Blighty Revisited

We moved on next to Andre & Fran's site at Messines

We have become regulars here as the location is great and its pure tranquility

The main reason for coming here much earlier than last year is that we have pre booked to leave the rig here for 18 days and return to the UK to visit fiends and family

Andre takes us to Faro airport on a warm wednesday afternoon and within hours we are shivering in the car park at East Mids looking for our hire car

Welcome home….

Mum is doing really well and its good to see she's in good spirits

Martyn, after a gut busting local carvery meal

A week is spent generally overindulging with wine and good food, visiting Mum and helping decorate our hosts' hall, stairs & landings (a job which seemed a very good idea at the time but ageing muscles reminded me what work was all about!)

Time to visit this pair en route for Ipswich and a few days with Richard & Emilja

As ever the good food was washed down with copious amounts of traditional British beer and we left Bingham down the A1 with surprisingly clear heads for once…

A while ago Emilja & Richard told us they were buying their first home together in Stowmarket near Ipswich

A trip to the show house and actual build (pictured) at the weekend was a treat for us and the girls spent many hours measuring this and lots of that followed by trips to retail parks.

How the boys were excited……

The weather, albeit very cold, was kind to us on the saturday so off we toddled to Aldeburgh on the Suffolk coast

Keeping out the wind these guys are trying to land some local delicacies

Chilly trio...

The RNLI lifeboat station proved a big hit, and warmer too

Save us!

Poor lad, frozen solid..

Heaven sent at 10 per cent Abv

There now follows a small homage to British Grub, look away if you feel hungry...

Curry with parents at Bakewell

Pork & trimmings with P & J in Bingham

Superb fish & chips in Aldeburgh

Roast turkey lunch in Westerfield with the Lovebirds...

And finally the beef alternative…

Always a drama….

The day before our intended flights back to the rig in Portugal Nina stumbled on the stairs and went head first down a full flight and hit the wall and skirting at the bottom with much force

The Paramedics strapped her in to the full spinal injury package and whisked her (& me) off to A & E just 500m down the road

She had cut her scalp quite convincingly and needed glue and 3 stitches ultimately but was a major cause for concern for many hours as she remained strapped immobilised on the Ferno board whist she had a Cat scan.

To our massive relief she was then X rayed and given a provisional all clear to go home and consume a variety of tablets for the next few days and monitor the pain and movement

Within an hour of leaving A & E she is recalled for further examination by the consultant staff and then again released after briefing us on the state of her upper spine (she has a small fracture on one of her vertebrae) 

The upshot was we bizarrely made the airport the next day with their approval and as I blog Nina is in quite some distress with the pain and trauma but safely resting here in the van in warmer Portugal

The hospital has rung a couple of times and the situation is still fluid…

She's been so lucky not to have broken her neck and we are very grateful to the superb staff at King's Mill Hospital, Mansfield