This was not a holiday...

… however much it looks like one!

The KBCTC Trip 2011 commenced in the early hours of the morning. One coach ride to the airport where we watched the husky tones of dawn appear. One plane ride to Malaga, another coach to Marbella Station (cue lots of language cramming and cards), another coach to San Roque and one confused group of tourists searching for the ‘large white building on top of the hill’. When we finally found the centre, Simon greeted us at the door with some Spanish guitar, and then we discovered that roof and that view. Oh… so that’s Gibraltar… and that landmass over there is AFRICA!

We spent the first few days at the centre hearing from some legends, and took some time to explore San Roque. Here are some interesting facts about Spanish customs: You must wear shoes at all times if you want to be respectable. Politicians all employ the same graphic designer for their promotional material and like to use small cars with loud speakers to make themselves heard. Children come out to play at night and chocolate spread is a must for breakfast. I think we might have started that last custom… and I miss it.

More tales of our trip to come soon…..

A Royal Wedding

Woah - this post is way late but perhaps I can back date it? Yesterday I had a little flurry of people (read: family) tell me they enjoy reading this little blog which has spurred me on to post.

So, cast your minds back to April 29th, a great excuse to get dressed up and eat pancakes and strawberries for breakfast and to break out the bubbles before lunch. We squeezed a good number of people into Number Thirty, tried our hand at Royal Wedding Bingo, scrutinised outfits and hairstyles, and went along with the general royal fervour (although we drew the line at standing for the National Anthem). It was great to celebrate with Brits!

After the ceremony we headed out to the street party - complete with bunting and mini-doughnuts.

The Middle Day

It was Easter not too long ago, and the Saturday was pretty special. Not only was it the hottest day I have experienced in the UK (the last time we celebrated a festival on the High Street of Kidlington it was the coldest day..) I went for a walk in the morning and saw this hot air balloon just hanging out in the sky above our neighbourhood.

We were helping out LCC by handing out free crème eggs and face painting. I had volunteered for the face painting, but didn’t really come prepared… Luckily, earlier on that day Kim had pointed out a particularly hilarious photo of Rob painted up like the Easter Bunny and I sort of tried to do what I had seen, but a passing glance meant I mistook the ears for some kind of bushy eyebrows. Kim thought they were clouds…

This was a test for some of that strangling perfectionism coursing through my veins. No idea what I was doing, nasty brushes, but it was fun and Lauren managed to run home and print me off some templates. I painted some butterflies and tigers too, which a little more cohesive.

After being an Easter Bunny/Guinea Pig, Suzie decided she wanted a go at painting her own face and took things to a whole new conceptual level. I thought it was probably the most successful face painting of the whole day.

There were loads of other market stalls on the High Street and Kim bought this delicious bread which we ate for lunch. YUM.

Lastly, I hung all our Easter prints in the lounge. It was great to have a visual reminder of the story.