my last day in jolly old england

boo hoo - in less than 14 hours i will be home (with the time difference) with tons of memories and tons of photos . . . . and tons of chocolate . . . in fact so much chocolate that i had to take clothes out of my suitcase to get under the allowed weight or it is £11 per kilo extra so i took out stuff that Debs can send over via surface mail, stuff i wont need for a few weeks. Pretty sad that i chose the chocolate for my friends over my clothes! what a good buddy i am!

I spent 1 hour in the local grocery store today - omg i could have bought home 100 kilos of food if i was allowed! Sticky pudding, custard cream biscuits, pork pies, my mouth was watering walking around the store. poor debs had to sit and wait outside for me the whole time.

we didnt go to bed until after 2am cos Cousin Janice was here with us - she is so funny, but what a hard life she had, now she is one of the most successful businesswomen in the history of the Body Shop empire. She met Joanna Lumley last week and is one of the great leaders in her indsutry

We stayed in bed til 10am then went off to Boots to get my pics developed for my mom (surprise I am workin on ) and do some last minute shopping. Then we headed to Kennilworth Castle, built in 1120 and now in ruins - it was an amazing site and i took tons of pics.

We are sitting here just relaxing cos we have to get up at 5am England Time to make my check in time and try to ponce my way thru the luggage control. I put a lot of the chocolate in my backpack as carry on luggage. Only supposed to have 5kg, but think it is closer to 10kg right now. hope they dont weigh that!

I had the time of my life while i was here, healed a lot of past issues, dealt with present issues and saw my family. I couldnt have asked for a better week weather wise, we even had the top down on the convertible today - we were real posers!

I will be home to my family at about noon tomorrow, then will probaly sleep for white a while to catch up on the sleep i did not get over here, i will be working on my pics and fixing them all on sunday and relaxing for the weekend before i go back to work - UGH -

a day with marg and jan

holy shit! talk about Davidson overload, went from a quiet auntie Marg and a wonderful day reminiscing and then Janice shows up and is like the energizer bunny - holy hyper! what a lovely family i have.

sitting here after a lovely chicken curry and a few drinks and crank calling my mom, oh what fun.

Tomorrow we are off to the castle that is in pieces, print some pics off and pack my already full suitcases, not sure how i am going to get everything in - shit i bought to much. i have a few pressies for my family.

loaded some more prics on facebook tonight, have a peak at some old ones i put up. not typing a long blog tomight as am too busy - will blog tomorrow

visiting my dad on the IOW

We both slept like logs, but Debs snores and talks in her sleep! last night apparently she was surfing the big wave on her bare feet! for someone that hates water, cant figure that one out

Sun was shining, birds were singing and we had an English breakfast at the BnB. The beds were very comfy and other than Debs dropping my Vokda and Seven on the floor all was great! Thank god Vodka doesnt smell

We set off to find parking - thank god we gave ourselves extra time - we made the ferry by 2mins. We wanted to stand up top but were not allowed, but it was a quick trip - 15 minutes, on a beautiful sunny day with hardly any wind.

We arrived in Ryde to find Dad, Milly and Darren (our stepo brother that we have never met) waiting for us at the ferry - first thought - omg, my dad looks old. He looked like he will be more of my grandfather, i guess a battle with liver cancer and diabetes will do that to a person. It was good to see him walking though and out of his wheelschair for a while. We had a lovely tea with them for about an hour and then walked the sea front where Deb and I got brave and walked o nthe beach, i even dipped in my feet into the english channel.

Although I had struggled very hard with the thought of seeing my dad cos of past stuff, and so had Deb, we were both very glad we went to see him, almost like ut was somethng we needed to do for ourselves as well as him. He thanked us 2 or 3 times for coming - i hope he enjoyed his day too.

We set off for the mainland about 315 and decided to visit the shopping outlet - i found a VANS oiutlet - sorry Deano they didnt have the shoes you wanted! but i tried! Deb got a few things - clothes at a grocery store - hmmmm - only in England (oh Superstores too).

Went for a drink at a pub in West Ken witha friend of Debs and had a wonderful time, turns out we are related thru the Edwards (his dad is my dads nephew) so we had some wonderful stories to share - and he had sexy eyes too! (i put that there just in case he ever reads this)

Am back at Ruthies with dialup, so no pics tonight, but will put up some tomorrow or Friday.

Love you Deano, miss my boys and my buds - but i have over 600 pics (def not gonna get 3000) and tons of great memories to share with you all! See you in 3 sleeps - wish it was 33 and that my family was with me - i wish i could have shared this with all of them!

Love you,

Auntie Marg - gotta love her

So we had to get up early again today cos the hunky builders were in again! But last night was pretty exciting - felt like i was in an episode of COPS, sirens, noises and then a helicopter hovering around the house and area for about 4 hours, till 2am this morning. And I was into a good book so I didnt put my head down til about 230 and then was up at 730! Typical sleep pattern for me!

We headed up to North End Road the shopping road in Fulham where all the barrows are out selling fresh fruit and knock offs - but there were only 2 or 3 out, but i did manage to get a couple of pressies for some friends back home at the local sports store. We stopped for a coffee then headed to Wandsworth so Deb could get jeans. After Wandsworth we headed to Denmark Hill which was only about 7 miles away, but took us an hour in London traffic - i just close my eyes cos the vehicles are so close and they are nuts over here - OMG - i could not drive here.

Well my trip was made the minute I saw my Auntie Marg - she has not changed a bit and is the most amazingly happy, go lucky lady - and i cant believe she is 74 years old. We started looking at some old pics and reminiscing - cousin Lisa, Lee and Keith were there too - so good to see them. But we were slowly running out of time cos we had to hit the road for Portsmouth at 3, so that only left me with 3 hours to see and catch up for 22 years. So after we left Aunti Margs, Deb and I decided to forego our trip to Windsor Castle and Kew and I will go back and spend the day with my auntie talking about her growing up during the war etc. She told me it was the first time she has reminisced for years because no one in her family asks her about it - she was really enjoying our chat - and to top it all off - SHE MADE BREAD PUDDING ! Bless her heart, when she hugged me i really felt like i was home - i love Debs hugs, but I had not felt Margs hugs in 22 years - and she said that noone has hugged her like i hugged her in 22 years either.

So we are in Portsmouth, across from the English Channel, lights along the waterfront, tomorrow Debs and I are gonna try and be brave and dip our feets it! Then we hope to catch the 11am ferry to Isle of Wight, spend an hour with our dad, and then head back to the mainland and back to London. We dont want to hit Londong between 4 and 7 cos we will sit there for hours, so we may have to sightsee more (Portsmouth is only 2 hours form London).

I miss everyone terribly, but I feel like i am surrounded by my family here - so glad we are going back to see Marg!

London - the tour

so up we get to some hunky builders working on Auntie Ruths house - I even made them a coffee!!!!##We set off at 9am to Fulham to visit where I grew up - boy has it changed, god forbid you try and get two cars down the road at teh same time! the streets are so narrow and full of porsches, jags, beemers and mopeds.

We hit Picadilly Circus at 1020 after being a sardine on the tube, thank god for deoderant! And Hannah was late - poor Hannah, slept in :) So we had time for a take out coffee - note to self - $10 for 2 coffees and $2 to pee in public toilet - hmmmmm - can you say Tourist Rip Off. But I had to pee so bad, made sure I got my monies worth (stinky).

Stopped in a great sports shop, very famous Lillywhites and got the boys some gear, then off to tour bus that would take us around London. It was a beautiful sunny day and the bus ride was great - lots of info about the history of London that none of us knew. There are some dishy guys here too - and their teeth were good as well Sue!#

We visited Westminster, Greenwich, Big Ben, Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, Hyde Park Corner, Knightsbridge, Earls Court and Tower Bridge. What a great day.

11 hours later Debs and I got back to Ruths and I had Fish N Chips - yummy - and a nice hot bath and a few drinkie poos and loaded up 280 pictures from today. Cant load here onto net cos am on dialup, will load some on Thursday.

Off to see Auntie Marg and Cousin Lee and Lisa tomorrow, then to Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight and to get my whelks - slimey snails!

Loving every minute of this - trip of a lifetime - Love you Sue, thanks so much!

day 2, in the Cotswolds

well, one sleeping pill and 2 vodkas later, i toodled off to bed at 1130pm, had been up 34 hours straight at that point! Debs had to wake me at 11am on Sunday! slept great.#
On a typical rainy misty day, we headed off to the Cotswolds, which is know for quaint villages, their brickwork and their beauty.

We visited Gloucesterhire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and London today.

Silly town names we went to Lower Slaughter, Upper Slaughter, Morton in the MArsh, Burton on the Water, chips in a bag (yummy) and found a sweets shop with over 200 jars of sweets - OMG - Heaven!

We had tea in a little village tea room, went to Notting Hill (where the movie was filmed) and the houses here are 3-4 million Pounds each! Flats rent for 500 to 1500 pounds per week for under 1000 square feet. Double it to work it out in dolars!

Went to an English Pub for Thai Food hmmmmmmmmmmmm intersting, drank lots of wine and got numb tongue from spicy stuff - pity those around me tomorrow - faraaaarrrrrrrrttttttttt

Tomorrow off to City of London Tour, dont care if it rains - haveing a blast teasing HAnnah! Love my time here!

day one and the flight

So i got thrown out of the van by a busy painting man -Deano - at 245pm after almost running a dumb ass driver off of the road. I got checked in in about 2 mins, absolutely no probs, and no probs thru security either. Picked up my smokes at duty free and settled in for a 2 hour wait for the plane to board - thank god for good books and people watching. I was so tired from the week previous that i felt i was sure to sleep on the plane - even too 3 Melatonin to help.

So I got to board first cos I was at the back of the plane, but that also means last off! I got seated next to a nice young lady that was going over to visit her nan for 6 months. So determined to sleep i slipped off my shoes and settled in for the long haul, did i mention i do not enjoy flying very much! So 6 hours later i am still awake! and as i am typing this it is 6pm uk time, 1pm canada time, so i have now been up31 hours straight! gonna sleep well tonight.

UK Customs was a bit crazy, but ok - the bags took forever, but that was ok too, cos i knew my sis was waiting outside the doors for me. And there she was, great big smile and great big hug as i came thru the gates! so glad to see her.

so we head to her place, OMG, the things that i had forgoteen about - roundabouts, narrow roads, driving on the wrong side, no Tim Hortons!, little cars and old old buildings - i started to feel totally at home, except for Debbi Donuts crazy driving skills! So glad I am not driving over here. I did manage to snap 35 pics before i even got to Debs house.

So we tried to nap for an hour when we got back to house, but i was overtired at this point and couldnt do it, so we had a true Full Monty English Breakfast - sausages, english bacon, eggs, mushrooms and toast - lovely. Then Hannah arrived and we spent the day driving around and visiting Stratford and Warwick I took another 100 pics! gonna have to speed up the pics if i want to reach my 3000

Visited Shakespeares birth place, and his wife and daughter (photos will be posted later) and saw the largest lock system in England, SHEEP and some of the most amazing churches, incluing the oldest Saxon church in the area.

So I am sitting here, struggling to keep my eyes open, but i have to upload some pics for Debs!

Tomorrow we are going to the Cotswolds, then to London for Sunday Night, Mon and Tues (to see Aunty Marg and Lisa) then to Portsmouth Tues night so we can head to Isle of Wight on Wed ot see my dad, then back to Kew and Windsor on Thurs, then home Thurs night to drink with cousin Jan, then castles on Friday!

I am thinking i will need another vacation just to recover when i get home.

Miss you all, love you Deano and Boys!

1 day to go

well in less than 24 hours i will be onthe plane probably trying hard to sleep and getting antsy, prob over the ocean and wanting to pee! i have a couple of good new books that i will be trying to read, one about England and one about John Thaw, the english actor - got to get into the English frame of mind!


I am looking forward to so much, my family, the whelks, winkles, fish n chips, pie n mash, time giggling with my sister and neice, seeing my aunties, seeing London from a tourists point of view, taking photos and just being home again.

Long day today at the staff retreat, i am ready for bed right now, 930pm, but will force myself to stay awake so i can sleep on the plane. I am gonna mis all my friends over here who i converse with on a daily basis, really wish my hubby was coming and my kids too, but reason for everything i guess.

I hope to do a lot of soul searching while i am away as well - make some decisions about my future and employment - but dont know if i will ever get a quiet minute between my sis and neice and family.

So il will head to the airport tomorrow, excited and nervous, hopefully sleepy!

this is the dream trip i have wanted to do - without Sue I would never have been able to do this, i cannot thank her enough. And congrats to her on her new job! she will rock. Love you Sue (and you too Marky Mark). Hey Mark, say hi to the m-in-law for me while I am away! :)

Hopefully I can update on a daily basis! see you all in 9 days!

what an amazing night

So Kyle and I got up at 530 am to head to Jane and Finch to do a road bike race for innercity kids. It was rainy and foggy and the dampness went right through to my bones, it didnt help that i was sick to start with. It was a great event, with over 100 at risk youth taking part in a race and receiving medals, prizes and having fun. Highlight for me was meeting Farley Flex of Canadian Idol fame - what a nice man - built like a shithouse! But super sweet.

From there Kyle and i headed home to shower and change out of our wet clothes from the road race, even my feet were soaked. We headed down to Track 2000 for the event of the year, the celebration for Timmy DaSilva. We had a live band coming and were worried about the rain. So Kyle and I get dry and head to the track to find everyone there working their butts off (I should have been there at 11am to help but had to do road race), and the guys had rigged up this great tarp so people could eat out of the mist and the band could play without damaging their equipment. The track looked awsome, with balloons and signs and the whole extended DaSilva family there. We got delayed by about 2 hours due to the weather but noone was bugging, they all knew that we were there for a special reason - to celebrate Timmy.

There was something about last night that i cannot put a finger on, something about the atmosphere, the emotion of the night, the feeling of pure peace - there was just something that made me feel so alive inside and so peaceful. It was the most at peace i have felt in 2 years - and other people were saying the same - it was amazing - it was as if Timmy was there with us all.

The band was amazing, if you ever get the chance to see Ronnie and theJets live yo have to see them! I was even dancing! that is why my legs are so sore today!

Had a great chance to chat with Manny, first time we have really talked about Tim heart to heart in about a year - felt good.

So in 5 sleeps I am off to England - i am very excited and prob wont sleep much this week!

Last night was a blur for Deano - he dressed up as a woman, had a shower courtesy of Glenn tiping the tarp full of water over him, and had some heartfelt moments with Manny reminiscing about Timmy. Thank you to everyone for a grat night.

i woke up very sick this morning - coughing and fevering, this cold has been holding on for over a week now - hope i am rid of this by Thursday, cos dont want to be sick for my holiday.

my sister is more excited than me

so, debs calls me at work the other day - she is more freaking wound up than i am! she has painted my 'room', bought me a new comforter, gonna have coffee waiting for me (cos I arrive at 6am) and is gonna cook me english bacon (yummy) and eggs when I get to her house.

She will have to get up at 5am to come and get me from the airport - and i think Hannah is coming too - so looking forward to seeing her! what a great kid she is!

So we have some plans, we are gonna act like stupid tourists for 2 or 3 days in London, and take 100's of photos! there is a pass we can buy for 50 pounds that will let us into a ton of places including Tower Of London, Kew, and the war museum.

I have to work the Friday that I leave, we have a 'staff retreat' supposed to make us feel like a team i guess! It is in Inglewood, so I have to get there for 9, leave at 1230, go back home to pick up Deano, then he is to take me to the airport for 3pm. Cant figure out why I have to be there 3 hours before when I already have my seat selected! Oh well.

We are also going to try and get to the Isle of Wight to see our dad. Debs is gonna come with me - otherwise i wont go! will very likely be last time I will see my dad ever. He is getting older and i feel in my gut that this will be it for us. So I have to do the right thing, and it will also allow me to close the chapter in this book. I feel for him, he does not realize just what he has missed the past 35 years.

I havent even started packing yet - always leave that til last minute, will prob do that on Wednesday - gonna go get a new book too to kill time on the plane -

This weekend is Timmys Race! hopefully will only rain in the AM - we need no rain for the afternoon and evening!

we are also going to Warwickshire Castle, supposed to be haunted! and having curry night, and wine night and probably will laugh more that I have lauged in years! so excited!

my new shoes

so i decided today that i would need a new pair of walking shoes for all the walking around London that i am going to do. So off i go to find a sports store in Georgetown, like a SportsChek or Athletes World - - - well blast me, there are none in Georgetown, didnt feel like driving to Milton or Brampton so ended up at Winners. Who knew you could buy Nike Walking Shoes for under $60 at Winners!

So i am making my poor hubby look at all sorts of pictures on the internet of where i will be going - imagine how he is going to feel when i come back with 2000 or more pictures. Dont even know if my computer could hold them all - hmmmm, may have to buy a new computer to load the photos on!

So tried to cancel Deans ticket today cos he cant go due to work layoff - holy crap the runaround you get - we paid for the insurance, it cost $100, so why can we just not cancel! No, we have to fill out paperwork, get a letter from his work, prove that he is laid off, holy shit, I feel like we are buying a bloody house just to get OUR MONEY BACK.

I have to work the Friday that I am leaving, so hopefully i can get real tired at the staff retreat so that i can sleep on the plane. I am claustraphobic and am only good for about 4 hours on a plane before i get antsy. God forbid the person sitting next to me if i start to get the fidgets. Never mind that I also smoke - gotta find myself some good drugs (legal ones of course) that will let me sleep for 6 hours of the 7 hour flight. Cos I have a hard time sleeping on a plane or in a car - that is why I will never get to Australia, you would have to drug me and keep me under for the whole trip.

So my 2 boys were away all weekend, Brady at Linzis and Kyle in PA at a race. Brady is so great with his littlie cousins that they hate it when he leaves, but i think Linzi is relieved cos she doesnt have to feed him anymore! The boy eats non stop. Kyle came home a bit battered and bruised, and has def torn something in his shoulder, but this was really the last big race of the season and he has lots of time to heal.

So this weekend is very important, it si the Tim DaSilva Celebration of Life Race. Timmy was one awesome kid. He was my bmxson and I loved him like my own, would have done anything for him - and he would have done anything for me as well. We lost him on July 15, 2006 and this is the third annual event. We all come together and celebrate the man he was.

Then I have to start seriously thinking abot packing and what I am going to take to UK with me - it is very expensive over there, so want to make sure i take everything i need with me! Debs has decorated the room for me, and got the vodka in already so will be a good time for sure! lots of vodka, fun, laughing and stories.

The countdown is on . . . . . 11 more sleeps!

Where I want to go . . .

my poor big sis Deb is going to be a taxi for me when i am in the UK. Where do I want to go???

well i arrive at 6am! and those of you that know me, know that I am not a morning person!!!! But Debs will have the coffee on.

I want to go to the haunted Warwick Castle, visit where I lived when I was growing up to see all the changes, visit the parts of London that tourists dont go, go to the National Archives and find my nannys birth certificae for my mum. And all other family history stuff like my grandads war records - things I cannot do easily frmCanada.

I cant wait to see Marg, Barb, Donna, Lisa, Nicola, Jan, Hannah - omg i can just imagine the stories, the chats and the laughing that will be going on - this will be the best tonic I have ever had.

I even went a got another memory card for my camera so now i can take up to 3000, yep three thousand photos - and poor Deano will have to look thru everyone of them when i get home!

Oh, man I wish so badly that he was coming with me, but the automotive industry is up and down like a toilet seat and shutdowns are happening with no wages coming in, so we made achoice for just myself to go - he is so giving and totally unselfish.

I know i have to bring back Turkish Delight, Chocolate Buttons and Galaxy Chocolate for my peeps!

I hope you all enjoy reading my blog - i will try and keep it up to date!

Fulham Gilliatt Secondary School in Fulham, London the place i spent the years from 1977 to 1980.

My dream trip

Well on october 3, 2008 i will be leaving on a jet plane, to a place i have not been in 22 years. This is all thanks to my very very good friend and war partner in a previous life - Suzy Q!

I came to Canada in 1980 and left behind my family and my friends. It was a quick move, my mom met my stepdad in July 1980, went to Canada for a holiday in September and we moved here on November 30 1980.

I was 15.25 years old, the boy of my dreams (yea right! at that age like i knew) had just asked me out the week before, Stephen Ford, and I didnt want to leave England,cos I 'was in love mummy'.

The hardest couple of things i had to face by leaving was leaving the special people in my life: our close knit family, all my cousins, aunts, uncles, my friends at the Church Girls Brigade, my friends at school, but most of all my older sister Debs and my godfather Albie. My heart was breaking at the thought of leaving them behind.

My mum was so much in love with Geoff and Linzi and I were too young to leave in England so off we went on a Wardair Plane to Toronto. I will always remember Albies face at the airport - he loved us all so much, we were his family, he was our dad when our dad left, he was the man that raised us, he created such a wonderful childhood for us and was such a wonderful man to my mum.

So we get on the plane and Linzi had just had a skinhead haircut and was wearing drainpipe jeans - quite the sight - the air hostesses were quite intrigued by her hair cut. And then when my mom told the story about how she had met Geoff and moved her whole life in 3 months of meeting him, they treated us like royalty -even invited us to the cockpit - certainly couldnt do that nowadays.

My mum dressed us all the same, blue jeans and white sweatshirts! how corny was that - i must find out all the old pics and post them here.

We knew nothing on Canada - thought it was full of snow and ice and eskimos - and we arrived to snow on teh ground and parts of my body that i did not know could freeze.

WE were here without the proper paperwork for a while, so we spent our first 6 months cooped up in an apt building at Victoria Park and Finch - talk about Culture Shock! but the apts. had an indoor pool so we were somewhat excited. But if i see one more episode of theLove Boat I will scream, I knew more TV shows in those 6months than I had ever seen in my life. In UK we had 3 channels, we arrived to 60!!!!!

My dad didnt put up a fight when we left, mind you, he never put up a fight for anything. His attitude was 'go ahead, take them, i cant stop you'but not once did he try to stop my mum from taking us away. But no loss, we really had not been important to him for the past 8 years.

So many thanks to my wonderful hubby Deano who has sacrificed so that we can afford for me to go to England. He ismy best friend and my soulmate and is the most unselfish man I have ever met - I love you Deano with all my heart.

so this blog is going to be about my trip, my experiences, my thoughts, who knows i may even carry this on after i come back.