Southend Airshow

On Sunday we made our way to the Southend Airshow which is one of the biggest free airshows in Europe. The show was on Sunday and Monday which was a bank (public) holiday. Sunday was one of the warmest and consistently sunny days we have had in the Uk. Consequently we were unprepeared with our pale bristish skin and managed to burn our faces really badly, like embarrassed to go out in public bad. We are not happy but it is the first time in 2 years we have burnt at all.

We sat outside in the blinding sun and drank some refreshing beverages whilst watching a mix of old and modern aircraft.
We saw WWII P51 Mustangs and a B24 Liberator, there were a few different helicopters and then some older jets. The finale consisted of the Red Arrows which were fantastic and a Eurofighter Typhoon which is the top Bristish Fighter.
The pics are all a bit hazy as the day was so bright and a lot of the photos were taken looking into the sun.


Helicopter - Lynx


Corinne Burning herself in the blinding sun

Yellow Helicopter


Old Jet, looks like a toy

B24 Liberator medium bomber from WWII flanked by 2 P51 Mustangs



Corinne, surrounded by Eastern Europeans, buying important Ice cream supplies

Not something to be that proud of as we discovered at lunch time.

The Red Arrows

A photographic masterpiece, why? I managed to get a lamp post about 20 metres away in focus as well as Jets flying at 300km/hr in focus too.













Eurofighter Typhoon, a boring photo for a very cool loud, maneuverable aircraft.

Lincolnshire

A few weekends ago we drove up to see Emma and Danny in their Lincolnshire Home. On the way there we stopped in at Jimmy’s Farm which was having a market. We spent a fair bit of time in Leadenham and nearby villages soaking up the culture and beauty. We visited a few Pubs and also went into Lincoln. Lincoln is a cool city, at least the Old part is. There is a large hill in the centre of town crowned by the Huge Lincoln Cathedral and also some old Castle bits. The roads are steep and narrow and have some great shops, including a few good bookshops. We looked inside the massive cathedral and also visited the best preserved Roman arch in The UK (Newport arch).

It was very cold and windy but still a great day.









Rare breed sheep at Jimmy’s Farm



Sunny day in the Beer garden



A road sign that has been vandalised repeatedly



A pleasant walk to the next pub



Girls always want to go into phone booths



Our walk ahead of us, about 7 kms back to home



Another good looking sheep with impressive horns



Lincoln Cathedral in the background



The insides of the cathedral







The roman arch, not hugely exciting but impressive because of its age.

My Birthday

I am typing this blog with my beautifully wonderful new birthday present from my lovely fantastic husband- a small white samsung laptop!!!

It is tiny and cool and I love it. I can spend all day on the laptop now without Ben taking it back off me!

I also received some beautiful pink roses from Mum and Dad and a very cool subscription to an awesome interior design magazine from Denise, Adam and Mum and Dad.....all this and my birthday isn’t even until tomorrow.

Thank you all so much!

Shanny and Myles Arrive

Last Weekend Shannon and Myles came over for a visit after only being in the UK for a short while. We ate some great food, Cheese, Bread, and Drank some great Wine, Sake, Whiskey and Cider. We also drove down to Leigh-on-Sea and looked about and ate some disgusting shellfish.
Above we have some stilton, normandy camabert, Chevre, tellagio, and a few other rotters from the london burough markets, some smoked salmon, herb encrusted salami and caper berries.

A Nice red

Shanny and Corinne both looking cute

Myles going off listening to Lady Ga Ga’s Poker face

How many people fit in a cage

Not me thats for sure


The Thames Estuary at Leigh-on-Sea. A lot of mud really

Yacht in the mud

Looking out over the mud with a grand mal headache

Myles, the bravest man in the world trying a pickled Whelk, whilst hung over. They had the look of organising snot and the taste and texture of snot, milk, jelly and eels mixed together. They were not finished.

A gorgeous English beach

The Grand Designs Interior Homeshow

A couple of Weekends ago we made the decision to drive into the London Docklands and visit the Grand Designs (TV Show) Homeshow. Grand Designs is a show on TV that describes the processes that people go through to build extravagnat houses in the UK. It has everything from amazing new builds to Barn conversions and underground hobbit homes. The show was in the Excel arena and it was a great warm sunny day. The drive into London was fine with very little traffic even though the London marathon was on. The show was huge and had separate areas for kitchen, bathroom, outdoor, food, interior design, eco etc.
This was a beautiful very solidly built table. Very basic but beautiful and large enough for a good dinner party Bizzarre Eco domes for eccentric Poms There were a lot of Cooking shows on with famous cooks using expensive kitchens. The above cook was Malcolm John who owns 3 london restaurants with 1 at least of them having a Michelin Star. He prepared a whole French duck into a tasting of Duck using a snappy digital kitchen.
There were many really great Kitchen displays which impressed us most. It was a real idea for us that a kitchen isn’t made up of rectangular benches and draws, cupboards etc. There were many great ovens and benches, cupboards, fittings etc that made the kitchens looks fantastic and much more functional, lots of good ideas for the future Farm house.

Massive bed made out of massive wood and really really cool

The Waterfront at the London Docklands outside of the Excel Arena