Weekend in Bournemouth 17th Dec to !9th Dec

On friday we travelled by train to Bournemouth .. the hotel we stayed at was close to the town and right on the shore...Bournemouth is a coastal town. Even though it was cold and windy Alan and I still went down and walked along the esplanade. Due to the cold weather the sand was frozen and rock hard to walk on.

This is a lift car to take you from the top to bottom for those that don't want to walk down to the beach in the summer

Beach cabins are rented out at very high prices

On friday night we met up with Wayne and Teresa (friends of Alan's) Alan had not been down to Bournemouth for 6 years it was great to meet and catch up with them. We ended up at a night club called the Walkabout...yes yes  it was aussie club they sold VB and Crownies. We eventually left the club at 3am and by this time it had started to snow outside Alan and I had a small walk to get back to our hotel I loved it the snow falling down and onto my face it tingled and felt fantastic.

After all the snow it rained and all the lovely white covering of snow melted away. It was beautiful while it lasted.
On Saturday night we were invited to a disco charity night it was fancy dress but Alan and I didn't have to dress up....phewwww.....the event was held for the Prospect group of hospices
http://www.prospect-hospice.net/
There was a raffle run and we won a bottle of Australian wine .... they raised £1000 what a good effort. It was a good night and we had fun I got to meet some of  Alans former work mates.

Shaun and Me

 Shaun dressed as an Aussie and brought along skippy It was good not to be the only aussie in the venue ...lol

On Sunday we went to Alans parents place for dinner....nearby was a house decorated with christmas lights with santa standing outside the garden of the house is open every night from 5pm o 9pm. When you enter into the backyard it is decorated with light up christmas decorations there is a small train that goes around for the children to ride. Entry is free but any donations are welcome and all money raised once again goes towards the prospect hospice, there was a small shop to buy any christmas goods you wanted and photo's with santa....last year they raised £4000. Unfortunately this is the last year they will be doing this.

For my Australian friends and family some pics of the houses here.

Bev joins Alan

Tuesday 30th November was Alan's last day in Melbourne, He packed up his belongings and we headed to the Airport, we got there at about 8pm we still had a couple of hours before check-in so it was some time to have some dinner. We got to the check-in line an hour before it opened and we were one of the first. We had checked-in online the night before and selected our seats for our flights so all we had to do was have our bags weighed. The flight was leaving at 1am to go to Singapore.

The day had been a very nice warm to hot. During the day we went to the place we had our champagne breakfast....on that day the lake was dry and full of weeds, now a month later due to our recent heavy rainfall it was now over flowing......

BEFORE 29/10/10

ONE MONTH AFTER 30/11/10

Up until now only a handful of people have known of the future plans Alan and I had made...for those of you that read this blog........within the first week of Alan's arrival he was offered a job...at first he thought it couldn't be true and that they were having fun with him but Mick and Shelley were very very serious and so Alan accepted the offer and then asked me to come back to England with him to meet his Mum and Dad.

DOUBLE DECKER BUS AT HEATHROW AIRPORT

SWINDON BUS DEPOT

TAXI AT SWINDON

We will return to Australia early next year and begin our lives together there. We had been watching the weather conditions here in England snow was expected. We were lucky we could land at Heathrow and we got our bus here to Swindon  Gatwick airport was closed for 2 days. There had been some snowfall in Swindon as we went to get some tea the night we arrived home I slipped a couple of times but nothing major.

That night as we slept it snowed and I woke to snow covered roads, paths, cars and houses what a spectacular site. It is cold but nothing can compare to seeing all this snow. The snowfall is unusual for this time of year.

I had woken at 4am, by 6am we were walking out the door to go do some much needed grocery shopping. alan took me to ASDA Walmart superstore.....SUPERSTORE is and understatement MEGA store is more apt. We spent 3 hours in there...this time was mainly taken up with me looking at all the products. Upon finally coming out it was snowing not heavily.

ME IN THE SNOW IT WAS SNOWING BUT IT WAS TOO LIGHT

Alan called a taxi and helped tied my hood up on my jacket, very very sweet even though he laughs about how cold it is and how I will freeze he still wants to see me as warm and comfortable as possible.
My nose has been constantly running with the cold and I have had some trouble with my asthma which will calm down in a few days or so.
Later in the day we went to Alan's parents place where he was welcomed with open arms Pat (mum) was also very welcoming towards me. We had a great talk in the short time we were there not enough time this time as Alan had another appointment but we will return on Sunday for Lunch/Dinner and we will share with them our photo's of our time in Australia.
While Alan was at his meeting I went into Marks and Spencers (department store like Myer and David Jones). While it has been cold I have been rugged up quite well, although I have felt the cold air on my legs so I invested in some tights. I am all set now for the months ahead. This will be my first white Christmas that I will remember. I was only 3years old the last Christmas I spent in England.  As we didn't have anyway of contacting each other while Alan was at his meeting we had pre-arranged to meet up after, Alan explained that there was a cafe in M&S at the back of the store....when I got to the back of the store I saw a Mall and Muffin Break.....I ordered a coffee and sat and waited for Alan which wasn't long,

Although it would have been sooner, when Alan went looking for me and couldn't find me in M&S and saw the mall he he knew that he might never find me PML.......he looked in all the stores and shoe shops (my favorite shops) after not finding me anywhere he was becoming worried and just happened to end up facing the right way to see me.
After enjoying our hot drinks we walked around the mall and Alan showed me the rest of Swindon. when we got off the bus to walk home we detoured to the pub....where i met some of the locals..some nice and some not so nice......Not use to walking everywhere my feet, ankles and legs became sore as soon as i stopped and sat down for that short while. On returning home I didn't last much longer before I was in bed it was a long long day when you start at 4am.

All good things must come to an end

And so here we are the last 15 hours and you will be gone......The last week was spent indoors mostly due to strong winds and pouring down rain with thunderstorms and flooding......
On friday we went back to the vic market where Alan bought an Akubra.....my aussie Alan.....I was spoilt with a lovely leather bag bought for me.....and more aussie souvenir's ......When we got to Sunbury to drive back to Lancefield we were in for a surprise the road we travel was flooded over in parts it was a slower journey than usual with the flooding came lightening while I was driving Alan videoed most of the drive home

Aussie Alan ... Akubra and VB

On Sunday we enjoyed the company of Carina and Steve for the day we had a nice lunch down at the local pub.

Yesterday we went back into Melbourne and back down to St. Kilda not the best day no rain but was windy....we went back to Abbey Road and enjoyed a few Ales and some very nice dinner then back down to the shore to watch our last sunset together.

Pork spare ribs with bbq sauce and potato skins

roof top of hairdresser salon opposite Abbey road

windy on St. Kilda beach

Today will be catching up with Matt and Caleb ( Caleb will be the BIG 3 tomorrow)......

Alan's overall comments on his stay here.......


Contrary to the non-aussies belief Australia is not hot all the time they do have 4 seasons and Melbourne can manage to have 4 seasons in one day. I haven't experienced alot of hot weather in my time here more rain if I was to look back over the month. It is spring and not summer and I have been told that February is the hottest month here.

The people are very friendly and made lots of new friends thanks to all the guys I met on my stay in Australia , and can't remember half the names of the people I did meet but a very big thank you to one and all...@:-(..

There is still so much more to do and see. Due to weather conditions there was somethings that we were unable to do. So I do hope to come back in the future to see more of this wonderful country and land.