Writing and Walking

OK - catering assignment all over and sorted now this week I am concentrating on writing and walking...

This morning I spent a lot of time between the pages of 'Take Two' whilst Tony did a bit of editing and proofing - what a great team we make. By lunchtime I had written over 2200 words, and am more than happy in the way in which the story is progressing. However, there is more to the story than I first though¡, so finishing before I go away could be a bit of a BIG ask. I shall be working away diligently towards that goal, but may have to leave the final few chapters until I return in July.

This afternoon I did a bit of reading in the sunshine, and a bit of Camino research. My flight is an early one - especially after Vueling changed the time (ie. made it even earlier) and I was wondering just how to get to the airport.  I checked the RENFE website for train times, having already found out that the night buses would not get me there on time, and found a train that will get me there in perfect time. It will all mean that I have to be up and out by four o'clock in the morning, but hey ho I'll just have to have a siesta in the hotel when I get there.

Oviedo here I come - well in just over a week...

Weekend Surprises...

Over the weekend we were missing in action from the blog site I'm afraid- well we had a secret mission in hand and were off and away.

After month's of planning with sister in law,Jane, and niece, Amy Tony and I were planning a surprise arrival at my brother, Andrew's birthday party. Andrew was 50 just a little while back, but they were in Barbados partying on the day, so we'd agreed to celebrate this last weekend. We'd had a few moments when we thought we'd given the game away, but fortunately not..... To see his face as he opened the door and saw us standing there- PRICELESS!!  He clearly had no idea!!

So we left here early Saturday morning, flew to Gatwick where we were picked up by Amy. We then did a little shopping, both for the birthday boy and some goodies to bring home. Then we stopped off in Henfield for a while - the village in which I grew up. We dropped into one of the local hostelries for a pint or two before heading out to Andrew and Jane's place. Amy dropped us off at the top of the road and then went off to the do. ten minutes or so later, as agreed, we knoked at the door. Andrew answered and had such a look on his face it was magic. Yup I almost cried!!

Well -The party went on into the later hours and of course I may have had one or two G&Ts too many but we had great time. The evening ended with Andrew and I duetting on Sing-star -a kind of karaoke game.

ON Sunday I cooked breakfast before we headed out to the George (another hostelry) in Henfield for lunch. Before going we called ahead to check there were veggie options, and the chef said he could make sure there was so we booked a table- I ordered the Sunday lunch option without meat and with veggie gravy as previously agreed with the chef on the phone- it confused the waitress slightly but I must say it was exceptional.  . It was the kind of Sunday lunch I would do myself- now believe me that is five star praise.

After that we had to head back to the airport for our flight home, which wasn't a wonderful experience  -thanks Easyjet, but hey ho one in fifty flights or so being a bit off kilter matters not much.

And as for the goodies we managed to haul home: (How many can you name?)

CAMINO or BUST...

Phew -that's that sorted then!!

A couple of days ago I got a strange text from the bank saying that if there was a problem with my Spanair flights I should contact them. I thought that it was a strange message but thought no more of it.

Today in one of my classes a couple of the students were talking about changing their Spanair flights to Ryanair- I thought no more about it!

This evening I got reply through one of the Camino forum sites about the Primitivo Camino Nick and I are doing in June, so went on the site and saw a different post about Spanair going bust. I immediately went to their website and found out that yup they'd gone down the tubes. Spanair is the airline company with whom I'd booked to fly to Oviedo in June, and then back from Santiago in July.

I flew into action, checked the back statements and fired an e-mail off to our friend and Bank Manager Toni to check about getting the money back, at least I'd paid by credit card. Next I checked to see who was taking over the flights and it appeared to be RyanAir or Vueling.  Not being a great RyanAir fan I went of to the Vueling site and rebooked my flight to Oviedo, only to get a hung page at the end of the process. So I called them to find out the booking had gone through- they sent me an e-mail directly- sorted. The same happened when I tried to book a return flight for Nick and I, so I called them again, but the booking hadn't gone through. They simply confirmed it over the phone and again sent me an e-mail.

So Mr Brennan fear not you are travelling with TITS and we have everything in hand.

And just for a bit of info here's the first stage of the Camino we'll be doing in June: