7th August Ikea lunch

We got up too late to get to church before the service ended, so I listened to an Old Testament sermon Nick had given me when we were in New Zealand. I am on my third now after having listened to 2 on the plane coming over. They are overviews of the books of the OT and are quite informative. Anyway, we turned up as they were tidying up after the service so managed a bite of cake and then Linda and Pete invited us round for a quite cup of tea. It was good to catch up, Scott has got so tall!

We drove to Ikea afterwards just to look round. The car park was heaving so we parked near DFS and walked up. Lunch was meatballs, how could it be anything else? Maddy said she remembered the taste but not having eaten them before.

WE managed to get out without buying anything and then wandered round the rest of the retail park before heading off to a roast chicken dinner at Mum’s. Alison was there as well because she was taking Maddison away to stay with her for a couple of nights with big plans for theme parks and dvd’s.

6th August Lunch at the Golf Club

Mum likes to get the family together whenever we are in the country so she booked a table at Scaringwell Golf Club. We had drinks before in the bar and then went through to the dinning room. The menu was quite extensive but there was no roast beef and Yorkshire pudding much to Alison’s disappointment. 

me, mum and dad                                                           Ann

Steve and Lucy                                                     Phil, Alison and Ann

Jane, Mum, Al, Maddy                                        Dad, Phil, Ann and Geoff

Afterwards Steve and Lucy went back to Hull as Lucy had a wedding while the rest of us went back to Mum’s and then to Matalan (a clothes shop). Geoff did well with the shopping finding 2 new suits and some shirts, Maddy got bling and I found a skirt.

5th August Hull

By 10:20 we were in the car and ready to drive to Hull to see Steve’s gym. 

All very exciting – he is just waiting for the students to come back in September to get some extra teams to train.

We looked round then took Alison to lunch at Pizza Hut, she managed to get 25% off our drinks as she works for Pizza Hut in Leeds. Then we wandered round Hull Alison bought Maddy a very nice Handbag and a Nightmare before Christmas bag, Geoff bought model planes and I found some clothes!

I have now shopped in Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury’s – life is complete.

4th August We drive to Leeds

We spent last night at Ivy’s house and then went into Hatfield to pay our money into the banks, post the tax returns and other important post we needed to fill in last night. Then we went to ASDA, people do not realise how lucky they are to have these shops.

It rains in the Uk, so the plants in the garden were attractively wet.

It rained for the greater part of our journey North to Leeds. At some points visibility was very poor but we made it in the end. The Premier Inn is ok and Dad had soup and a sandwich ready for us when we finally arrived. It is light in the Uk until 8:30pm so we stayed and chatted about our holiday and life in general.

3rd August Travelling Again

We left early for the airport as we needed to drive past the Police Academy where Mubarak’s trial is being held, but there was no problems with the traffic so we got to hang around Cairo airport for 3 hours! Maddy had coke so got twitchy while we were waiting and needed to be walked round.

Lots of people at the airport were on pilgrimage and were dressed in white. Some of the men were dressed in two white bathroom towels and white sandals, while the women had on white robes and then a white or green headdress.

We landed on time (2110) and got to Geoff’s mum for 11 pm, she and Bob had waited up for us so we opened all the Amazon packages waiting for us and all the models. We now have some dvd’s to watch when we get back to Cairo (Psych, Chuck, NCIS and Criminal Minds).

2nd August Stayed In

This was the day we stayed at home and did the usual. About 2:30 pm Geoff went across to the shop to buy biscuits and Pringles but apart from that, and 2 loads of washing, we are in waiting mode. It is 38 outside and 26 in the flat with the air con all the time, so not a good day for a long walk.

Tomorrow, I expect, will be quite busy before we go.

Pictures from 9th July in Caroline Bay

1st August Tax and Banks

A very successful day. It is still too hot to sleep at night for very long without the air con on so we were awake before 8 am this morning. I spent the morning ‘doing’ our tax returns for 2010-2011 ready to post when we get back to the UK. Job Done! Then we tried for the bank again. Ramadan started today so we weren’t too sure what time they would be open. We arrived at 1pm to find they shut at 1:30 pm for Ramadan, so just on time. The bank works on collecting a ticket with a number on then waiting until your number appears at the counter, which stops the Egyptians pushing in, we got ticket 120 today and the counter was up to 112 already so we didn’t have to wait too long before a member of staff dealt with us. There was no money available upstairs so they had to send downstairs to the vault for our cash while we waited. Eventually it arrived and we wended our way home to follow the usual Garnett past times – computer games, watching tv and sewing, for the rest of the day.

 

Pictures from 25th July