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03/04/2006: "England trip"

music: BBC TV
mood: Quite good

From the 22nd of February till the 27th of February. It was great!
Within 5 minutes it was as if we had never left. As if those 4 years in between had never existed...

What did we do in Newbury? Mostly meeting friends, going to the pub, walking around town centre, going to the pub... Oh, had I already mentioned that? lol
We also did some shopping, as the zip of my jacket gave way and we weren't able to fix it. Luckily we found two really nice jackets at TKMax. Only 62 pounds for the two of them together. So a lot better than I have seen in Holland. Angela said I'd be crazy if I let that one slip...so I didn't. One of the jackets I could even wear in spring and summer. It's not as thick as the winter one but still water and wind resistant.

Anyway, it was great seeing our friends! Of course we had seen Les about 2 years ago in the Netherlands during the DGB program. However, we had not seen Kathy yet, we'd only heard about her and had spoken to her on the phone. I have to say though, both Angela and I thought Kathy is great! She was just so sweet! And lovely and funny and sweet... I already said that too.

We had a lovely Sunday lunch on the 26th of February. However it wasn't really a 'traditional' Sunday roast as it wasn't beef but pork. Sainsbury's didn't have any beef anymore. But it was unbelievably good anyway with roasted potatoes, broccoli, carrots and, of course, gravy and wine! And the good company of both Les and Kathy.

The Thursday we were at our 'local' pub, "The Five Bells" for the weekly pub quiz. Some of the regulars at the pub had to do a triple take, just to make sure that they weren't seeing ghosts. But after the initial hesitation they gave us a big hug and, again, within seconds it was like we had never left. It was great seeing Alli and Jane again and having fun together. And also beeing in the same team, the bar team. They also had the feeling that it couldn't have been 4 years since they had last seen us. They also had the feeling it has been last week.

We also went to some of the other pubs, "The Blackbird" and had a pub quiz there on the Sunday evening. 100 questions! I thought it would never stop... I think they did it so we would want to get the hell out of there...lol. Angela and I were together in a team and, of course, ended bottom (7th) but it was still fun.

Also great was the fact that we got to talk to Phil's mum a bit. As we stayed at her place for which we are still very grateful! We didn't see her a lot as we were out most of the time and she was out working the rest of the time. However, on the Saturday we did actually talk to her a bit, which was nice. And also the fact that her and Stewart (her husband) took us out for lunch on the Monday was a real surprise. We really liked that, even though I honestly thought it would end up in us being too late, which didn't happen, luckily!

So yeah, it was great! Just within minutes like we had never left. It felt so normal, so home, so like it should be... Well, never mind. I will probably post some photo's shortly in the photo section. So stay tuned for that!

Hugs, Jacqueline