A Hectic Couple of Weeks

Hmm. Two weeks and five days since my last post. Sorry. I'm slipping. But it has been pretty hectic. I had to get all my July work finished and invoiced early and  get ahead with the early August stuff. And then I had two  happy but hectic weeks off. The first one was spent at Clover Cottage in Galmpton (which I highly recommend as a self catering option for that part of the world), a pretty village sandwiched between glorious Torbay beaches and the banks of the River Dart. I'll post more about that later.

While there I took a call from my friend from New York, whom I haven't seen for a few years. She was coming over for a flying visit to London and wanted to arrange to meet on Monday after I got back. She invited me to lunch at Galvin at Windows, which is the restaurant on the 28th floor of the Hilton in Park Lane, normally way out of my league.

So I was on the 9 am train and managed to get there before her and sit in the bar contemplating the incredible 360% views and looking forward to the complimentary bellini (reminder of my Venice trip). My friend looked well, and it was so good to see her. We thoroughly enjoyed our  catch up over a lingering meal with waiters hovering to fulfil our every wish. getting home was rather tedious. I missed the through train and had to change at four different stations. It was worth it though.

I was busy with domestic stuff the rest of the week and on Friday family arrived - my daughter with hers and her dog. My son will turn 50 tomorrow and his partner had organised a surprise party for him on Saturday night in a private room in a Bournemouth bar. I took my granddaughter over there by train and we got a lift back at 11 pm while the ravers continued partying till about 2.30. I think my boy had a ball, and his girlfriend did really well to organise it all in secret.

We also did some great dog walks over the weekend and Jade got much more active than usual running around with her pal, Rafi. They get on quite well now he's a bit older and doesn't hassle her to play indoors. We just have to keep them apart at feeding time. Jade is very jealous of her food.