Brighton, Hove and Halloween

The only time after reading that I actually managed to drag myself away from maidenhead was a weekend in London/ Brighton with Rosie. The amount of times she has visited plus her current status as resident made her an excellent tour guide. Our meander to hyde park, and down to buckingham palace, through trafalgar square and down to the Thames was ace. Followed by a curry takeaway and some wine I slept well. The next morning at the crack of noon we descended on Brighton. I have been lucky with my weather, with far more sun than anyone spending a month in the uk deserves. But there, on the coast with the sun streaming through clouds I couldn't believe how lucky I was to be on this adventure. Quite literally living the life. We wandered between hove and Brighton along the beach, stopping to eat when the rain decided momentarily to dampen our spirits.
The only other threat to our bliss was a sign on a bookstore window saying that the next day Sir David Attenborough would be doing a book signing and we were JUST going to miss him. Wine and sun set on the beach that evening lead to a subdued dinner in a local pub. With Rosie resorting to tea I only managed a few pints before the shame of drinking alone took over.
The next day Rosie and the Saracens played the hove team. It was drizzly and cold and did not start well. Two tried down within the first 10 minutes would prove to be to large a lead to overcome. It was fun watching a game though, regardless of the outcome. An always good to support the Scottish! However, as if we didn't cover enough ground in 48 hours, we decided to rush back to Reading to catch Jon Richardson play the reading festival. Props to Rosie Lang who maintained excellent spirits, having just lost and I wouldn't let her eat because we didn't have time. I would like to publicly apologize to her- but when it comes to concave whiny boys, I can't really be helped. Such a fun show - need to make a point of seeing more stand up. I say that every time though. After a late Thai dinner we slumped throught the doors of 8 Lassel Ave and slept sooo soundly.

Rosie spent the day with us, playing with the twins and then - AND THEN, John hooked us up with a reservation for the best lunch I have ever had. We started with a duck pâté and I had a fish and chip that will end all fish and chips. The pub was called the Crown at Bray and is part of the group of restaurants Heston B has ( more accessible to the average backpacker than the fat duck). Rosie had a lovely fettuccini and just to solidify her position as the best eater on the planet - got a side order of mashed potatoes.

Legend

So I'm a bit behind the times eh?

England has mostly passed me in a dream. 2 weeks in maidenhead offered me the perfect sojourn into familiar bliss. The twins are heartbreakingly sweet, and Sadie is turning into an absolutely phenomenal young lady. She's tricky and super smart. Days were spent waking up and helping aside get ready for school( this mostly consisted of her crawling into bed with me and being late). Then the twins would play for a bit before going up for a nap. Then lunch, more playing, picking Sadie up from school, more playing, dinner and bed time. I am in awe of the amount of work Shannon gets done. She is a workhorse who maintains her sense of humour and calm- for the most part, when after Halloween it was discovered that Sadie had a hidden stockpile of candy in her room, Shannon had a hard time balancing her anger at the deceit against her pride that her child was so resourceful. On the first Saturday I spent a lovely night in reading with heather, Rosie and Steve, drinking and making cupcakes. I don't mind telling you that they were an unmitigated success considering the cupcake liners we had didn't fit the tin, we ran out of liners and were trying out a new recipe. But it was a lovely slice of Canada away from home.