The Muppet becomes a wife
One of the reasons for my trip back was that my good friend from Uni was getting married. Apart from the day I had landed the weather had been extremely pleasant, for England. The morning of the big day and it was raining! But apparently that is good luck and even better luck was that by the time the church service was due to start the sun had been out for about an hour and deemed it the right thing to do to stay out for rest of the day. It was a beautiful day and I got to see some friends I don’t get to see very often. It was like it had only been 5 minutes since we last spoke and with all the travelling around I have done and the people I have met, this is truly the measurement of good lifelong friends.
The wedding was fantastic and carried on quite late into the night, as they do. It was great that the bride and groom stayed at The Kings Head as well, as got some extra time with them too. The following day we had a chance to recap as there was a lunch and its always good fun recounting the devastation of the night before.
With a slightly heavy head, both from the night before and also saying bye to my friends, I hopped in the car and headed south to Lymington. Friends from Dubai are from there and happened to be over at the same time so I said I would pop in. Lymington is a lovely part of England and accessed by 1 main road that takes you through the new forest so traffic can be a slight issue. But what a lovely little town once you get there. The weather was perfect and I met them all at a local pub in the beer garden. It wasnt until I sat with them and discussed where I was going next that I realised I was effectively on the south coast and heading to Birmingham, on a heavy head. Sense prevailed and a chilled out afternoon in their back garden and a night on the sofa set me in good stead to get up to birmingham in good time to drop off the car. Or so I thought. Traffic going through Lyndhurst had other ideas. Once through there and with my foot down I got the car back in time and have to commend Dave at Budgets Birmingham airport branch. He saved me a whole load of fuel costs and I got the upgraded car for no extra cost. Budget rules – great example of super customer service!
My best friend Ralph was on hand to pick me up and we headed back to his place which is an amazing place close to the Chase in Cannock. It’s such a quiet peaceful oasis which was going to be home for a few days. It was really great to have a little bit of routine for the days leading up to the next weekend. I hi-jacked the office in the house and worked whilst looking out over trees, grass and deer! With 2 kids under 5 it was also amazing to see my best friend since age 11, in his role as partner, employer and Dad. I got a tiny glimpse at just how hectic life becomes with kids. Absolutely amazing and tiring!!!