Summer in the City

Wow! Summer has finally arrived. What a fabulous weekend it was here in Blighty, or at least in the parts of Blighty that hubby & I were in this weekend (namely at home on Saturday & in Bristol on Sunday.)

Saturday morning hubby took himself off to his allotment where he had hours of fun playing with fire and digging in the mud - what more could a boy want on a Saturday? Meanwhile, I took myself off to a craft fair at a local garden centre/farm shop where my friend Liz has a stall selling her wonderful handmade glass plates, coasters, window hangings and jewellery. What more could a girl want on a Saturday than to be in a place with ample opportunities to spend money? The farm shop is fab and is stocked full of yummy food, not to mention a variety of tasters of which I availed myself wholeheartedly. And the craft fair isn't bad either, suffice to say Liz's stall is definitely the best. One lady was selling handmade tea cosies and I was very tempted to buy one for hubby in the shape of a snowman, thus combining his love of a good cuppa with his love of Yuletide; however, I was somewhat shocked by the price (£20!), so hubby will have to make do with his old faithful Christmas Pudding shaped teapot for this year. Unless, of course, I can learn to knit by then...

Bright and early Sunday morning we made our way to Bristol (via a pitstop at Starbucks because I had an urge for a hot chocolate and a blueberry muffin) for a family get-together. My cousin and his wife have come to sunny England for a holiday and so 14 of us gathered at my parents' to greet them. We waited and we waited and we waited and then mum phoned my uncle in Bournemouth, with whom said cousin and wife had stayed the night before, only to discover that they had only left his house at 1pm and had decided to visit the standing stones at Avesbury on their way to Bristol. Uncle thought we should expect them at about 6pm. Needless to say we all decided that the buffet could wait no longer and so we dived in. We then spent the rest of the afternoon in the back garden, eating, drinking, nattering and enjoying the sun (except for hubby & father who snuck off to the pub to watch the football.) At 5.30pm dearest cousin phoned to say they were just leaving Avesbury and would be with us in about an hour; his parting comment was "but you guys carry on with your meal, don't wait for us". Dear cousin, you really don't know us at all, do you?! By 6pm we had all decided to depart for our respective homes and thus none of us got to see our long-lost relative (except that, along with the parents, hubby & I had seen him in June so it wasn't so bad after all.)