Sevenoaks & London – 10th June

There was more excitement on Wednesday 10th June as I had arranged to meet up with more friends in London after work. Captain Caveman had gone off to see a job somewhere not too far from Sevenoaks, Claire and I were working from home and Claire had a busy schedule so couldn’t join me in London.
I worked all morning, but not before a quick photoshoot with Reggie, the dog. I had a private session with Holly to get shit done, as no one else in our Neon Nook group had turned up – so I was lucky.
Captain Caveman got back early from his work so we both got the train together.

We met Clare and Liz at the Rose & Crown pub not far from Black Friars and it was pretty muggy by the time we arrived. Staff were friendly, there was free tap water on the bar, which I necked a few of, and I had a large glass of red wine for a whopping £11!!! The beer garden was off limits as it had been soaked by a downpour earlier in the day.
I had a Giffgaff SIM card which struggled to work in London but all was fine as everyone turned up. We had a couple of drinks, a good laugh and some suggestions to meet up again on my next visit. One of the staff even took photos for us and did a cheeky selfie!

Unfortunately, Liz had a prior arrangement and had to leave us but Clare, Captain Caveman and I decided to go on for food. Captain Caveman chose one of our favourite places to eat steak and I was a little hesitant that we should be splashing out as it’s definitely not in my budget. The train had already cost £8.40 each way so when we arrived at Flat Iron I chose the cheapest steak, whereas Clare and Captain Caveman went for a Wagyu Sirloin and Wagyu skirt. We all shared wine and ordered some sides. Flat Iron is just so good, no matter which cut or quality of steak you choose. Here’s what the 3 of us had with prices in pounds;

Flat Iron
1 bottle of Red wine 25.00
1 normal steak 15.10
1 Wagyu Sirloin steak 27.10
1 Wagyu skirt steak 24.10
1 chips 4.50
1 spinach 4.50
1 bone marrow mash 5.00
1 Mac and cheese 5.00
2 peppercorn sauce 3.00
1 wild mushroom sauce 1.50
Service charge 14.38
Total spent £129.68

My share came to just under £30 which was actually very reasonable for what I had and I loved it. This did include the free ice-cream which is so good too. Captain Caveman and I said our farewells to Clare and got the train back to Claire’s in Otford, where everyone was already in bed by the time we got in.

Gratitude List
1. Reggie, the dog
2. Seeing more of my favourite southern friends
3. Steak at Flat Iron was a real treat.

Sheffield & Sevenoaks – 8th & 9th June

On Monday 8th June, while having my tea and toast I tried to work out how much I had spent in the first week of this month. Just in the UK from my bank account I had spent £70, Captain Caveman had paid for stuff whenever I was with him, which I didn’t have receipts for, plus I had spent £100 in cash. I was supposed to be on a budget of £25 per day, just for me. I’d hope this week wouldn’t have been as expensive but it had been. I needed to keep a bit of a lid on it this next week because I was off to Spain with the girls in 4 day’s time and that would probably exceed the weekly budget.
Today, I got paid and unfortunately it wasn’t as much as I had planned for because how we got paid had changed. I was a little disappointed about the situation, despite a bit of notice, because I was lined up to be having my best pay day this year in July, which was Captain Caveman’s birthday month and we had loads planned that I had earmarked my cash for. It seemed that as soon as I had got straight and was starting to have saved enough for an emergency fund, there would be something crop up again to knock me back. After the summer holidays I promised I needed to rectify the situation. I had lots of ideas and some projects already started that I needed to get on with but there just didn’t seem to be enough hours in a day.
After work, Captain Caveman and I were off to stay with our friends near Sevenoaks and I was super excited to be seeing Claire and her family again, before our long weekend on the Costa Del Sol.
Pauline, my petite pink under seat case, was all set for her 2nd destination of her 3 week trip but this time she had been repacked with all my new clothes from Uniqlo – I just hoped it would be a bit warmer down south!
We arrived fairly late to a warm welcome from our hosts and my first drink was of course a nice pint of tap water – also a good one in the village of Otford!
Claire, Mark, Captain Caveman and I had a couple of welcome drinks and caught up on who was doing what and when during our stay. It was so good to see everyone again and I was looking forward to the next few days.

Gratitude List
1. Managing to personally spend within the allocated budget
2. Getting a full day’s work done
3. Seeing Claire and her family again.

It was a quiet day with minimum photos on Tuesday 9th June as I was busy getting stuff done before my next destination at the weekend. Everyone was out of the house when I got up at Claire’s so I had a cup of tea and some dog snogs from Reggie! He’s very affectionate and still a youngster so he needed belly rubs and attention. He also needed to make sure I knew where the snacks were kept – I did!
Everyone was working today and it was cold and rainy outside. We all came together for a family dinner, prepared by our hosts, in the evening. The weather wasn’t good enough for a BBQ outside so there was improvisation and we had it indoors. It was so lovely to be around the big table with everyone and such great food. We started before Captain Caveman because he had a late one but he soon caught up with us all.

Gratitude List

1. Reg, the dog
2. Getting through a good chunk of the to do list
3. Spending time with Claire and her family.

London & Gatwick – 17th January

My flight from Gatwick to Dalaman was scheduled for 5.15pm on Saturday 17th January. It was my last day in Barnes and we had great plans for my last morning. My friend, Claire and her daughter were on the way over to join us for breakfast. Even though I’d been in England for 18 days (plus 8 in Morocco), it had been quite tricky to meet up with friends. I appreciated most had family or Christmas and New Year commitments so it had only been possible in the last week, but I’d already planned to be back at work and celebrating birthdays with my sister. I really understood that not all friends could put themselves out for me being back in town but I really appreciated the ones who did. Claire drove from Kent to Barnes where Captain Caveman had cooked a superb breakfast for us all – even popping to Barnes Farmer’s Market for fresh produce.
Of course, I had decided to repack my case in the garden room and was mid pack when my friend arrived. They helped me try to get my massive case with all the food in, to under 15kg. Gill brought down the scales and we weighed them several times until we were sure they were under the weight limit.
After catching up and planning to see each other more in 2026, it was time to get to the airport. Captain Caveman isn’t one for airport farewells so I knew he was hoping I’d leave him in Barnes so he could get on with playing some Bridge. I decided he should come with us so at least if my suitcase weighed heavy he could take some stuff back home. Being the practical sort, he agreed and brought my empty rucksack which we had already decided wouldn’t fit in my case.

We had a nice drive to Gatwick airport from Barnes and I was grateful to spend a bit more time with Claire who had very kindly offered to take me to the airport. It costs £10 now to drop someone off at Gatwick which was a bit extreme and Claire ended up paying that. We said our farewells and we had a plan to get together in the summer which I was very excited about.
Captain Caveman came in to the airport and to the bag drop where things didn’t go to plan. My case weighed 17.8kg on the easyJet scales and I had to remove items. Captain Caveman was on it and took out some of my clothes, the frozen crumpets, tomato paste and curry pastes which I had multiple of. He took out some other products and when we weighed at just over 15kg the member of staff said that was ok. As they got distracted with another member of staff asking about my hand luggage, Captain Caveman slipped a few items back in to the case. Those scales were very biased so we were a bit annoyed and I was glad Captain Caveman was there. The goodbye wasn’t too bad as Captain Caveman had already planned to come out to see me in 5 week’s time, but I still got upset. We had spent almost a month together and I had felt very lucky at all the treats and experiences I’d had with him – even spending Christmas Day in Barking had been fun.

Once through security at Gatwick airport, where I didn’t need to take anything out of my bag and more than 100ml liquids were allowed, I decided I would have a look for some new headphones. The ones I had been borrowing from Captain Caveman had fell apart so I had left them with him. I decided I would use the rest of my birthday money to get myself a good pair, they did cost £49.99 but were noise cancelling, which I wanted. At the gate, my hand luggage underseat bag got checked and the man behind me had to pay extra for being a few centimetres over as easyJet were being really strict – he tried to argue as he works for easyJet but they were having none of it and charged him £34. On the flight, I was sat in 14D which was an aisle seat behind the exit row and had a couple sat next to me and 2 young women in the seats across the aisle from me. When the flight attendant came round she asked if the 3 of us in our row were together, I said not and she asked me and the 2 women across the aisle to move forward a seat, to the exit row. The man on my row wasn’t too happy about that as he wanted to move but the staff member said no to him, without a reason. Ironically, my underseat case which now had the wheels off to fit the specification, had to go in the overhead locker and I could put the wheels back on.

During the flight, I decided to celebrate the end of my fabulous 26 day holiday with the 2 for 1 prosecco and a chicken teriyaki with jasmine rice. It cost me £23.95 which was expensive but I really enjoyed it. I watched something on Netflix and filled in more of my copy of The Handy Travel Planner with all the new travel plans I had for 2026; Madrid, Bulgaria, Lebanon, Brussels, more Turkey and a couple of unknowns yet. I ended up spending another £12.50 on more Prosecco and I opened the midget gems which I’d stuffed in my coat pocket. I fell asleep before midnight and was due to land by 12.30am.

Gratitude List
1. A delicious Barnes breakfast with everyone
2. Getting to see Claire and her daughter
3. Having had such a great 26 days away that I was sad to be leaving.

Sevenoaks to Sheffield – 25th July

Captain Caveman had booked my train ticket from Otford on Friday 25th July at 10.59am which would go via London Blackfriars and St Pancras stations. I was due to arrive in to Sheffield at 2.42pm where Captain Caveman would already be working from a nearby cafe. Claire came with me to the train station and we said our farewells, hoping to see each other in Turkey in about 6 weeks’ time. I was still a bit teary at having to say goodbye, though, and always have such fun when I’m back with Claire.
My train was full and the couple sat next to me were mildly irritating by taking up all the table room which could’ve gone on the rack above them. Then sloshing tea and cake about and finally moving seats when we got to Leicester.
Captain Caveman met me in the Sheffield Tap and I used the facilities and logged in to finish some work emails before getting the bus. My parents had very kindly invited both Captain Caveman and I to stay with them for a few days and we were really looking forward to it. We got the 3.36pm Sheffield to Mosborough bus which cost £2.60 each for just one way – things had definitely gone up since my last visit! It was great to see my parents were doing well after both having some health issues; Dad was recovering well from a knee op and my Mom was doing well after eye surgery. It seemed only appropriate that we would celebrate with a quick trip to the pub. We were sipping pints int he The Alma by 4.30pm and, by 7pm, my sister and brother-in-law had joined us. We were going to have fish and chips at Tony’s but my sister is coeliac so it was a better option to go for an Indian. By 7.30pm we were all in The Vine Indian restaurant having a real feast with more drinks. We’d had a great afternoon and evening with the family, where a round of 4 drinks was less than £20 and starters, mains and drinks for 2 in the Indian came to £60. I even took half of my butter chicken and someone’s left over rice home for tomorrow.
Back home we had more drinks and celebrated being back in Mosborough some more.

Gratitude List
1. Travelling back to Sheffield
2. Seeing family again
3. Drinks and Indian in Mosborough

Sevenoaks and London – 24th July

Claire had needed to be in London for work on Thursday 24th and, as luck would have it, so did Clare. This meant I could tag along and work from Claire’s office and sit with her daughter who was also tagging along in the hope of a shopping trip afterwards.
I worked in the morning and then we took the train in to London, walking past a couple of places of interest. We met Clare at a nice spot for lunch where we braved sitting outside. The restaurant already had prepared for all weather with sunglasses and blankets, and we ordered quickly so that people could get back to work. Both Clare and I ordered a duck salad, Claire had a rainbow salad and her daughter ordered a burger with some duck bao buns to share. The food was fantastic and the waiter very good, we even got an extra portion of bao buns due to a mix up which we hadn’t even noticed. Typically, my dishes had tons of chillies in so I picked them all out, Clare who had the same, and likes chillies, had far fewer in her food. Here’s what we paid, in pounds, keeping in mind it was in London;

D&Ms
1 pint of tap water (free)
1 Elderflower cordial 0.60
1 tonic 2.95
1 diet coke 4.10
1 Homemade lemonade 4.95
Duck Bao Buns 10.95
1 Rainbow salad with Halloumi 18.45
1 Cheeseburger 18.95
2 Duck salads 33.90
12.5% tip 11.86
Total spent £106.71

Given that I was staying with Claire and had not paid for anything, I paid for the 3 of us at £81.71 and Clare paid for her share. I found it hard to get my UK phone to work in the centre of London and when I mentioned it, my 2 friends said they had the same issue. I missed the Resort Experts weekly meeting and ironically I’d also missed a zoom session on ‘Manifesting for Sceptics’.

Next, we said bye to Clare and went to the other Claire’s work. We had to get a pass, go through security to go in and up to a very high floor. The canteen was fantastic and I had a hot chocolate which was better than most cafes. Claire’s daughter shared her dried mango with me while her mom was in a meeting and was really well behaved while I did a bit of work. As we were leaving the office, I got a bit of a shock when I bumped in to an ex-Aviva colleague – the one and only Dan Holmes who now works in International insurance. What a small world it is.
We walked back to London Bridge station, via buying a new jacket for Claire’s daughter, and then did a bit of food and drink shopping, here’s what we got with prices in pounds;

Holland & Barrett
Diablo Dark chocolate 2.99
2 packs Gin Gins 7.78
Total spent £10.77

Gin Gins are great for seasickness, which I suffer badly from, so I was stocking up.

M&S
Sour cream snacks 1.25
Apple & peanut butter snack 2.65
Sparkling water 3.10
Super nutty salad 3.20
Edamame beans 4.25
Tuna and sweetcorn salad 4.50
Prawn layered salad 5.25
Sushi selection 5.75
Cray fish salad 6.50
3 ‘Train Tins’ 8.50
Total spent £44.95

On the journey back to Otford, we got a bit excited as we had Train Tins – let me explain for the uninitiated; these are tins (or cans) of premixed drinks sold by supermarkets in train stations so that you can have a takeaway alcoholic beverage on your train ride! Genius idea and Marks & Spencers do a really good range at only £8.50 for 3. We chose a Pornstar Martini each and then shared a limoncello with sparkling wine. What we didn’t really account for was a pretty full train with commuters on and the fact that, while the child in our care dined on sushi, sliced apple and peanut butter washed down with a juice, we were downing train tins before 5pm like a couple of soaks!
It was my last night with Claire and we had a nice relaxing evening with our salads and nibbles for dinner. I’d been well and truly spoiled at Claire’s and was going to miss them all, even Dave the cat and Reg the dog!

Gratitude List
1. London lunch with some of the girls
2. Going in to Claire’s office
3. Discovering Train Tins

Sevenoaks – 21st & 22nd July

I had to reign it in a bit on Monday 21st July as I had so much work to get through. I had enjoyed such an eventful weekend and was so grateful to have had the chance to be back in the UK. Both Claire and I worked all day; I had several zoom meetings/trainings including one with Matt Hall about audience growth and another session with Katrina Young about the use of AI in a more structured and professional way. I also managed to order a test notebook for my travel planner as part of the process to see how the cover looks, ready for my real travel planner and my next handy travel tips book.
When Claire broke for lunch she made us prawn and avocado wraps which were delicious. In the evening we had a family meal of a chilli with rice but without the spice for me and the youngest child in the family. It was very tasty and we managed to avoid any silly singing antics this evening and had a sensible one. Before bed, I spoke to Captain Caveman who had moved in to his new home in Pontefract and seemed to be doing ok, although he looked tired.

Gratitude List
1. Useful and free training
2. Finally getting my test book ordered
3. Spending time with Claire and her family.

Claire was working in London on Tuesday 22nd July and I had initially agreed to go in with her and perhaps meet the girls. Liz and Clare often work in London on a Tuesday and although Kelly wasn’t going to be there it did mean 4 out of the 5 of us could catch up. However, it turned out none of them were in London today and I also had so much going on with work and my book projects that I decided to stay home and work from Claire’s office. Reg the dog kept me company and I managed to also squeeze in another session on audience growth with Matt Hall then a live group call with Lisa Johnson which was also interesting. At 5pm I went to meet Claire at Otford train station so that we could walk to meet her daughter from a friend. It had been the last day of school today so all the kids were giddy for the holidays and there was going to be a sleep over at Claire’s tonight. After meeting Claire’s friend with her daughter and grabbing a few of the school bags, we headed off to start the fun with an ice-cream to walk home with.
The kids played in the garden while the adults tried to stop Reg from joining in on the trampoline. The kids had a Macdonald’s for dinner while we had a very lovely sausage and veg pasta with a glass of water – we were trying our best to be good! It was probably a good idea even though we had no clue, at the time, that the next 2 days would be busy with adventure.
The kids were very well behaved and managed to put us on a show but they were still a bit shy so went back to practice more.

Gratitude List
1. Getting through a busy day
2. Ice-cream to celebrate the end of term
3. Another great evening with Claire and her family.

Sevenoaks – 20th July

While Captain Caveman was due back to London on the morning of Sunday 20th July, I was settling in to my new home in Otford, near Sevenoaks, for the next 5 nights. It was cold, I wish I’d brought more clothes and Captain Caveman bought me a train ticket up to Sheffield for Friday so that we could see family, friends and go to the Tramlines music festival. Claire drove us to the station so that I could pick up my tickets and Captain Caveman could get his train back to Barnes. I was both sad to say bye to Captain Caveman, after 9 days together, but excited to be spending some time with Claire and her family, plus Reg the dog!
Claire and I popped to Sainsbury’s where I wanted to pay for the shopping but she was having none of it as she grabbed some food for a Sunday roast. Of course we had to take a photo of us messing about at the scanner! I accompanied Claire and Reg to take her daughter to an activity in the afternoon, while Claire’s hubby, Mark, sorted out a roast dinner with help from his daughter who was on to Yorkshire pudding and cookies. The Go Active briefing was interesting and I even ventured in to the venue to go to the loo. While all the other parents got to chat on, Claire and I took off with Reg the dog for a walk. We’d just set off when it started to rain – thankfully I had left my raincoat there last time!

Back home, we had a nice cup of tea and sampled Mark’s daughter’s cookies – that girl is a talented chef! I was also treated to an amazing Sunday roast with pork and crackling, roast potatoes, plenty of fresh vegetables, gravy and the most amazing Yorkshires I’d had in a while! Of course, there was wine which then lead on to us having an absolutely hilarious and random evening! It started with the cheese slapping game – let me explain for those not familiar; 2 people take it in turns to ask each other questions about themselves and if they get a wrong answer they are slapped in the face with a cheese slice! It was my first time playing it with Claire’s daughter and my face hurt from laughing, everyone was surprised how many I got right and Reg the dog loved it when the cheese fell on the floor. There was much laughter and confusion when Claire did selfies on Snapchat and made us in to men – both of us decided we were much more attractive as fellas too! We played more games – this time there was Claire, Mark, the 2 daughters and me. It was so funny and I wasn’t as good at the next game.

I’m not sure who had the bright idea of getting the karaoke out (it was Claire!) at 9pm on a school night but – I loved it! It was so funny when I was being told off by a kid for not knowing the lyrics to a Taylor Swift song. Poor Mark was probably wondering what on earth he had let himself in for by agreeing to me staying!

Gratitude List
1. Spending time with Claire and her family
2. Roast Pork dinner with all the trimmings
3. Evening entertainment to rival a weekend at Butlins!

Photo Credit – some photos by Claire and Mark

Otford & Gatwick airport – 11th August

There was lots of packing activity in the morning of Sunday 11th August and it wasn’t just me! Clare was off to meet her friend in London so was planning to get the mid-morning train. She had very kindly offered to take some of my clothes to alleviate me of the extra 2kg I had in my suitcase. Clare has always been one of those friends that is super reliable and solutions driven when it comes to any issues and she had me sorted right out these last few days. She took the warmer clothes and some PJs so I had some clothes in Rhodes and it was even more of an incentive to join her there on holiday next month. In the end, she took 2.5kg and I was so grateful for the help. Claire and Mark were also packing as they were expecting all 4 kids back this afternoon and were off on a holiday tomorrow morning. What should have been a busy family day, didn’t prevent my hosts being so hospitable and Mark made us a full English breakfast with the right amount of builder’s tea.
After the gorgeous breakfast, Claire and I walked Clare to Otford train station and said our goodbyes, I was desperately hoping that I would make it to Rhodes to see her again. Back home, Bee was the first of the children to arrive back at the house and it was great to see that she had really enjoyed her holiday to Turkey. I hadn’t seen her since she was about 2 years old so she didn’t recognise me. I did some work as I would be travelling later and may not be able to work tomorrow. For lunch we had a bit of a picnic with hummus, carrots, corn, pitta and even a sausage and some chicken. This was my last meal with Claire as we were leaving for the airport in a few hours. The rest of the family returned and went straight to their rooms to chill out, pack and repack for their holiday. I briefly met them to say ‘hi’ and give Bee some ‘borrowed’ face decorations from The Bull to play with Ivy.
I weighed my suitcase and found that it was bang on the 20kg allowance, thanks to Clare and that I had managed to snaffle the Mini Cheddars and a bar of Dairy Milk.
At 4.30pm I said my goodbyes after an amazing week in Otford and Claire drove me to Gatwick airport. I was surprised to see that they charge to drop off there and for a few minutes it was £6. We hugged and I started to get emotional, made worse by the fact we didn’t know when we would see each other again. Before I could cry too much Claire said to get in the airport as if we cried much longer (over 10 minutes) the drop off fee went up to £26 and we didn’t love each other that much! I walked in to the airport, pushing the cumbersome trolley, laughing and crying at the same time.
I was early for my flight but I was glad as the airport was absolutely rammed, mostly with families some of who were quite challenging. Once I’d dropped the suitcase off I went through security and didn’t even have to take out my laptop which was handy. I headed to the Whetherspoon’s pub and ordered using the QR reader app. I spent £20.95 on a mushroom pizza and a glass of rose wine, which wasn’t too bad for an airport. Through to the gate we were delayed and it was very busy but I got in quickly. Interestingly, there were 2 queues and the one for the people with special assistance or lanyards was very long. I was the only one in my queue and went straight through where I found a seat and got a water to use up some of my English change. It cost £2.80 from the machine and was nice and cold.
The queue to get on the plane seemed to take far too long to go down and lots of people were sweating a lot as it was almost 30 degrees at 9pm. We boarded late and I fell asleep on take-off. I was so grateful to have had the past 5 weeks in England with so many friends and family, I almost didn’t want to leave but I had a birthday party in Dalyan to get to!

Otford – 10th August

Saturday 10th August was my last official full day and night in England and the girls had plans to really make sure I enjoyed it to the fullest. I had once again declined the kind offer of an outdoor fitness session in favour of getting a bit of work done before the fun began. My legs still ached from the last one and the top up of impromptu dance moves last night. One of our other friends, Liz, was driving to Otford today to meet up and was already on her way by the time I met Claire and Clare for breakfast. Sally’s Café Emporium in Otford is absolutely amazing and, before I’d even tasted the food, it was going on to my list of favourites. The amount of cakes they had was immense and we were going to have breakfast there first, then take cakes away. I ordered pancakes with fruit and honey, Clare had eggs benedict and Claire had the fantastic combination of porridge, fruit and a hash brown. The tea, of which they had lots of different ones, came in china teapots and cups with saucers and our breakfast was a veritable treat. We paid for breakfast, which was reasonably priced and then got in the queue for the cakes. Claire, Clare and I chose fruit scones with butter, jam and clotted cream to take away, we got one for Liz and a brownie for Mark. The 5 cakes only cost about £20 and were massive.
Back at the house, I was still fuming about the Nationwide bank issue and Clare, who uses the same bank, transferred £50 in and I gave it her in cash. That way, if I couldn’t get it sorted before the next £13 charge, and because I wouldn’t be in the country from Monday, it wouldn’t incur more charges. My mom would bring my card out before the end of September and I could use the online banking to close the account. Clare and I also decided that I was going to send another strongly worded complaint to them in an effort to close the account and be done with it.

Liz arrived in the afternoon and made it into the town centre car park so that she could charge her electric car. Claire went to collect her and there were tears when we hugged each other. It had been such a long time since we last saw each other and I was really looking forward to spending time with Liz. Claire had prepared the spare room for her to stay over, I’d put the duvet and pillow cases on, and Mark had the heavy job of sorting the sofa bed out. Unfortunately, though, Liz was unable to stay and would have to drive home after dinner. I was sad that she couldn’t stay longer but at least we had the day together – it was a travesty that she would miss the Kake & Karaoke night which Claire had booked us in to tonight. Meanwhile, our other friend, Kelly, was on her sick bed and couldn’t make the weekend either and was feeling rather sorry for herself to be missing out.
Lunchtime was great and we had a chicken caesar salad with edamame beans in and then it was time for tea and the scones. It was the first time in my 5 weeks of being in England that I had eaten them and it was well worth the wait – there was even a proper tea pot and tea cosy.
In the afternoon, we had a wander to Otford town to pick up Liz’s car and called in to the antique shop for a quick look around. A drink was had in The Bull where last night’s dance floor had turned back into a dining room for pub food customers and we sat outside in the sun. It was a glorious day, ideal for getting me ready for the Turkish temperatures I would soon be enduring. Mark and Claire put on another BBQ and I’m sure they were getting even tastier each time. I ate sausage, chicken, pork, sweetcorn, feta salad and baby new potatoes. The pink fizz was flowing for the girls who didn’t have to drive and Mark joined us with beer. Poor Reg, the dog, had a long lesson in patience as he tried his best to get in on the meat action.
It was sad saying bye to Liz, although there was a chance I would see her, Clare, Kelly and Louisa in Rhodes next month, if all went well with my residency renewal.
I checked in online for my flight from Gatwick, leaving the next day at just before 9pm and would arrive at Dalaman at 3am. The rest of the evening was spent playing cards, something I rarely do as I’m not good at concentrating on the game. Mark taught us a game I had never played before, called Cheat, and I loved it. It was really funny playing with friends we know so well and a man I had only known for a few days with a lengthy career in the police force. Of course, it was absolutely hilarious and we sacked off going to the Karaoke night in favour of playing Cards Against Humanity – one of my favourite card games.

Otford – 9th August

When Claire, Clare and I started the day on Friday 9th August, none of us had any idea that we would be part of an event that might go down in the history of Otford. I started the day with a short spell of work and a warmed up leftover chicken tikka masala, rice and garlic naan, washed down with a cup of tea for my breakfast. The girls were good and had protein shakes after they came back from the fitness class in the park, the one I was still aching from! While Claire had meetings and work to get through, Clare and I took ourselves off on a little adventure. We walked to the train station and got a ticket to Sevenoaks. I even managed to operate a ticket machine and pay on card the £6.40 for 2 of us, before the train arrived so my skills were improving in the somewhat cashless UK. The walk up the hill in to the town was a killer on my legs and even Clare welcomed the stop off in Marks & Spencer’s. We had a good old look around and Clare found something to buy while I resisted. It had been so many years since I’d shopped willy-nilly that I now had the default setting of not getting anything. When we got to the town we located the Nationwide and I stood in the lengthy queue to close my account, for the upteenth time. I didn’t mind that the queue was made up of the old and disabled and was extremely slow moving as I felt like today would be my lucky day. I’d even had a message from my Mom to say my new bank card had arrived back in Sheffield and the old PIN was still active. When I finally got to the front, the lady explained that she wouldn’t be able to close the account as it was £3.54 overdrawn so I needed to pay that in to close it. I tried to remain calm but in the end I gave her a £20 note and told her to put £5 in and then close it, the balance could be transferred in to my other account. She paid £5 in and then said the system wouldn’t allow her to close it, and maybe there were more charges to come, which she might not be able to see. I asked her to check and she said the account looked fine, with a £13 fee due at the end of August so she didn’t know why it wouldn’t close. I left very annoyed, Clare took me for a cup of tea in a nearby café and listened to me rant on about what a ‘useless set of twats’ the Nationwide were being. Her Dad in Canada had experienced a similar predicament with the same bank but he had got his account closed and all the fees and charges refunded. We decided we needed wine to sort out a plan! After a little detour for me to pick up a small gift for Claire for hosting me (and her forthcoming birthday) we found wine in a very nice pub. The man serving behind the bar at The Restoration welcomed cash which was great, including 50 pound notes. He even told me of an incident last week of one of their other pubs having to close when they had a system failure and couldn’t take card. Clare and I discovered they had a rather nice Pinot Grigio which we had with soda and I splashed out on some pork scratchings and spent about £20 in total and we’re there a while. I only had 3 days left in England so I was sure that I was going to miss pork products like the scratchings, until I broke my tooth on one. Claire joined us after a trip to the opticians and getting her new glasses which looked great. We drove back to Otford via the Sainsbury’s where I treated myself to new PJs for £7.50. Mark was in charge of the BBQ once again that evening and we had a fab feast of meat, salad and rice before getting our gladrags on for an evening with a bit of a difference.

One of the local pubs, The Bull, in Otford was hosting a Gay Pride night on Friday 9th August and Claire, Clare & I were off to support it. Each of us had a bright outfit on and I was grateful to have brought my £6 multi-coloured long sleeved shorts suit with back fastening. On arrival at The Bull, we were greeted by friendly staff and decided to try their Rum Punch special cocktails. They were strong but good and we bumped in to a guy who looked like he’d just clocked off work and was having a pint of Carlsberg. The guy was from Leeds so he and I instantly had that Yorkshire bond and became buddies straight away. The girls and I discovered sticky jewels for faces and that a bottle of decent wine was on offer at £18 so more than one of those was enjoyed. The do was quite quiet, as I’m not sure Otford was yet the hub of the gay scene, or even had many open supporters, so we gave it a go at keeping it lively. I suspected an old couple who’d come out for their dinner, had to rush their pud to make sure they were out of the way of any of this sort of shenanigans in their local on a Friday night!
By 9.20am, I was dancing like a bad Rick Coffey (Google him, he’s one of my idols) on a carpeted corner of a dancefloor, giving it everything I had, including a solo chair dance performance to Lady Marmalade! We had such a great night and my aching leg muscles from the fitness class had only just started to loosen up. I met Guy, a gay from Otford, who personally thanked me for supporting Gay Pride at The Bull and emotionally shared that he had never imagined such a thing would ever be happening in this fairly traditional village of Otford. I assured him that he really wasn’t going to be the only gay in the village now and then broke in to a dance with Mr Leeds. My choice of outfit had proved itself troublesome with the double button fastening at the back when I had to take the whole thing down for toilet visits. I did manage to keep my sleeves dry and I knew my Mom would be proud I’d not peed on them. It was after midnight when we got home and Claire, Clare and I were shattered after such a memorable night. I had loved it and knew I’d sleep well that night and probably ache a lot tomorrow!

Knutsford & Otford – 8th August

Claire and I were up very early to get ready for our busy working day on Thursday 8th August in Knutsford. I ate muesli, half a croissant and a sausage and bacon muffin for breakfast with a couple of cups of tea. We drove to Claire’s work where she signed me in with the meticulous health and safety security man and I got positioned in the delightful kitchen/canteen area. I was so happy when Claire told me to help myself to hot drinks and that the hot chocolate was amazing. For future reference, I found 3 was probably one too many. I also had a couple of herbal teas and worked for a few hours in my new office. Mr Meticulous came in a few times to risk assess me and warn me of the plague of people due to hit the area at noon – that was actually Claire and her colleagues and there were certainly no more than 12 of them. MI5 was definitely missing a trick, not having this employee!
When we finished at noon, Claire had a client meeting and I wanted to attempt to close that bank account at Nationwide. We parked in Knutsford town, where I had been before, and I walked down the main road, Claire went the opposite way but gave me the car keys thinking I wouldn’t be too long. She was correct, as the Knutsford branch of Nationwide was closed today! Instead, I went to the post office to change some US Dollars where I only got £187.50 for $270 and I thought that wasn’t great. I tried to get in touch with Claire to see if she needed anything getting for the journey back but noticed my phone didn’t seem to be working. I topped up my GiffGaff SIM with another £10 for good measure and hoped it would work but there was still no signal. I sat in the car as it had started to rain and Claire arrived shortly after for us to set off back to Kent.

On the way back we stopped for petrol and I bought some healthy food at South Corley services, here’s what I bought with prices in pounds;

Waitrose Supermarket
Strawberries £3.25
Blueberries £3.75
Taiko Yasai Poke bowl £6.50
Total spent £13.50

The salad (poke bowl) had edamame in with all sorts of veg/salad and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Once eaten, I was back to concentrate on our Caraoke!!! Claire and I sang pretty solidly for about 3 and a half hours and had a right laugh. Back home, we were running late but luckily had timed it right with our arrangements for a meet up with another friend.

Clare had come over on the train from London, following her after-work drinks and we were off to the local India restaurant. Our fine dining experience at the Tamarind restaurant was so good and here’s what we had with prices in English;

1 pickle tray £2.10
1 Garlic Naan £2.95
1 pilau rice £3.95
1 Coconut rice £4.10
1 Mushroom Bhaji £4.10
1 Matar paneer £4.10
6 popadoms £4.20
1 pint Magners £4.95
1 pint Kingfisher £5.10
1 bottle of Cobra £5.50
1 Lamb Bhuna £7.95
1 chicken tikka masala £9.95
1 chicken Khorai £9.95
Side dish – free
3 Bailey’s – free
3 Baby Guinness shots – free
Total cost £68.90

I thought the meal, at less than £23 each, was an absolute bargain and tasted so good, we even took some home for me and for Mark for the next day. It was a lovely meal but the restaurant was very warm and we are ladies of a certain age so we didn’t hang about, apart from to partake in the free Baileys and shots of Baby Guinness, obviously. Outside was cold and dark on the way home but it was nice to have some fresh air. Clare doesn’t work Fridays so we had arranged to go in to town while the other Claire was working tomorrow and I was going to also meet up with Holly’s mom, Lynda, who didn’t live far away.

Otford & Knutsford – 7th August

Claire and I had exciting plans on Wednesday 7th August as she had to be up north for work and I had agreed to keep her company. I could hardly get out of bed and my whole body ached from yesterday’s workout. I got on Claire’s scales to find I had put on 0.7kg (1.5lb) which was not bad, considering what I had consumed. My measurements were much less favourable having put 2cm on my bust, and 1cm on both waist and hips. I now needed to lose 4.7kg (10lb) to get to target and that was going to be difficult. I had my tea and toast for breakfast and decided that it would be something to worry about next week!
I had a message from our Estate Agent in Dalyan to tell me there was an incident at Captain Caveman’s apartment complex and someone had left the outside tap on. The pool had overflowed badly, the road was covered in flood water which the gardeners said wasn’t them. It turned out it was probably our pool and garden company and I, as well as our tenants, were so impressed that they had turned up and put the hose on that we were willing to overlook the tap incident, mistakes do happen. However when the agent got there to speak to the Gardening company, they said it definitely wasn’t them!! I think it was.
Claire and I worked from home in the morning and then drove from Otford to Knutsford. On the way, we stopped at services to grab some lunch. Claire had another wrap and some crisps, while I went for the New York Deli Pastrami M&S sandwich deal with a brownie. We both ignored the money saving tip for the drink and just got water – but Claire was wearing white trousers. I was having trouble with the new style plastic water bottle tops which stay attached to the bottle.
We arrived at Cottons Hotel & Spa in Knutsford quite late as it had been a long drive and I’d done my best to keep Claire entertained and fed with wine gums. We had to log on to do some work emails and then we popped on our swimmers and decided to make use of the spa facilities. We had a sauna, steam room, jacuzzi and some swimming which was so lovely before going back to the room for a nice glass of wine and some nibbles while lounging in our room.
Claire arranged for us to meet a colleague for dinner and we ordered food in the bar which was very nice. I had (yet another) steak and ale pie which would more than likely be my last one in a while. Back in the room, we finished some wine and nibbles and put some weird jelly-like patches under our eyes. I’m not quite sure what they were for, but it’s some strange beauty phenomena which had become popular in the UK since I’d been away and we didn’t have any cucumber slices. I fell asleep while watching a very peculiar dating TV programme called Naked Attraction – it involved contestants who have trouble meeting people romantically but are not shy at exposing themselves to all and sundry on national TV.

Otford – 5th & 6th August

Monday 5th August at Claire’s was really nice, I had tea and toast for breakfast and gave Reg, the dog, some attention. All the kids were away now and Mark had gone to work so Reg was finding the house rather quiet. Both Claire and I had work so she took to her desk in the office and I used the dining table. I called Herdy back about my broken Herdy bag and the nice person asked me to email photos and organised a new one to be sent to Claire’s address this week. I offered to post the old bag back but they were happy with just photos and didn’t want me faffing around. I was very impressed with their customer service so can highly recommend them if you happen to be in the Lake District any time soon.
At lunchtime Claire and I broke off from work for a quick trip to Sainsbury’s. I needed an adapter plug for my Turkish laptop to charge it up and Claire had found a pack of 3 for £11.99, they didn’t do just one. For lunch Claire made us a rather lovely chicken caesar salad and we had strawberries, blueberries and raspberries afterward. I was being good until tea break when I had a cup of Yorkshire tea and 4 biscuits. I was already on over 350 syns for this week with a couple of days to go to weigh day so I was not doing too well.
After work, we walked Reg and I saw how pretty the village of Otford was, then Mark and Claire cooked an absolute feast of a BBQ and we sat in the garden with a cider or 2. I had chicken legs, vegetables and rice and it was so tasty. In the evening we lounged, chatted and ate some chocolate.

Claire had very kindly booked me in for a class on Tuesday 6th August, first thing in the morning. She regularly does a class in the nearby park and had invited me along. Claire’s also training to run another marathon so, as you can imagine, the class was way beyond my (lack of) fitness capabilities. There was a beep test and floor exercises and running – quite frankly, it nearly killed me for about 45 minutes. I also ruined any good work I had done by having a sausage sandwich with my cup of tea for breakfast as soon as we got home. Even in the shower my legs were like jelly and I knew I was going to ache tomorrow. I did a couple of hours work before Captain Cavemen called, he was doing his next Oxalis briefing in a few hours. For lunch Claire and I had chicken, cheese and sweetcorn pittas followed by a chocolate rice cake and another cup of tea. More work was done before getting ready for an evening out in Bromley – it had been a while since I’d last visited. Upstairs I found a new friend in Dave, the cat, who had been napping on my bed after I had left the bedroom door open. He did not want to move so I left him there while Claire and I nipped off to the cinema.
Bromley did not look like it had changed too much and we managed to get parked on a side street and find a supermarket to get our cinema snacks from. Tesco definitely had a better choice of Meal Deal items and I treated us both to ‘dinner’ for just £6.80 as Claire had paid for the tickets to see Longlegs.
I opted for a Katsu chicken wrap, a Naked Blue Machine smoothie and a Wall’s pork sausage roll while Claire chose a spicy bean wrap, a protein bar and a chocolate milkshake. I’d been reading tips from a money saving expert about how never to buy water or crisps on the meal deal as you’re not getting the best value. It was an absolute bargain as the non-deal price was £13.30. We had really good seats which reclined and were super comfy. The film, starring Nicholas Cage as a nutter, was pretty scary and jumpy. I’d say worth a watch but don’t have a blueberry smoothie open at the scary bits! We didn’t have any popcorn but we did take a packet of Minstrels in from Claire’s and ate a few but were full from our lovely meal deals. I had finished the week on 450 syns and was quite glad that I would not be going near Carol’s Fat Club scales tomorrow. I was intending to face them the following week, though.

Sheffield to Otford – 4th August

I’d taken the day off work on Sunday 4th August as I was leaving Sheffield and going to visit Claire in Sevenoaks for a week, before flying back to Turkey in 8 days’ time. Claire had already offered to take me to Gatwick airport when I left so that I could get back in time for Nanny Kay’s birthday meal on the 12th. Even though my National Express bus from Sheffield bus station was at 12.45pm, I had decided to go early because of the delays we had with Captain Caveman’s departure. At 10am I was outside the garage door with my suitcase, waiting for my parents to lock up and come with me. Dad had my rucksack, complete with teabags and wine bucket – it was finally leaving Mosborough!
We arrived in to the bus station before 11am and decided to walk over to the nearby train station. None of us had eaten breakfast but when I take a bus I refrain from it so that I don’t have a bad stomach. While Ma went and got her and Pa bacon sandwiches and coffee at the Starbucks, I bought a bottle of water for £2.49 in WH Smiths – how much!? I should’ve brought tap water but I didn’t have a bottle to put it in.
When the Sheffield Tap opened (at 11am) my parents were still eating their bacon sandwiches as there had been a long queue. We decided to have a pint in the pub before it was time for me to walk back to the bus station. A pint of pale ale, a stout and a cider cost me about £15 – better value than bottled water!
We walked back to the National Express stop where there were 2 buses and I said my goodbyes and thanks to my parents. I got on the second bus which wouldn’t be stopping at Golders Green but going directly to Victoria, just what I wanted.
I sat about 3 seats from the front next to a man who, when he was on the phone was quiet, so I liked that. The drivers were not quiet, however, and we had to listen to endless drivel about their colleagues and political opinions all the way. We stopped off at Northampton services for a toilet break and I bought some sweets and some chocolate as I was peckish. £5.50 for 2 bags was a bit of an extravagance but that included a supposed £2.48 discount and I did have to use a self-scan check-out.
We arrived in to London Victoria bus station on time at 5.15pm and I had a train to Otford due at 5.42pm. I went straight for the information desk and they told me which platform. Captain Caveman had already bought me the train ticket when he bought me the bus one and I just made the train. By the time we were pulling in to Otford station I didn’t even realise mine was that stop but saw Claire waiting on the platform. It was great to see her after what we think is probably over 5 years!
We got to her house and was met by Reg, the cute pup. I met 3 of the 4 kids as Bee, ironically, was in Turkey and Mark for the first time. The Prosecco was opened and an amazing roast pork Sunday dinner was dished up – my first since being in England! We had a great night, drinking fizz and later rum while catching up and I felt like we’d not really been apart. My bedroom was so lovely with a comfy bed and I slept so well that night.