bacon onion rings, lettuce gherkins and bbq sauce in it — for his main. I had a salad bowl from the unlimited salad bar, potato skins and the belly pork which came with mash and green beans. I changed my beans to peas. Mum had a salad bowl and chargrilled chicken skewers with bourbon sauce, chips and flatbread. Simon also had the belly pork but kept his greeen beans. The food was absolutely delicious! It’s the first time I’ve been completely impressed by a Harvester meal in quite a while. The fact that everyone else thoroughly enjoyed theirs proved my point. If I was choosing somewhere to go for a meal, I’d definitely go back there again soon as the service was great too, despite the fact that they were fully booked.
When we arrived back, we put Gavin & Stacey on Gold again but discovered they’d skipped to a completely diffferent part of the story from where we’d watched the previous night. So, as Mum has never watched it before, we decided to start watching from the beginning. I’m hoping she’s continued to watch.
The following morning, we got up early to make sure we had enough time to get ready and go to the train station. Originally, we were going to catch the bus straight there but then Mum said they’d give us a lift and squeeze in a McDonalds breakfast too. Obviously none of us were going to turn that down. The breakfast was lovely, especially the hash brown as always, and I was glad we were able to get a proper breakfast before the long trip ahead. But that’s a separate story… Mum and Simon drove us from McDonalds to the train station where of course Josh was waiting, as we were a few minutes later than our scheduled time. But there wasn’t a problem, we still had plenty of time to catch our train. Saying goodbye to Mum was hard. It didn’t feel like we’d had long together at all. But she’d had a great holiday and I was so glad; after the 18 months or so she’s been through she deserves it. Of course I wish we could have spent more time together. But hopefully next time we will. Giving her a big hug goodbye and walking away with Josh and Harley towards our awesome weekend ahead, I was so grateful to have come down for a visit, so glad I’d had such a great time and seen as many people as much as I could. It won’t be long, Southampton, and I’ll be back visiting again.
A5Ramblings 