Return to my Favourite city!!

Last Thursday I was lucky enough to be able to fly out to Amsterdam for a weekend ! I really love the City and it was lovely to go back! Its amazing just how much there is to see that I have never seen before! This time I found a street market, a cafe with a fantastic view all over the city and a part of the Red Light district  that we had passed by before. We also found that Dam Square had been turned into an International Beach Volleyball venue!

Amsterdam remains a friendly happy city with brilliant shops and restaurants,I can't believe that we had not visited Albert Cuypmarkt before. It is the biggest market in the Netherlands (allegedly!!) It took us a good few hours to walk the length of it. It was stuffed full of the usual market wares with the added bonus of several bars to help us recover from the non stop shopping along the way. 

We went back to a fabulous hotel called The Neighbours Magnolia. Its in the suburbs near the famous Vondelpark. Its on a tram line (The number 2, described as one of the most picturesque routes in the world) - I am not sure I would describe it in the same way! We arrived early (6am flight from Luton) and were made to feel very welcome, we dropped our bags and we were offered a cup of tea before we headed off to the market.

Our rooms were on the first floor up a flight of very steep stairs, we had the rooms over the front door and the one with the balcony, there was a bit of tram noise from outside but nothing that kept me awake, I was so tired on Thursday night that I didn't move all night!!! The people at the hotel were really lovely very helpful, lugged our bags up the stairs while we were out, every time we came in they offered us a cup of tea! The only curious thing was that in my room was a plain canvas with an outline of a magnolia bud in the corner, at night it glowed in the dark ! Very odd!!!

We wandered around the area outside the Rijksmuseum, every visit there is a different exhibition, the last time it was globes, this time it was Miffy in various disguises! Always off the wall!

One evening we decided to go and watch a beach Volleyball match between New Zealand and USA. One of the guys who was playing for the USA was one of the tallest chaps I have ever seen, he must have been 6ft 10 plus! The atmosphere was fantastic, Between each point they played loud music and wound up the crowd! It was a great evening.

So heading home was eventful, we were due to fly back to Luton on the 9.30 flight, we got to the airport early as the shuttle was unable to collect us at our 'preferred' time, so once we went in and checked the flight info we found that the flight was delayed until 11.30pm. We asked at the Easy Jet counter and they said that there were 'technical' issues with our plane and they were trying to repair the plane , which is always a worry! we asked if we could swap to another flight, we were lucky as there was a flight going to Stanstead at 9pm an we got the last two seats! We managed to get back to UK before our original flight was due to leave. The Luton flight finally got away at 12.30am. 

Although I was glad that we had swapped flights, in the back of my mind was the worry that may by it was one of those situations that you read about where one plane crashes and the headline reads 'last minute swap saves passengers lives' or conversely kills them!! Luckily we all got back safely!"

Back to work :( but worse than that, no prospect of any holiday until October. Its going to be a long summer. Have a good week!

A few days away.

Last week I headed off for Women's Conference in Southport. Now Southport is quite a nice place, its been regenerated, lots of nice modern shops and hotels, a lovely convention centre known locally as the Floral Ha;l. On the down side it was 220 miles away. The last time I went I travelled by train. The train trip was awful with three changes and lots of stairs to negotiate with a suitcase. This time when I looked at booking train seats there were engineering works on the line which would have meant three trains plus two replace service buses! No contest really. We arrived late afternoon at our guest house- The Adelphi. It was very nice and minutes from the conference centre. 

We felt like we had been sitting all day so we went out for a walk. The bridge is quite imposing, but by the time we got out the light was fading. We didn't get down to the beach that night as it was too dark. We met up with colleagues for dinner and pre conference preparation.

The following morning after breakfast we went down to the sea, only we couldn't see the sea at all!! The wet sand made it clear that there had been water fairly close to the promenade, It just wasn't anywhere near now!! The pier was standing high and dry  not a drop of water in sight!!

It was however very very windy and chilly so we had to settle for a selfie minus the sea! The Conference was interesting, not all that enjoyable but interesting. I think the idea of a women's conference is good, but the content leads so many people to use it as a Jeremy Kyle show. While I understand that people want to share their experiences I don't see how it helps move the conference business on? It slowed things so much that by the second day they had to reduce the speaking time in an effort to get everything heard.

There were a couple of interesting speakers, Yvette Cooper and Dave Prentis so on balance it was worth it to hear from them along with the networking with our national colleagues. 

Back in October my friend Wendy and I booked a surprise break for Beth's 18th birthday in November. Wendy booked for her daughter Hannah and we of course booked Beth's. Today was the day that they flew off together at silly o'clock from Luton!! Its a huge step and we are all sure they will be fine, but you can't help worrying!!We will collect them on Wednesday, Poor Wendy got the bum 4am deal!!! I have heard from her, they are in their hotel and they have had their first huge portion of Frittes and Sauce!!

Tomorrow will be a sad day, I will say good bye to a work colleague and neighbour who passed away after fighting cancer. It will be a sad day although his wife wants us to wear bright clothes to celebrate his life. RIP Dave, you were a character and a huge loss to all of us. 

Have a good week.

Happy Birthday Little Boy!!!

I can hardly believe its been 21 years since 'Little Ali' arrived on this earth!! Back then I was a stay at home Mum looking after Carl who was a toddler and Laura who was in infants. I was also a registered child minder and I was so pleased to be able to look after Alasdair from a very early age. He was (and still is) a lovely lad. Back in those days he was happy to play with Brio train set and millions of cars that he used to make into lines that snaked around the whole of the living room! He was such a happy chap and would follow Carl all over the place! Both Tom and I enjoyed looking after him. 

So here we are 21 years later celebrating his coming of age!! We went to Bills restaurant in town which was very nice. Its been a while since we saw Heather and Steve but the minute we meet up the time just melts away, we have been proactive and actually set up an evening together, a case of do it or before you know it another year will have passed!!

This week we finally had a little snow, I took this out of my bedroom window, in my head it looked really pretty but on closer inspection it looks more like Steptoes yard, broken fence, fallen over deck chairs, not very glamorous at all!! Next time we need a good fall of snow to cover all the imperfections!!

This morning I was very surprised to receive this package in the post. When we went away at Christmas I reviewed the hotel on Trip advisor, something I do with all the places I stay at, I really think you should give credit where it is due. It made me think about the airline as well. We had really good service from Virgin so I told them so!! This morning a package arrived with four bags containing these cute little Virgin Atlantic Air plane keyrings!! There was also a hand written note saying thank you for the review it was much appreciated. I was quite impressed that they took the time to send us something. 

I have been doing some crafty bits this week , mainly crochet of one sort or another. I have finally finished my pile of squares in bright clashing colours, I have been making them since August last year when I found the wool in a shop in Holland. It was the colour that attracted me and also the fantastic price of 99 cents for three balls of wool!

So now I have started the crocheting them together chore!! which is less than a chore than the 'finishing off the ends' chore which I have spent a few hours doing!!

My other crochet project is on a much larger scale, I am making some rugs out of recycled sheets for a project later in the year. The tearing up of the sheets fills the house with dust and I have to wear a mask to avoid breathing it in. On the plus side its a very fast craft, I can crochet a rug in an evening.

I have also found the perfect place to store the finished rugs, on my exercise machine, isn't that is what they are for??? 

So if anyone is getting rid of any sheets, pillow cases duvet covers, thin cotton curtains please send them my way doesn't matter if they are worn out or thread bare because they are all useful!!

Thank you.

We have half term coming up so Beth is looking forward to taking her surprise 18th Birthday long weekend. She is jetting away to my favourite city - The great Amsterdam. I am more than a little jealous because I don't have a planned visit there this year - yet!!! I am sure they will have a fantastic time!!

 Have a lovely week, don;t work too hard!! I am off to Southport at the end of the week  for some conference fun Whoop Whoop!!!

Millions of Tulips.

We left the ship at 10am and boarded our coach to Keukenhof. The coach driver was great took us there via some rural roads.Once in the country we were surrounded by fields and fields of brightly coloured flowers, Tulip and hyacinths mainly. Even from inside the coach you could smell the heady fragrance of the flowers!

The colours were outstanding every direction there were rows and rows of bright colours.

Once inside the gardens there was more formal planting, but it was still impressive looking at so many flowers in one place.

The entrance to the park was heaving with people and Beth said it felt like going into Disney. There was a fountain and a huge music organ playing, it definitely sounded like walking into a Disney Park. Once people started to move away from the main entrance the numbers thinned out and it didn't feel so crowded.

What was amazing was the number of people taking photographs. There must be millions and millions of photos of Tulips in existence simply from that one day. I took over 300 in the space of three days!! 

Everywhere I looked there were people with fantastic cameras promoting feelings of camera envy in my head. My camera felt very inferior in comparison, but in the end it didn't matter I stood my ground, I waited until  the back ground was clear and I snapped away!! 

The hyacinths were fabulous, the scent was on the breeze all day. 

Then onto the Tulips. We learnt that the tulips grow so well in the area because of the system of polders and canals. To reclaim the land canals were built to allow the land to drain. The land that is left is rich from the silt that had been at the bottom of the drained lakes. Because its not too far from the sea, there is a lot of sand blown in which mixes with the silt which results in the perfect mix for growing tulips!

So with so many tulips on display I became a bit confused about exactly which sort I liked. I have narrowed it down to 'pink' ones. That doesn't really help too much because there are many many shades of pink. 

Then the next problem is pink ones are lovely,

 but look how gorgeous they look when you add in yellows and reds!!! 

Then there are the special ones with frilly bits ....

And the most Delicious raspberry ripple ice cream shades.....

But I think I really love pretty pale pink. They are all beautiful!!

Trip to Amsterdam!!!!

We have just had a very pleasant few days travelling to Amsterdam to visit the bulb fields. I had been in two minds about booking the trip but I am so pleased that I did. It was a great trip and I restrained myself, only took 300 photos!!!

We drove up to Newcastle and arrived early in the pouring rain. The port of Tyne was right next to an 'outlet' centre and it was at this point in the rain that we realised that Beth didn't have a rain coat. Every time we visit Amsterdam it rains so we decided to buy her a coat before we set off, just to be on the safe side. 

Once we pulled into the port, Tom dropped us off and then parked the car. Beth was in her wheelchair as too much walking has an effect on her knee. We wanted her to be able to get around once we were on the ship. 

The staff at DFDS were very helpful and they helped us get through passport control and onto the ship. We were met by another man who took us up to our cabin. A brilliant service which continued all through the trip.

Leaving Newcastle we could see some of the old dock areas that were being demolished and regenerated. There were lots of these dock areas where they used to work on the ships.

A little further on there were some new buildings and the place was starting to look cared for again.

These made us laugh from the ship it looked as if there were bodies hanging over the rail. on closer look they were diving outfits!!!

Although we have been on quite a few cruises and sea trips we don't usually have a cabin with a window. (We are too cheap!!) this time we had no choice as all the inside cabins had gone. So this was the view from our window, one of the life boats!! We were on deck 11 so we had great views across the ocean.

On the first night we went to a presentation about the wild life in the area, although we didn't see any, there are  porpoises, dolphins and whales all around in the North Sea!!

We had a beautiful sunset that first night and the sea was very calm. We had a good night in the cabin and slept reasonably well considering it was a strange bed!

After breakfast the following morning we headed off to the bulb fields.