Birthday celebrations.

When I got up Friday morning, I found these waiting for me downstairs from my dad. :-)

Beautiful birthday flowers!

I spent the day working and watching the ice hockey and skeleton (crazy sport!) at the winter Olympics. On the evening, Kerry and Oz came round for a meal. Mom cooked duck with orange and sherry sauce which was lovely. And we had a really nice bottle of french wine I had brought back from the US. (The one we opened after this had gone off and was serious nasty!)

Birthday wine

Tucking into dinner

 For desert, Mom made me a lovely chocolate cake (which didn't last long enough for photos) and I also got some very nice cupcakes from Sarah for my birthday. :-)

Birthday cupcakes

29 years ago ….

While I have been at home, mom and dad have been sorting the attic and found some boxes of old photos jumbled up. So one of the things I have doing is going through the photos. Some are brilliant. I found a group taken 29 years ago in the hospital when I was born.

Nana holding me in the hospital

Me and Mom

Dad holding me. (Not for the first time as he isn't in his motor bike gear!)

I was so tiny!

Blists Hill

On Sunday, we didn't get out until midday as we were once again being lazy. The weather was supposed to be hit and miss so we went to Blists Hill where we could get indoors quickly if needed. Blists Hill is a Victorian town near the Iron Bridge Gorge. I have been there when I was younger but I don't remember a much of it.

Matt and Clare

 At the start there is a bank where you can change modern money into Victorian money. All the shops accept the money and have their prices in new and old currency. The conversion is:
1 farthing (1/4 pence) = 10p
1d = 1 penny = 40p
sixpence = 1.20 modern pounds
1 shilling = 12d = 4.80 modern pounds
1 crown = 5 shillings = 24 modern pounds
1 sovereign = 1 pound = 96 modern pounds

10 pounds of old money

 We went into a lot of the shops (often to escape rain).

Bike shop

Brushes anyone?

Enormous container of golden syrup!

Grocery store

Rocking horse

Victorian Doctors office

In the candle markers.

We didn't get chance to check out the pub. Though their advertising was interesting.

Arsenic in your beer?

Lunch was at the fish and chip shop. I could only eat the chips but they were very good. They are cooked the old fashion way, in beef dripping which sounds gross (and not for vegetarians) but they were really nice though I doubt they were very healthy.

Fish and chips.

 We also HAD to go to the sweet shop. It isn't as good as Teddy Grays in Bewdley (which I am planning on visiting before I leave). It was opened by my great-great-Uncle though no longer in the family. :-( Still we all got a few bags from Blists Hill. Aniseed balls, mint imperials, Kali, and fruit pips! Yummy!

Sweet shop.

There are some Victorian houses which were interesting. The proper house was nice but had one of the creepiest picture I have ever seen on the wall. The squatters cottage had 2 small rooms and there were 9 people registered as living there! I couldn't do it!

Proper house

Creepy Queen Vic.

Bedroom in the squatter cottage.

This completely freaked Matt out!

Also to escape rain, we went on the train into the clay mine. It was a little odd as the acting on the film was awful. But got us out of the rain for a while.

Matt and El on the train

Clare looking cold 

Heading into the clay mine

 We had to stop at the tea rooms for a cuppa before we left, mostly to warm up a bit.

Matt pouring the tea and not looking impressed.

And I got to take a few artistic photos! :-)

I recommend Blists Hill for anyone in the area, young or old. There wasn't as much on as normal due to the time of year and weather but it was still fun.

Back at Matt and Els, I got my birthday cake!

I couldn't eat it but it was a lovely thought. I brought a piece of GF cake from Bridgnorth the day before which I had while they eat my birthday cake. They said it was horrible but I somehow don't believe them! :-)

We spent the rest of the evening making fajitas and playing Uno.

Bridgnorth

This weekend I meet up with Matt, El and Clare for a delayed "X-mas" weekend. We didn't do much Friday night as we were all exhausted!
Saturday morning, we went out to Bridgnorth for the market and lunch. (They have some great cafes.) The markets were ok but there weren't as many people there as normal. But there again, I wouldn't want to be standing around in that weather either. It was fairly cold (though not as bad as Blacksburg) and spitting rain. So we quickly ended up in a cafe for lunch. And we found one which did gluten-free bread and cakes! I was so happy. Clare got a jacket potato but the rest of us went for the egg/bacon/sausage sandwiches. Which were the largest sandwiches I have ever seen. They were on slabs of bread! (Thankfully the GF bread wasn't as thick.)

Gigantic Sandwich!

After lunch we walk down to the river (the markets are in high town). The ruins of the castle at the top are cool, though look a little unstable!

Bridgnorth castle ruins

Unfortunately the UK has had some bad flooding recently and the river had overrun the banks. And a couple of poor/stupid people will not be using their cars for a while if ever again.

Flooding in lower town

more flooding

Stairs down to the river

Bad place to park

More cars in trouble

top of a bench.

We got the little train back up the hill (because we are lazy).

El, Matt and Clare on the train 

Bridgnorth hill train

In the afternoon we went to the cinema as the weather just got worse and saw Frozen (at least the second time for all of us) and Mr. Peabody and Sherman. Followed by an Indian (I am getting in as much proper curry as I can!), wine/cider, and another movie at home. Though we were all asleep pretty early!

Home

I finally got back to England on Sunday for the first time in over a year. It's good to be home. The flights were fine. I even got into the posh fliers lounge in Washington Dulles. :-) We had had a speaker at VT who was getting exactly the same flights as me so we had dinner in Dulles ($13.50 for a glass of 'meh' wine) and because he was a frequent flier, he had access to the business lounge. Wow! How the other half live! Unlimited free tea, coffee, snacks and complimentary beer and wine. And comfortable chairs.

On the flight from Dulles to Heathrow, I ended up sitting next a really lovely couple from London who were flying back from Costa Rica. I had forgotten to book a gluten free meal. The first one was ok but the breakfast (as I flew overnight) was a croissant so I was starving. The couple next to me gave me some chocolate to keep me going. :-)

On Tuesday mom and I went on a mammoth shopping spree. We didn't mean to. It just sort of happened. I needed a dress for Katherine's wedding in a few weeks. (I ended up getting 2 because I couldn't decide. They are both so pretty.) And I found load of jumpers to replace some of my old ones. It's great going shopping with mom. She will tell me when something works. Or really doesn't!

And I got my visa approved yesterday! I spent the day in London and a long time in the US embassy. I was one of the last people to be seen. (When it goes from 300 to 8 people in the room and you are one of them, you do start to worry.) But it went ok and hopefully I will have my passport back in a week or so. I will feel much better when I have it! Unfortunately I didn't see anything of London, other than the train station. The tube workers had decided to stoke yesterday. Figures! Plus the weather was horrible. So getting around was a nightmare. So I sat in various cafes and bars in Euston. (So if anyone is stuck in Euston, I can recommend the best places to go. I have been to them all!)

Just working for the next few days and seeing friends this weekend which I am looking forward to as it has been ages. Lot of photos to follow I am sure. :-)