What happened to March?

Mont Miravidi : above Bourg-Saint-Maurice, Savoie, France

1 March 2018
Yangon - Dubai - Gatwick
+36degC to -5degC and The Beast From The East.
What a week to return from galavanting around Sout East Asia!

March has disappeared in a flash, travelling around southern England visiting friends and family.

Whistable
Thank you again The Howells :)
Great to see Ben & Annie for the w/e - and Annie’s parent teacher meetings!

Suffolk
Quick trip to see Mum & Dad, and collect the Ford from Cally to get it serviced ready for family ski trip.

Fulham 
Lovely to see the Schoons, and they even let us have a supper party in their house to catch up with a bunch of friends whilst they were at the theatre!        

Les Gets, France
I snuck off for three days of ski fun with a gang from Imagination. Great snow, good food and a few beers....

L-R: Steve, Edd, Ross, CSB, James & Pat

Long wait at Geneva airport on the way back so I popped into the Geneva Autoshow: what a shock after almost six months away from the world of corporate events & exhibitions. A perfect reminder  to stick with the Gap Year plan.

Geneva Autoshow on a public day: see the hordes!

Canterbury
Annie’s birthday dinner and of course Mothers’ Day!

Fletching
We stayed in Ebelle’s smart new home in the very pretty East Sussex village, and had a delightful lunch with Honor, Mark & Stuart, and then a long walk in Ashdown Forest.

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Suffolk
Back to see Mum & Dad; two loads of logs to split & stack, and a delicious birthday lunch for Jess at The Lighhouse in Aldburgh.

Canterbury
Luckily the next phase of forecast snow didn’t really happen - and we made it to Canterbury in time to see Annie perform in the school symphony concert. We also went to evensong in the cathedral and saw the incredible “Suspended” sculpture  by Arabella Dorman, made from refugee clothing found on the Greek island of Lesbos.

 

“Suspended” in Canterbury Cathedral

Dorset
A quick dash to see my sister for a couple of days. They had to clear their lane so we could get up it after strong wind created drifts in the south west.  Beautiful walk across snowy countryside, some log splitting for exercise, as well as a long lunch plus a bit of modern art across the border at Hauser & Wirth, Somerset.

L-R: Nicky, Parsnip & Jess 

Hauser & Wirth Gallery

Surrey
Entertaining dinner and overnight with Mark & Stuart near Haselmere, then another night with Honor in Midhurst.

Hampshire
Popped in to catch up with Richard & Caroline Mannings, and surprise guest Jack - back from Bristol Uni a day early.

Richard on his new toy!

Bucks
Long weekend with the Briggs’. So nice to catch-up with them all, and the highlight was Anthea’s 88th birthday lunch - which Ben managed to join.

Kent
We stayed two nights in Ide Hill - for a spot of admin: garage, dentist, optician, winter tyres & pack ski kit! Jess’s birthday lunch in the White Hart, Brasted, then load up the Ford and off to the French Alps.

Les Arcs 1800 - France
Four of us drove out to Geneva, collected Jake & Tom from their Bristol flight and stayed overnight in pretty Annecy (the F1 Hotel was worse than most of the hostels in SE Asia!) . We were skiing the following afternoon in Les Arcs, and I have never seen such good snow for Easter.

Ben sledging!

So where next? We’re off to Cornwall for the second week of the Easter hols, then kids back to Uni/School and we are currently planning a road trip in Eastern Europe and I have some mountain walking with a guide booked in the Isle of Skye. Watch this space, but just because the blogs have stopped for a month, don’t think we’re not still having fun!