only a few hours left in Madrid

In an hour I will be on my way to Madrid airport for the flight to Lima.
Yesterday Justin & I went on a tour of Real Madrid's stadium - I've had to become a real football fan since being with him & even got excited watching a Spurs match when they won! The tour around the stadium was excellent. We went everywhere including the changing rooms & I can tell you the smell of socks & jocks was very strong!! They have a very good museum of the history of the club & all the cups they've won.
After the tour we went & had lunch at the restaurant overlooking the ground.

We decided that we needed a walk & made our way back to our end of town passing many of the tourist spots we'd seen from the bus.

Now in Madrid

Christmas was very quiet in Lisbon, in fact on Christmas eve the whole place was like a ghost town! Christmas day was sunny & bright & we managed to get our day started with bubbles! We walked up to the Castle where you had a great view over the city.

A flight of one hour bought us to Madrid & what a difference! So much colder & so many people. There are Tapas bars everywhere and most of them have hams hanging above the bars.People were out in the squares in their hundreds & they have a strange, perhaps Christmas ritual, of wearing strange hats and bright coloured wigs but at least there are Christmas decorations up. We read that Spanish children do not get their presents until 6th January.
We used the 'Hop on hop off' bus to do a tour of the city. Got talking to a Spanish lady about how many people were about & she said " There is no money but we are out"! Queues to buy lottery tickets were amazingly long - perhaps that's the way to sort out the financial crisis!
After a very cold bus trip we arrived at a Square near the apartment and watched the people before finding the market which was actually a massive tapas area. After a couple of circuits we worked out what to do & ended standing with hundreds of others with a glass of wine in one hand & a plate of food inn the other!

Merry Christmas from Lisbon.

After lunch drove to Heathrow Airport - was an easy drive until I looked for 1) the hotel 2) the car hire place to return the car! I saw what I though was the hotel but circumnavigated one of the terminals in order to get into the hotel. I began to worry when the road took me past the hotel & onto the motorway. I got off at the first exit & headed towards another terminal. Car hire firms began to appear but not the one I wanted! After asking for help I proceeded on the route to find myself at lights not knowing which way to go indecision meant placing myself across two lanes - luckily English drives can cope with this without yelling & raising fingers! It was a good decision because I found another Holiday Inn & pulled in to it.

No reservation there - “you need to drive through the next 4 sets of lights & you will be there,” the receptionist said. By now I was tired oof driving around the airport - it’s extremely large! Booked in & they gave me directions for the car hire place which entailed driving around the perimeter of the runways - bit disconcerting when a plane lands as the wheels almost touch you! Finally found the car hire place & once dropped of got into a cab to be whisked back to the hotel!

Justin arrived & we had dinner watching his team, Spurs, draw with Chelsea!

Day 16 - Fri 23rd December

Up at 5am to catch bus to airport. Check in only entailed dropping off my bag & then we had a wander through duty free before boarding. We took off on time & landed in Lisbon at 10am. I always feel nostalgic, with a tear in my eye, when I leave UK but that’s ok.

Taxi from airport was quick but when he droppped us at the address we were surprised to find ourselves in a linen shop. When we mentioned the apartment owners name we were shown some stairs! Up we went 5 flights ( I later counted them - 100 stairs! More altitude training?).

The apartment is very quirky but really pleasant. We are right in the heart of the old town & can see the castle from a couple of windows. Unfortunately because of the economic climate here the street below is usually decorated with hundreds of light but not this year!

I had booked us in for a tour of the town by Segway & after being taught how to operate it we were off around the town with a guide. It was awesome fun & we went to places we wouldn’t have been by ourselves. The guide was also expressing his views about what was happening to Portugal which was very interesting. The streets are narrow, steep and cobbled. Trams run everywhere adding to the scene. Weather fabulous 19C & sunny

Now raining!

Walk to get paper each day across frozen fields & ice covered roads. Above is the reconstruction of my fall on the stile! I have also been put to work decorating Xmas cakes & as one was for Jake's grandchildren I had to make a big effort. I'm definitely working for my keep. Yesterday we went to visit my niece Kirstie & her family. I'd taken her boys an Aussie T-shirt & they immediately stripped off to put on their new Aussie ones.
Walked around Gloucester Cathedral - used for a scene from one of the Harry Potter movies - & passed many canal boats.
Day always ends with mulled wine in te hot tub - way to go!

In the Midlands

Managed to get my bag down the 9 flights of stairs without injuring myself. I would definitely stay at the Luna Simone Hotel, Belgrave Road again as, apart from the stairs, it was in a really great location.

Got to Victoria station for the car hire only to find that the credit card I’d used for the booking was in Oz. After some discussion - Me “I can’t very well go to Sydney to get the card" - the guy relented mumbling about all the fraud in England ...... & I was soon ready for off. I had been dreading get out of London but it was surprisingly easy.

The roads were quite clear & I was soon onto the M1 north. The weather forecast was strong winds & it was certainly scary going past some of the trucks. The journey took me 2 1/2 hours. Al’s family were waiting for me and after a quick catch up we went to the pub for lunch. Other members of the family came around in the afternoon to see me & I caught up on a couple of years of family gossip. Amazed that Gladys is 87! By 9pm I was ready for bed.

Day 7 - Wed 14th December

As I got into the car for a drive flurries of snow started with the temperature reading 3.5C! Drove past our old house & down to the Red,White & Blue. It was strange going in their after so long. Met the owner & found that many of the ‘bad boys’ of the early 90‘s were related to her.

Drove to Wolverhampton for a wander & ended up in Sainsbury’s. They even sell TV’s & the price of wine was far cheaper than home & it comes from Oz & NZ!Wolverhampton hadn’t changed but it was too cold to stay out.

Afternoon was lazy, Gladys was out at a Christmas party, in the warm. Walked up the road for fish & chips - it was very cold & the paths were slippery as they were covered in frost.

Day 8 - Thurs 15th December

Drove to Frank F Harrison school - I had been the Special Needs Coordinator there before leaving in 1997. I spent nearly 3 hours talking to the Special Needs team & catching up with some of the staff I knew from ‘97.

Drove over to Jake’s & was immediately given the job of decorating the tree because -in her words- “You haven’t decorated a tree for years!" I can tell you I was under pressure but did my best! The house is full of Christmas decorations & looks lovely.

Rushed through the frosty air outside, in our swimsuits, to plunge into the ‘hot tub’. It was brilliant sitting in the dark with me praying that the forecast snow would reach us. Champagne, dinner & much conversation ended another day.

Day 9 - Fri 16th December

Disappointment greeted me today ( I’m probably the only person in the UK to feel this way!) as there was no snow! You don’t lie in bed long here as you get up to walk across the fields to get the paper. We set off wrapped in thick jackets, gloves, scarves and hats down the lane to the paper shop. We had to cross a stile into the field and I was warned that the wooden step was slippery. I placed my foot on the wood & whoosh I was on my back with feet in the air! Jake was trying to help me up but she was laughing rather a lot!! John tried to pull me from the front with Jake lifting from the back when my trousers caught on barbed wire - more laughter from my family! I also got my glove caught on the barbed wire but eventually I was standing in the field & we were on our way and that was all before breakfast. As you can imagine I was very cautious on the way back!

After breakfast we drove to Worcester I had been wearing a podometer & my sister was determined that I would walk more than 10,000 steps so we parked well away from the centr

We did our evening run in the freezing cold to the ‘hot tub’, this time with mugs of mulled wine in hand. The stars were spectacular in the clear sky & so ended another day. Pictured with my little sis!

e! It was a very bracing walk! I bought a couple of items - I hope they fit in my bag!

The sights of London

Spent morning on a ‘Hop on, hop off’ tour around London. Was cold & grey but passed the time until I caught up with Justin for his birthday. I met him at an Italian restaurant in Covent Garden. A number of his mates came along & it was an enjoyable afternoon. He went off to the pub to watch the soccer & I came back & had an early night.

Set off early to the shops on Oxford Street. The day was sunny & bright but became dark when I arrived at Victoria Station to catch the train to Oxford Circus. For some reason no one was allowed down to the platform although a TV screen showed that really no one else could get onto the station safely. I finally decided to leave the throng and take a chance at walking to another station. I followed crowds of people assuming that they knew where they were going - it worked. I still can’t get over the jam packed trains.

Luckily there were very few shoppers around in the main area so it was easy to wander. I did my usual visit to Marks & Spencers but was disappointed with a lot of their clothes.

When I was tired of shopping I used my ‘Hop on, hop off’ ticket to go to St Paul’s Cathedral. Wow what a building - the ceilings were beautifully decorated & the overall size impressive. The organist was playing which added to the atmosphere.

Cold but sunny

Day 3 - Sat 10th December

Slept until 1am then was awake for about 2 hours. Slept again until 6:45 - which I thought was quite good. The TV news tells us that many children are being diagnosed with Rickets - lack of the sunshine vitamin (not v Itamin) D!

After a good old English breakfast I walked to Victoria station to check out where the car hire place was. It’s very close to where I’m staying. You notice the number of people when you are walking through the station plus there were about 100 people dressed as Santa, shouting & blowing trumpets - what for? No idea!

I sit and listen to the different accents & little old ladies moaning about school kids, the buses and the Euro zone - occasionally they laugh

Met Justin & went to lunch with his friend Ferhan’s family. They were lovely people English Muslims who explained some of the parts of the religion that they follow. The chicken we ate would have been Halal- very tasty. They care a lot about Justin and talked about trying to find him a wife and listed a number of girlfriends he had much to Justin’s embarrassment and our hilarity! We had a really good time & the children Zac (3) & Ibrahim (3mth) were really cute

Temperature about 6C but sunny.

London calling

Day 1 - 18th December

After a wonderful staff end of year lunch, which included 3 glasses of champagne, I was driven to the airport and promptly fell asleep! Woke as we arrived at airport.

Flight to Brisbane left on time but we had to circle around Brisbane for a while because the skies were very busy. Transfered to the International terminal to find that the flight to Hong Kong was cancelled - the plane door wouldn’t shut so NO GO!!

I was transfered onto Singapore airlines only an hour later than the previous flight but flying at 1.45am (NSW time) was pushing it. Initially I tried to sleep - my neck should be slimmer as my head was going from side to side a million times to get comfortable. I think I dozed for a few hours.

Landing in Singapore meant a 3 -4 hour wait (which I’m doing now!)so I went on line only to find my travel agent was congratulating me on getting upgraded from Hong Kong to London. I could have cried because I’m in SINGAPORE and it was the first time I’d tried to be upgraded!!

The 15 hours from Singapore passed relatively easily with dozing, movies,games & eating!

Things you forget when living in Oz:

• Landing at Heathrow at 3:15pm in daylight, getting out of airport at 4:15 it’s

dark!

• The number of people in London - trains jam packed yuk!

I’m in a nice hotel but when I go to my room I feel that I’m in altitude training! It’s 9 flights of stairs (no lift) up to an attic room - but it’s cosy.

tMet up with Justin (was great to see him) for a few drinks before I fell into bed at

about 8pm.