Steak at Julie and Alan's

Alan was more than happy to cook, he even shopped for the steaks from a local butcher he knows.

With Laura away it was, Sarah and Sha, Julie and Alan, Mum and dad and us 5, so quite a noisey little gathering, sometimes it seems like we have never been away and that we had just popped over for a regular Friday night family dinner, funny that.

Alan is a great cook, steaks carefully prepared to everyones liking, carefully timed to perfection, Sarah had made a coleslaw, and salad plus some potatoes and just to top it off, Julie had copied a picture of a cake I'd sent her from Oxfrord, it had about 6 different chocolates on it, each in it's own section, carefully separated by chocolate fingers, yum. It was a big hit with everyone.

Lilly left just 3 mouthfulls, demolishing a rather large chunk of meat, she had to leave a llittle room for cake.

The walk back was nice, mom and dad had driven and they took the kids so it was just Debra and I for the chilly walk home, through streets I know well from childhood though to 19 years old when I left for Reading University, not a lot seems to have changed. A few more cars perhaps but other than that hauntingly familiar.

Stonehenge has changed over the years

So it's been quite a while  since either Debra or I have been to stonehenge and whilst the stones are unchanged everything around them from where you park to how far you walk to get to them has. Mom and dad remember when you could just wander through the stone circle but I always remember there being a little rope barrier. There is now a large visitors center, that then busses you close so it's just a short walk. The new path is actually quite close, they built it to protect what is still buried. It crosses past one side then let's you onto a grassy area a little further away but still easy photo distance and my there were a lot of photos taken and not just by me. Selfie sticks, people asking others to take photos of them, I think I took enough to piece together a full 360 movie.

Still the same mystery, still the same strangely imposing ring of stones, the exhibition does a good job of describing the other items around the site, it seems to have been an important areas for a long long time.

Our next port of call was Glastonbury, for some lunch and if we remembered rightly some rather hippy type people and shops.

Home in Penarth

So after a hectic few days in Oxford, punting in the rain (had to be done) we made it to Wales, time for some washing and sorting things out at mom and dads. Popped over the road to Cheryl and Si's to say hi and arranged a night out in the pub for next week.

I'll do a whole post on our journey down as we stopped of at Stonehenge and Glastonbury

Debra and I walked up Penarth, got some Euro's and stopped for a coffee, leaving the boys in bed and Lilly watching CBBC (Childrens BBC) knowing that mom was there to look after them if they needed anything, so freeing to finally be able to dump the kids with relatives :-)

Afternoon in Cardiff, seems a waste given that the sun has come out and it's got quite warm but it seems like the urge to shop is just too powerful. We got on a local bus into Cardiff and went into the St Davids center, huge multi part mall, I'm sure there use to be streets and separate buildings but it all seems merged into one. Even spotted a Starbucks, Nathan jumped on their wifi to post on snapchat.

Talking of wifi, Dad's has not seen this much traffic, ever. I'm suprised it's not crashed, Nathan huddles underneath the modem just to get the best signal, the room he is in only get's 1 bar if he is lucky, my pictures are still uploading, Ieft dad with instructions.

Trying to form a plan for tomorrow, there is a new white water raft and canoe center opened up, they pump the water round and round, you can even surf indoors, may be fun to watch the boys doing it.

Evening will be with Julie and Alan, pursuading Alan to cook us steaks, Nathan is already drooling at the thought.

It's lovely to be home, Penarth is actually quite a pretty town, brick and stone victorian buildings, old churches and very walkable, although there are lots of cars parked both sides of the roads making them very narrow.

Full day in Oxford

Wow, what a full day, left the B&B at 9:20 am and did not get back until about 9pm. Started right with a full cooked breakfast and plenty of tea.

Wandered into town, past the punts that we planned to have a go at later in the day, walked through Christ Church meadow, around the back of the college, through to the high street, watched the gardeners mow the already impossibly short grass, seemed to be in the middle of a marked out running track, guessing it was for cricket.

Then headed to M&S where we had planned to meet an old friend, Nathan after putting off his clothes buying from yesterday, found more and decided to buy, he ended up with a shirt, skinny jeans and some shoes so he is very happy. Then we went to a coffee shop that was in a converted church, sat outside until it started to rain.

Next up was a walking tour, Magnus showed us around multiple colleges, giving us history and great stories about each, entertaining young and old a like, he even fitted in a Welsh story associated with Jesus college, with it's little hidden dragon on the gate. I also liked the story about how C. S. Lewis saw the green man on the door panel (Aslan), gargoyles either side of the door (Mr. Tumnus) and the first thing they see through the wardrobe was the lamp post a few yards up the lane.

On the tour the dining halls were closed, inconsiderate students were having lunch so us poor tourists where inconvenienced. So after the tour, we went back and did a tour of Bailiol college dining hall, very Hogwarts.

After this we went to the covered market for lunch, plenty of choice and it was covered (raining lightly outside),  seems like most places now have wifi so the boys got on and messaged various friends. Feeling much refreshed we went back to the recently refurbished library, we had stopped there on our walking tour but were just told about the exhibit they had. We went into one of the galleries and saw the Guttenburg bible, 2 original Magna Carta's and a J.R.R. Tolkien book cover amongst many other famous original note books and other famous literary works but this was just a small sample from the Bodleian Library.

Back to the covered market for shakes and coffee and with plans for the evening we decided that punting would have to wait until tomorrow. Come 6 we headed to Exeter college Chapel for Evensong evening service. Amazing songs from the choir, readings and organ music, the boys managed to stay awake but only just, Lilly was a trooper, and was following along with the words in the leaflet they had given us.

Dinner in a pub then short walk back to the B&B, tidied cases ready to leave Oxford tomorrow for the wedding then onto Wales Sunday.

What a day.

(republished after proof reading by Debra)

UK trip part 1 - Oxford

Pretty smooth flight, little hopper plane to Vancover from Seattle (Thanks Lise for taking us to the airport), I was in row 12 and it was at the back of the airplane, that is how small it was.

Vancover airport was lovely but a hell of a long walk, perfect timing for our next flight, just enough time to shop and have a cup of tea, the plane was very new 777, entertainment system was very new, lots of movies so we were all happy, food was OK but not great and most of us got at least some sleep (Lilly did really well, stretched out, head on my lap, feet on Debra's.

We stopped for some lunch at the airport then got a car for our trip to Oxford, roads were busy, it's the M25 after all but not a complete standstill.

After checking into our B&B quick shower to shake of some of the journey we headed into town, a 10 minute walk along Abindgon road, narrow, lots of bicycles and many large buses, the boys were amazed that they could all exit together without major accidents happening every 2 minues. From the narrow pavement (sidewalk) you almost felt the bus brush past your  shoulder.

Went we got into the town proper, we started to point out all the colledge buildings and the old pubs to the boys and they started carbon dating, by eye, the building and at a rough guess they said they were from about the time of the dinosaurs.

Pubs as frequent as Startbucks are in Seattle and although I know they exist here, I did not spot a single one. Sam gave up on his plan to take photos of every pub after the 5th or 6th one that he came across in about the first 300 yards.

We popped into River Island, and the boys realised that they quite like British fashion, Nathan picked out an entire outfit, shoes, t-shirt, underwear and jeans, the price was not even that bad as some was in the sale but he could not face that this was the first shop and so what else would he find later, such trauma.

We help out until around 6 to have dinner, we went back to a pub we had passed earlier, "Head of the River" right on the banks of the Thames river, sat outside and had a pint and some food, chatting and watching punts and other boats go by as teh sun set for the evening.

Tired but happy we walked back to the B&B and all went to bet pretty early.

New photo created on June 06, 2015 at 11:08PM

New photo created on June 06, 2015 at 11:08PM http://ift.tt/1RUkFQ1

New photo created on June 06, 2015 at 11:07PM

New photo created on June 06, 2015 at 11:07PM http://ift.tt/1AVPMWY

New toy

So with fathers day approaching and I must have a birthday at some point this year Debra used her Barnes and Noble discount to get me a Samsung galaxy 10.1, Nook edition.

I've downloaded all my favourite apps, paired my bluetooth keyboard and I'm good to go, Lilly is excited to get my old nook tablet and I'm excited about the bigger screen and hopefully snappy performance.

Setup was a breeze, signing in with Google account sorts out most things although signing in now I have 2 factor authentication on many apps meant it was a little trickier but I just needed my phone on hand.

Must have apps?
Google blogger to write this
Google now for voice stuff and the cards
Flipboard
evernote
Google plus
the new google Photos
Inbox for gmail
facebook

I've got to download netfiz soon to watch some more White Collar :-)

First impressions are great screen and good snappy performance although the odd touched icon not responding is strange, almost like the first gen iPad I have. Hope that clears up.

I always thought that the smaller 7 inch screen was the best size but it just seems that larger screens are everywhere now and after getting screen envy from Debra's iPhone 6+ this 10.1 feels really nice.

ANyway, more to come as I try it out more.

Andrew