Our weekend in Dorset

A view of Lulworth Cove from the coastal path. Picturesque, even in the mist and rain.

Some of you may have seen the pictures I posted on Instagram of our trip to the beautiful Dorset countryside. It was a fantastic trip and we learned a lot about traveling outside of London for a weekend away, renting a car and pumping petrol. We stayed the night with my Aunty Margaret and did some tourist sightseeing. Although the fickle English weather didn't come to the party, we did have a lovely time. Kyle and Kelly also joined us for the trip, adding a fun-with-friends feeling to our road-trip!

Frans and I decided to rent a car and do our overdue visit to my special Aunty Margaret and Uncle Brian. We had been told by Kyle that the car rental company to go for is Kendall Cars in Wimbledon which was sound advice! The car was affordable, performed brilliantly and the proximity of the rental ground to the edge of London meant that we didn't have too many scary London roads to navigate before we were on the (more) open roads to Dorset.

Kyle had to teach us how to pump our own fuel. In South Africa, you
always have a petrol attendant to do it for you! 

We had been meaning to go and visit Margaret and Brian ever since we arrived in London, so we decided that last weekend was the one. Aunty Margaret is actually my mom's aunt; she is my gran's sister and we have been very close to her all our lives. She has come to visit us in South Africa many times and has lived in Dorset her whole life. Margaret, my gran and her two brothers John and Bob grew up on Poxwell farm where their parents were farmers. In her twenties, my gran married my grandfather and they moved to South Africa.

Margaret has always been a deerstalker and supplies the local pubs with a variety of venison cuts for their dishes. She, like my gran, has a palate for the foods that the rest of us might find a little gross. She is as strong as ever and takes regular walks around their steep and uneven farm land with her terrier, Terry. We had supper at a local pub which Margaret supplies with meat. I had the venison loin and Frans had the venison faggot, a large, rich, stuffed meatball containing all the bits and pieces that don't usually make for perfect cuts of meat.

From left to right: Uncle Brian, Aunty Margaret, me, Frans, Uncle John,
Aunty Lynne, Kyle and Kelly.

On our way down to the farm, we visited the abandoned village of Tyneham. Due to its close proximity to a military training ground, the village was evacuated during the second world war to be used as a practice ground for military practice. The village was never repopulated but in more recent years, has been carefully preserved and the church and school house have been restored to their original state. It is a really interesting place to visit, but our favourite part was the incredible, remote roads and views on the road leading to the village. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get any pictures of the spectacular scenery as a chilly mist had descended!

The restored telephone box at Tyneham Village

We then made our way to Lulworth Cove, with the intention of walking the few miles along the coastal path to see Durdle Door. Lulworth Cove is a cute little village on the Dorset coastline. It started raining as soon as we arrived there so we didn't really get the sunny seaside experience we were after. However, we didn't let the rain get in our way and persevered on with our short hike. Although we got drenched by the irregular downpours, we thoroughly enjoyed our walk and the scenery was well worth the squidgy shoes and chilly cheeks!

Durdle door and seaside chalk cliffs. Pebble beaches make walking
on the beach in shoes much more pleasant than on sandy ones!

On Sunday morning, we had a lazy morning followed by a fry-up breakfast, which included black pudding! After breakfast, we went for a walk on the farm, guided by Margaret. We scrambled through the woodland, hopping over brooks and bashing through bracken. We popped out of the forest at the top of the farm with delicious views of the countryside stretched out in front of us. I didn't take a camera, so these images are recorded in the photo album of our memories only. Later that day, we took a scenic route back to London, stopping off at the Cerne giant and Fovent badges, some of the many hillside carvings in the chalk landscape of Dorset. 

A terrible picture of the Fovent Military badges with a field
of bright yellow Rape below it. 

Taking the scenic route meant navigating some rather narrow lanes, putting Frans's driving skills to the test! Every so often we would suddenly come round the corner to find ourselves in another village out of a post card! the houses are all right on the street with beautiful stonework. It was a perfect drive home. Back in London on Sunday evening we decided that it was a very worthwhile outing and we will definitely be doing something similar again.

Village lanes

Weekend fun in the sun

The sun came out and London went crazy this last weekend. Up until now we have had some really sunny days and the lovely light late evenings have been amazing, particularly for my post-work morale, but this weekend it got HOT. Well, not hot by South African summer standards, but hot enough for everyone to scuttle outside and try and catch some rays. And that included us of course!

On Friday after school, I was whisked off to Soho square for drinks in the park with school friends. At first, I thought it was an odd choice of place to go because it is a tiny little grassy square right in the center of London, and there are some perfectly good parks here in the west that we could have visited. However, I trusted the judgement of Sophie and Lisa-Joy and I'm so glad I did. The park was buzzing with loads of people just having a casual drink on the grass. A neighbouring couple gave us half a bottle of prosecco that they weren't going to finish and a friendly Hare-Krishna representative gave us a pamphlet and sang us a song!

Soph and L-J are just two of the awesome people who have desks in the workroom I am based in at school. We don't have our own classrooms, but rather all teachers are based at desks and give their lessons in different venues depending on the timetable. Our workroom is super fun and we have a really good time. There's Elyse and Sofija who are Chemistry teachers, Sophie teaches Geography and Lisa-Joy is the head of English. Will teaches IT, Economics and does some other career guidance things too I think. Daniel Podibinski is a physics teacher and is mostly called Pods (although after the skiing accident he was known as Podabin-ski-accident, and because he had to use a crutch was sometimes called Poda-stick-ski). Ellie and Anna are part-time teachers and so, although they aren't in often, it's always nice to see them. There's also Pete and Ian who grudgingly put up with the antics in the workroom (but secretly love the fun). I'm so grateful to be able to hang out with such super people at work, and after work a lot of the time. It does make the day much more fun!

On Saturday after Parkrun in Gunnersbury Park, Frans and I headed off to Richmond Park to meet up with Kyle and Kelly for a picnic. We were running a little late and not a hundred percent sure where we were going so it took us ages to get there. Then we realised there wasn't anywhere nearby to buy picnic food (and, due to bad planning, we hadn't already bought any) so we had to walk miles to find a little Tesco and buy some snacks. Once we finally met up with Kyle and Kelly we had a lovely relaxing picnic near to the Isabella Plantation gardens. They were filled with beautiful flowers and lovely little streams. After that, when we had had our fill of the sights inside the Park, we took the scenic route back to the station walking through Richmond town center. Richmond is beautiful, I was amazed at the spectacular views over the Thames and the masses and masses of green space.

The warm weather has waned somewhat and we've had a few wet days this week, but it stays light late and we can keep the windows and doors open well into the evening. This afternoon it was raining hard but it cleared up beautifully at about 8pm - so off I went for a run in the park. It feels like there is so much more time in the day when it's lighter for longer. Oh no! I really am living in the UK, all my chatter is revolving around the weather! I'll leave it at that for now. Below are some pics of the weekend, enjoy!

Lisa-Joy waiting for the train to London
to get going again. 

Sophie having a sip during our selfie

The little park was packed with people
on the sunny Friday evening.

A deer in Richmond Park

Obligatory pic of us!

Beautiful views of the Thames from Richmond

The walkway beautiful walkway in Richmond

First of May - what a marvellous day!

The first of May was Caitlin and John's wedding in Bathurst, South Africa. It was not a wedding I could miss - the three of us have had too many adventures of our own together. Not to mention that Caitlin and I are pretty sure we were sisters in another life! So what this meant was that I had a whistle-stop trip back to South Africa over this long weekend.

Leaving on Friday

Flying direct made a huge difference to the travel time and meant that I didn't lose any days, as I flew overnight. I managed to get quite a bit of sleep on the plane, especially on the way back, which is very rare for me! Part of the reason why, I think, is because I was so tired from the lack of sleep on the weekend.

Landing in PE

Landing in Joburg on Saturday was such a lovely feeling. Spotting all the familiar sights out of the plane window and hearing familiar accents in the airport. I sat next to an English girl who was going to Cape Town for a week's holiday with friends and she was so excited about all the sights to see and activities planned. We chatted quite a lot during the flight and enjoyed a dignified dinner with wine - well about as dignified as you can get while using plastic cutlery and wearing aeroplane socks!

Nanaga with Vicky (and Dylan
making a face in the bacground)

It was straight on to Port Elizabeth from there where I met up wit Pippa, Graeme, Vicky and Dylan. It was amazing to see their friendly faces after travelling for so long. We picked up the rented car and begun the drive to Port Alfred. Of course, there was the obligatory stop at Nanaga for lamb and mint pies all around, yummy! We got to at the Mason's house in the nick of time because everyone had already begun arriving for Caitlin's Kitchen Tea. What fun that was! There were at least 50 ladies there, all sitting around, drinking tea and delicious cake, giggling at the naughty poems and skimpy underware! Caitlin loved the afternoon and felt so spoilt - as it should be!

So lovely to see Pippa

Saturday evening was a little dinner with the family and was so relaxed. We sat around with a few glasses of wine and chatted and caught up. The plan was to get to sleep early but, when three close friends are sharing a room, that seldon happens... we chatted way into the night! Sunday morning was also so relaxing, Caitlin, Kate and I snuck in a stroll on the beach bringing back so many memories of doing exactly that when on an escape weekend to Port Alfred from Grahamstown and Rhodes. After some sitting in the sun, showers, hair, makeup and a last minute flurry of getting dresses on, we were ready to head to the wedding!

Walking on the beach like
the old days

What a marvellous day! Caitlin and John put so much careful and deliberate thought into their vows, their speeches, and how the day would run. Family and friends worked really hard to make the day happen and to fulfil all the wishes of the happy couple. And boy did it get pulled off! There were songs sung, poems performed, tears shed, meaningful and entertaining speeches made, bonfires burned, blessings given and lots and lots of dancing!

The view from my room

On Monday I had to leave Port Alfred way too early to catch the plane to Joburg. The early wake-up was made even more difficult having only a few hours sleep (literally 2 hours!). Thank you so much to Vicky for driving and to Dylan, Graeme and Pippa for leaving earlier than they would have otherwise had to! It all worked out perfectly though because I got to cross paths with my dad in Joburg airport while he was on his way to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia for work meetings.

Hanging out in Joburg

So, now I'm back in London after only being away for three days, it does feel kind of like it all happened in a dream. The trip was really so worth all the time travelling and the money spent to see such special friends begin the new chapter in their lives. This short little nip back to South Africa has also really helped me feel less far away from home. It is amazing to realise that one day I can be in London and the very next I can be in Johannesburg!