Firstly, I just wanted to apologise again for not being able to write to you all on Wednesday- I was doing a lot of prepping for the weekend ahead and also cleaning out the guinea pigs as mum was going to look out for them while I was away.
However, I'm back and we have quite a bit to catch up on so without further ado, lets crack on!
I'll start with Wednesday night. Mum was due back from her holiday with her friend in Scotland at about 7 and I was to pick them up from town and chauffeur them both home. Add to this my need to pack for a weekend away, clean the piggies and make my dinner and lunches for the next day, I had a lot to do and not enough time to do it. Oh and I needed to shower. Why can't we just have a switch for cleaning ourselves? If I was on TripAdvisor, my hygiene rating would be 0!
I set about first making myself some dinner before cleaning the guinea pigs (all the poo!) and then showering all the guinea pig gunk off of me before I went to pick mum and her friend up via Asda for some more cucumber. I swear the staff at Asda must have thought I had a fetish or something- buying 2 cucumbers at a time. But what could I do? It was their favourite!
Once we were back from town, my schedule resumed with packing for my weekend at Matthew's/Weymouth. I was going to see Aisha and Evelyn at Weymouth with Sophie in a reunion-esque meet up before Sophie goes on her travels for the foreseeable future from September. We had it planned for weeks and with Facebook messages, both me and Aisha, and me and Sophie had planned little surprises for eachother. Me and Sophie decided to order Aisha some flowers, and me and Aisha decided to make Sophie a sort of survival kit for her travels. You can imagine we trying hard to juggle these secret plans without cocking it up and ruining the surprise by typing the wrong thing into the wrong conversation! I thought I'd done just that in the week leading up to the visit and my heart fell through the floor....until I realised I hadn't at all and all order was restored. The inspiration for the Top Ten Gift Giving Tips post was precisely because I'd spent a lot of time thinking about what to get Sophie and also about a mystery gift for Aisha. I always try to think outside the box and think about what they may need either day to day or what would mean the most to them.
For Sophie, the main present was easy; the best way into this vegan's heart is avocado's! Now as she was going to be travelling about, I thought buying a load of avocado's wasn't going to work well logistically, so I went down the accessories and clothing route and decided on a t-shirt which said "Powered by Avocado." A true statement I thought, and a sentiment Sophie would 110% be behind. I also got her a power bank for the times when a plug socket isn't readily available, a pocket travel diary that would fit easily in her travel bag, and also another diary with a scratch map on it. I thought it was a very 'Pinterest' kind of gift; also a sentiment she would value. I put all this together with a cheesy card with my address in so she can send me postcards....and gifts!....if she likes. A shout out to Sophie- I hope my little travel gift selection helps you out when you need it most! Oh and good luck on your trip of a lifetime!
Aisha got her some bug spray- again very apt given the size and amount of bugs she'll be faced with! She also got her a t-shirt with 'Never let anyone dull your sparkle' and a photo frame to name but a few presents. All in all, between me and Aisha, she will be fully clothed, bug free and her phone will always be fully charged!
As I mentioned earlier, I decided to get Aisha and Evelyn something too. At first, I wasn't sure what to get that would be of any use, but then I thought of something- a locket! It'd be great to keep memories in and a reminder of whats most important. Something sentimental. For Evelyn, I decided to get her a first birthday present. Yes, she's only 10 months old, but I thought while I was going to be there, and as me and Matthew have another Mulie adventure planned in early October, I thought I could give it to her now to save for later. For Evelyn, I wanted to get something that would be good for the immediate future, and for later years also, so I got her a book of The Brother's Grimm tales. They're timeless classics printed in big writing so she can read it when she's a little older, and for now, Aisha could read them to Evelyn as bedtime stories.
Back to the action now and Thursday night I drove down to Matthew's ready to get the train to Weymouth the next day. Before you say anything, I didn't drive because it was a long way and I'm not used to driving that long a distance continuously. I've found recently that driving has made me an angrier person and I'm therefore not enjoying it particularly. It may be that, like with everything else, I have a lack of faith in my own abilities so get anxious and annoyed by it, or it may be that more and more wazzocks are using the roads and pavements these days! The train wasn't that expensive, so for the want of being able to sit and relax for 3 hours, I'd rather go on the train.
Friday morning soon came and after Matthew treated me to breakfast and went off to work, I went for my train. I was scheduled to change at Bournemouth and then at Weymouth where I met up with Sophie at Weymouth for the final leg of the journey to Upwey. I almost didn't make my Weymouth connection due to a delay so I ran off the Weymouth train and straight towards the Upwey train which was thankfully on the opposite platform. Aisha's mum's friend came to get us and took us to 'The Old Ship Inn' where I would be staying the night. Sophie had work early the next morning so she unfortunately couldn't stay over.
We finally got to the pub and waited for Aisha and Evelyn. The pub looked so homely inside with it's wood fires and had a really traditional pub feel to it with it's quaint size and village location. Aisha and Evelyn then came over to greet us and we sat down for a catch up before heading upstairs for the big present swap. The flower's were well received and Evelyn loved them too, immediately putting the Interflora leaflet in her mouth (she's teething).
After the gift giving and gossiping by the bar, it was time for Sophie to go home. This would be the last time we'd see her for quite some time so we did the whole 'stay safe' and 'stay in touch' routine and gave her a big hug before waving her off. We'd spoken about it before she left and it still catches me sometimes- how our lives have all changed so much since university and how we've all taken different paths in life. Very deep stuff there. Too deep for a Monday evening!
For the rest of the evening, me and Aisha chatted some more and then ordered dinner from the kitchen downstairs (the perks of living at a pub!) and watched a film that held great uni memories for us both. Later that evening once Evelyn was fast asleep, we both went downstairs for a few drinks and to socialise by the busy bar. The pub was packed full of locals and friends alike and it was lovely to have a good laugh like old times and catch some Upwey gossip too. The pub also had a skittles alley so a group of us went to play.
Soon it was 1am and as the pub closed and the punter's left, it was time to go to bed ourselves. It was a great night and it was lovely to have some quality time with Aisha again after so long.
11am the next day, it was time to wave goodbye to Aisha, Evelyn and co! It was great to see little Evelyn again and of course, it was great to see Aisha again and see her smiling. With that, another shout out, this time to Aisha- it was lovely seeing you and Evelyn and hopefully it won't be too long before I see you again!
Fast forward to Sunday now and I headed home about 3 as I had to clean a certain furry four-legged pair out and get them ready to go home! The piggies owners were coming to pick up Bert and Ernie about 6, so like ritual dictated, I coaxed them out of their cage into their carry case so I could perform the last poop spooning and cage cleaning before they went home for good. Now due to the inconvenience of having to get into their carry case, they pooped up their red tube a good'n which was fabulous news for me (not!) It took me 45 minutes to get everything ready to go and at half 6, the knock at the door came. They were going home. When I opened the door, they greeted me with a gift of fudge that they'd got from their holiday which I thought was sweet of them (get it...haha...ok, on my own then) and I gave them the piggies and the cage to put in the car as we exchanged pleasantries about their holiday and the piggies. It turns out they'd only had the piggies themselves for just over a month and that their mum came in abandoned and pregnant to a lady who has a whole farm of guinea pigs! I then imagined a whole farm of piggy poo and thought it'd take an industrial sized spoon for all that poo! So these piggies are brother's who haven't had an easy start in life and will no doubt have left my house even more traumatised, but hopefully they'll settle into their home soon. A message to the piggy owners; good luck with all that poo!
That's all for today folks! I hope you've enjoyed reading and I will see you again on Wednesday!
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