European Road Trip - Tributes

When Mike and I were invited to Tuscany, Italy, to attend my good friends Kirsty and Toms wedding, we were incredibly excited! A lifelong dream of mine was to go to Rome. Since the historical city was a mere 3 hours away from the wedding venue, we booked up three days in Rome with plans to hire a car to get to Tuscany. Only after we'd booked flights and hotels did we find out that because Mike hadn't been driving a year yet, no one would hire a car to us - doh!

I made a joke about driving the whole way, which seemed completely ridiculous but then we thought, why the hell not!? It would be a nice holiday, time spent alone with each other after a very difficult and testing year and I could tick a few items of my bucket list*!

(*Note: I'm not dying, a few worried people asked if I was ill, after I posted photos called Bucket List. I'm just very aware that my body is deteriorating a lot quicker than others my age, I'm on the top dose of my current pain killers and the next step up is depending on morphine, so I'm getting the bucket list done now!)

After packing my entire summer wardrobe, European car kits, enough sun cream to sink a ship, our trusty sat nav Sabrina (yes, we name inanimate objects) and a cooler box of water, we set off in Optimus Primera (our 16 year old Nissan Primera car).

We headed to Folkstone to catch the Euro Tunnel to Calais. By the way, if you're disabled, you must let the Euro Tunnel staff know as your car has to be put on first for fire safety reasons, but this also means you beat the long queues - bonus!

After chanting the following to himself "Drive on the right, drive to the right on the side of the road on the wrong side of the car!!" Mike took to the road in Calais, staying to the correct side of the road and even when faced with Italian drivers later on, he did a brilliant job, getting us to every destination without a hitch!

As I've mentioned in my blogs before Mike and I are Geneology geeks. We took the road trip as a chance to pay respects to fallen relatives, who had died in the First World War. We went to Wancourt, in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France to visit the British Cemetery, there we visited my Great Uncle Stanley Starling Hudson, who was my Great Grandmothers older brother. Stanley had died aged 21 in 1917. I picked and left poppies on his grave and signed the guestbook.

Stanley Starling Hudson
(My Great Uncle)

Then we headed to the Thiepval Memorial of the Missing, an iconic monument to Historians, Geneologists and families all over the world. It was a stunning location, peaceful and calm and weirdly, no birds were heard at any of the sites we visited.

Lastly we headed to Dernancourt Communal Cemetery in the Region of Picardy.  We visited Mike's first cousin three times removed, Charles Garrick, who also died in 1917 aged a heartbreaking 19 years old. Mike laid his poppies and we headed to Dijon.

Charles Garrick
(Mikes cousin, 3x removed)

Now, I must mention that Mike had been in California for several weeks, up until two days before our trip. We got to our lovely hotel the Kyriad Prestige, in Dijon only for us *both to pretty much pass out at 7pm, forgoing dinner and we didn't wake until 7am on Sunday! (*I was not jet lagged but I can sleep anywhere, any time - I had Narcolepsy for years so I've had extensive sleep training!) I had a feeling that there would be a lot of early nights and very early mornings - sleep would become a luxury!

L x

We are still Great, Britain!

Well, today is Election day in the UK, it will be the closed poll results since World War 2. I personally have had a real struggle choosing who to vote for, I happen to agree with policies from most of the parties, but on the same hand disagree with them all too. 

I think we'll have another coalition government, but I've sent in my postal vote regardless and hope that whatever happens, it will be positive for our little island.

There has been so much press coverage surrounding the election, much of it had been negative and at points, hopeless. So I wanted to inject some positivity into the day and list a few great things about the UK - what we've achieved and offer to the rest of the world.

Our Queens rock!
In September of 2015 our Queen Elizabeth II will be Englands longest reigning monarch, serving 63 years and counting - Go Ma'am! Elizabeth's Great Great Grandmother Queen Victoria will take second place.

QueenElizabeth I will also made the 9th longest reigning Queen after 44 years on the throne between the three they have conquering the world, creating Empires, forging trading relationships with the rest of the world and all with decorum and dignity - girl power!

Kick ass Queens

We've changed the world with our inventions and theories!
Scotsman John Logie Baird invented the Television. In 2014 it was discovered that 96% of the UK and 96.7% of the American populations have TV sets  - you are welcome America!

Lincolnshire born Sir Isaac Newton developed the three laws of motion which form the basic principles of modern physics and of course famously developed theories on Gravity with the help of a good old English Garden apple, falling from a tree. 

Without Tim Berners-Lee, you wouldn't even be reading this, the London born Computer Scientist invented the World Wide Web and over 3 billion of us are connected online - you are very welcome World!

Our arts and acts have coloured the world!
Who could imagine a world without Harry Potter, Jane Austen and Mr Darcy, MontyPython, the Beatles, Cary Grant, The Redgrave family, John Constable and TheSpice Girls? When you think that our tiny Kingdom is the 2x smaller than the State of Texas and yet we have bought the world a lot of great talent, literature, art and music. 

Cary Grant

We can only apologise for Ali G, the movie Honest and the Cheeky girls - we're not perfect!

We love our grub
Did you know champagne was invented in England, not France? We invented the Sandwich, named after the Earl of Sandwich.... you are welcome Subway! The world's first chocolate bar was made by Londoner Joseph Fry in the 1720's - thank God for Mr Fry! Colchester oysters were one of the main reasons for the Romans invading Britain in 43AD - greedy buggers and yes of course we love our tea - 163 million cups are enjoyed here every single day!

But strangely despite us loving and being famed for our fish & chips, Pork Pies, Stilton Cheese, Haggis, Irish Stews and Welsh Cakes our national food is Chicken Tikka Massala! To be fair though, I'd eat all of the above with national pride!

Chicken Tikka Masala

As my countrymen and woman vote in their millions today, many others will not, stating "What's the point?" Well, my point is, despite our difficulties, our downfalls and mistakes of those running the United Kingdom we have a lot to be proud of. The news is full of bad reports, depressing statistics and sad states of affair but everyone getting involved and trying to mend our broken society can only lead to good things. If none of us voted we'd be in an even worse place than we are now.

So next time you read a paper or settle down for the 6 o'clock news, remind yourself of the great things Great Britain has and will continue to produce and go vote!

L xxx

World Book Night Competition 2015

Once again, I’m lucky enough to be a World Book Night giver, it’s my 5^th year and I’m just as excited as I have been for the previous events!

My love of books started when I was 7. I’d had a real mental block when it came to reading... basically I couldn’t read at all until then, but one day it just clicked and I’ve had  nose in a book ever since.

I love getting lost in a fictional world, being nosy reading biographies and learning about the history of our world in factual texts.

I’ve recently had to give in and buy a tablet with the Amazon kindle app on it. We live in a one bedroom 525 sq ft flat but I have 9 shelves of books and 4 huge boxes of book in storage – we simply run out of space – sob! There is nothing like the smell of an actual book, I love the fresh smell of a brand new novel - woody and clean, and the second hand ones have a scent of must and history, I also love cracking the spines – so satisfying. I.just.love.books!

So every year, when World Book Night comes around, I’m given 18 copies of a chosen book to give out to whom or how I wish. A lot go to friends, but I take a few out to surprise strangers and every year I give away one on my blog!

This year I’ve been given Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen – I’ve not read it myself so I’m doubly excited this year!

The Prize!

Synopsis borrowed from the World Book Night website:

“When Jacob Jankowski, recently orphaned and suddenly adrift, jumps onto a passing train, he enters a world of freaks, grifters, and misfits. The Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth, a second-rate travelling circus struggling to survive during the Great Depression, makes one-night stands in town after endless town.

Jacob, a veterinary student who almost earned his degree, is put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. It is there that he meets Marlena, the beautiful young star of the equestrian act, who is married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. He also meets Rosie, an elephant who seems untrainable until he discovers a way to reach her.”

If you’d like a chance to win limited edition of the book, plus two bags of Sainsburys Eric the Elephant sweets (see what I did there!?!) use my Rafflecopter app below or go to my Facebook page!

Sweet treats!

Good Luck!

L x

a Rafflecopter giveaway

For more competitions go to UK competitions at ThePrizeFinder