Day 35 27th May

Early morning again, had breakfast with the kids before they headed off to school for the day and we headed off to Acle auction for a look around, Found a few things that would be handy in the garage at home so decided to go for a bacon roll and a coffee before waiting for my goodies to come up in the bidding. They just sell everything in any order here so I missed everything I wanted. Never mind but i was a little bit annoyed as there were about 100 pairs of work gloves that would have went well with my dads 100 bloody work jackets he had bought at another auction. Sure we could survive without them so decided to go for a beer to cheer myself up. We headed off to a nice little village (Reedham)on the river's edge and sat in the sun. We then took a ferry across the river which saved us a few miles on the way home so away we went. Strangely we ended up in The Fat Cat again for a beer before walking to the Chip shop to get some food and say bye to Naomi. We walked around to the Alex to meet everyone and say our goodbye's there and head back to the Cat. The bar man Chris was leaving for Aberdeen on sunday and tried to get us to stay until then but we managed to stick to our guns and told him we were leaving Friday and heading home. Starting to think about all the work waiting for me in Tarves.........

Day 34 26th May Norwich

Another early morning for us both before we headed into town to meet up with Helen, Niaomi, Jack, and Bella. We met up in a coffee shop which was quite strange but I did eventually get used to it. Everyone had breakfast before we said our good bye's and went our own ways into town. Ang and I decided to go for a walk around town and through the cathederal, The weather was really nice which was probably why I was still here and not back in Tarves yet, maybe it had something to do with the pile of work that was getting bigger every day while we were gone. mmmm... "Dont worry Jen I aint forgot about ya". Taxi back to Pauls, The taxi driver was asking how long we were staying which I thought was a bit of a bloody cheek but it turned out that he took us home the day before. He took us home anyway so we could get ready for our night out with Paul's kids. We all bundled into the cars and headed off down to Zak's, it's an American restaraunt that serves portions big enough to keep any American happy for a couple of days. We all eventually managed to struggle through this mountain of food in the end before heading home to sit down and not move for a while. Spent the rest of the evening watching telly and trying not to fall asleep.

Day 33 25th May

Another early morning.... we took a taxi into town for breakfast in a little French cafe before having a wander around the town. Headed back home, picked up the car and took a drive to a little model shop on the other side of the city to try an buy batteries for Connor's remotre control heli. No luck but Andy managed to buy oone for himself when my back was turned. Another toy for Tarves but at least it won't take up took much space. Went back home, parked the heli and headed out to meet everyone. First stop was the chip shop to see Naomi, she's looking really well. Meeting up with her and Helen Thursday for coffee. The headed up to the Bellevue to meet everyone. Helen, Evan, baby Bella, June, Keith, Glenn (arrived on his bicycle), Graham from Thailand and Paul. Was great to see everyone together again after more than 2 years but we were still missing Mr Geoff from Thailand. So we had to take a wander down to The Alex. Just as we walked in the side door he was about to escape out the front door with Freddy but we managed to pin them down, twist their arms and drag them back in. It was strange being all together again in Norwich. Anyway, Geoff had a bit of a wobble on so had to make his excuses and leave. So myself, Andy, Graham and Paul headed down to the Fat Cat for last orders. Everyone used to call Graham the slow walking mumbling man but he had smoke coming off his shoes to get that last beer, never seen him walk so fast in my life!! Managed to get one last drink and then headed home for bed. Chris from the Fat Cat is leaving on Sunday also to drive up to Aberdeen to live so we told him we'd just follow him - road trip to Aberdeen!!

Day 32 24th May Norwich

Woke up early so we could see the chill blains before they left for school. 7:30am? What time is that? Anyway, we did and then we headed off to the supermarket to but some pegs. Angie was having heart failure, she hadn't done any laundry for 2 days. Went to Sainsbury's in our shorts 'n flip flops, had the traditional breakfast, bought the pegs and a load of beer for the bbq. Back to 1 Armes Crescent, hung out the washing with shiny new washing pegs and strolled into toon in the baking heat. Had a bit of a thirst when we got into the centre so had to sit down and cool off with a couple of cold ones. Had a stroll round the town and then it was time to head back home to get ready for the bbq. Picked up Paul at home and the other Paul at the Fat Cat. Headed up to Hellesdon in a Joe Baxi (complete with gallon of Fat Cat beer) and the bbq commenced. Glen was a top chef, tatties, roasted veggiews, salad, everything. Think he must have marinated the sausages in something as we were all a bit pickled after we ate them. Had a great night. Bundled ourselves (Paul, Paul, me & Andy) into a Joe Baxi and headed back to the Fat Cat for last orders. Last orders it was, Andrew chose to carry all the left over beer home instead of me. Thank god Paul didn't forget me. More tomorrow.

Day 30 & 31 22nd ,23rd May Phuket - Singapore - London

Woke up again to find the rain pouring down again. Bit annoying but at least it felt like home I suppose. The planned of a last few hours at the pool were now fading really quickly so no better time than the present to pack our bags and hope they would check them in ok at the airport. Got a panick phone call from Da to say she had problem with car. We couldn't work out what the problem was over the phone so jumped on the racing machine and headed over to Johnny's hoose. Someone had borrowed the car and parked it back at Johnny's. They'd put the hand brake on so tigtht poor Da couldn't get it off so Andy let it off for her and made sure she could do it herself. Sorted. We said our last goodbye's and headed back to shower and finish packing. It was sad to say goodbye but we had to go home sometime. Got ready, jumped in the taxi and headed to the airport. Our flight was delayed, great. Finally got to Bangkok and almost broke our necks to catch our connecting flight to Singapore. Got it just though. Nightmare. Got to Singers, taxi to hotel, 4 hours kip then up again for our flight back to London. Was absolutely shattered slept almost the whole flight (with a little help from our pharmacist friend!). Landed in London expecting to freeze to bits and it was 30 degrees. We called home to find out what the weather was like - rain. So we headed for Norwich instead. Arrived at Paul's about half past seven and just as we got in the door we had a phone call from Glen (from India) to say he was sitting outside the Fat Cat. Nothing else for it, dumped the bags and took a walk down. Still all the familiar faces, had a good laugh. They'd been out all day so made an early exit. We were just about to leave also when Liz and her new partner (forgot his name already) walked in. So that it it, another round. Managed to escape at closing time. Walking home in t-shirts and vest tops at eleven at night.

Day 29 Friday 21st May

Woke up today to find my tattoo, along with myself stuck to the bed and with the rain pounding down outside today wasn't looking like a good one, We had decided the previous night to take things easy on Friday and go for a run on the bike but I had a funny feeling that was about to change as i'd been caught in the rain while on the bike once before and that was not going to happen again. We decided to sit on the balcony and watch everyone else getting wet while having a nice cuppa coffee. It wasn't to long before the rain stopped and we headed off down to the town center for some last minute shopping. Mcdonalds for breakfast!! I't wasn't the best choice but It would keep us alive until we ate something that tasted like food. We headed up to Tri Trang beach resort to see Da and the girls for a manicue and pedicure. It was brilliant, we both came out with shiny new hands and feet and a free head massage from Da. All nice and new for going home. The sun finally came out so went to the hotel pool for our last bit of sunshine before getting ready for dinner. Went to No. 6 on the beach. We made a bit of a mistake and sat down at the wrong restaurant, we didn't realise this until after the menu's had been put down in front of us. As Angie really wanted to go to No. 6 we made our apologies and toodled of across the sand into the next restaurant. Was a bit embarrasing but it's Thailand and they wouldn't see us again anyway. Had a lovely meal right on the beach and then lit a lucky balloon and set it off from the beach and watched it fly into the distance until we couldn't see the flame anymore, how romantic. Then headed off to the Bangla Boxing Stadium to watch some Thai boxing (Muay Thai). It was pretty good to see, started with some small kids about 7 or 8 years old kicking the living sh*te out of each other until the big boys came on. Watched a few matches and then decided to head off down Bangla Road for our last night. Met Joan and Mike at the Kangaroo Bar and after a few beers, couple of bottles of champagne later headed off home. Had to help an Oz lassie find her hotel as she had loast all her mates and was a bit pickled. Found out the name of her hotel, took her in a tuk tuk and dropped her off safely home. Good deed for the day done. Got ourselves home for our last head down before packing.

Day 28 - Thursday 20th May

Got up late, couldn't be bothered so missed breakfast. Had a fall out with the Indian travel agent last night after screwing up our flights so were both stessed out. Had a few choice words with him and got it sorted, twit. We're completely over our baggage allowance so had to pack up a load of clothes and take them to the post office. Nae bother. Took them up in a wee suitcase on the back of the racing machine and the nice posty man packed them all up for us so they should now be winging there way to Tarves and we should see them in a couple of weeks. Must be pigeon carrier airlines. We might see them again or not, this is Thailand so it'll be a bonus if we do. Fingers crossed. Then headed off for breakfast and up to se Da at the massage parlour to say hello. She told us she got her driving license yesterday, we just about fell off our seat laughing - she can't even drive. She said because she paid a man 300 baht to use his car for the test he helped her pass. Says she's not going on any big roads yet but she look at big road and think maybe she go on big road soon. She did get 29 out of 30 for her theory though but had a little 'assistance' to pass the actual driving. She was laughing her head off too, I bet Johnny's not laughing though!! He'll be panicking in case he hasn't got a brand spanking new shiny black Mitsibushi when he gets home. :-) Went back to the hotel, had a quick dip in the pool but it was absolutely red hot so didn't stop long. Was time for Andy to go and get his tattoo anyway. He started at 4pm and almost gave up at 7pm, the pain was too much so said he would come back Friday to have it finished. The tattoo guy convinced him to soldier on otherwise the pain would be worse tomorrow and he would second thoughts about having it finished. So with tears in his eyes and a couple of cigarettes later he went back inside to take the pain. He eventually got out 10pm with the biggest smile on his face through sheer relief. It's really nice and now we know we don't have to back tomorrow so have the whole of tomorrow to ourselves before we leave Saturday. Only thing planned is the Thai Boxing (Muay Thai) which is not til 9pm so all day to chill out, thank god. Cant't go to the beach though otherwise our huddock tattoo's will get fried. Sure we'll manage to fill our day though. Maybe take the scooter for a blast around the island, just have to wait and see what happens.