England: Part 4
Continuing from last time, which was awhile ago.
Friday, June 5th
As you might have guessed, this was a sleep-in and relax day. A long driving trip does that to a person.
Saturday
We went and visited MC's youngest older sister (he has 5 so without naming names...) and her family in the afternoon. We talked a bit, annoyed their cats, played a lot of MarioKart on their Wii, and stayed a bit later than we all thought we would. I'm not that great at racing games but I think having a "steering wheel" does make it easier. Went home and had dinner.
Sunday
MC's parents had a run at Elvaston Castle so MC and I went with his parents, eldest sister, and Alf, the dog. It had or was suppose to rain. His mom kept hoping they'd cancel the run but, nope, they didn't. His sister was driving this time. I was in the front seat and.. well, I kept my mouth shut but, boy, did I want to tell his sister to shift a lot of the time. She drives a bigger car than MC and its a manual, hence all the "shift" mental muttering and mostly when she didn't downshift. During the drive, MC's dad realizes that his window doesn't anymore. We figure that the motor died. We arrived and found a non-puddly spot and try to figure out how to make the window waterproof-ish. MC's parents go to start their run while MC, sister (along with Alf), and I go in search of something to drink and a place to watch them run by us (and a shelter us a little from the rain that had started). Nice cup of tea later and a few pictures taken to annoy his parents, we start to walk about the castle grounds. Go back to the car to get towels for the running parents as they'll need to dry off and get less muddy. MC and I actually take umbrellas with us this time. I take more pictures and we get a little lost trying to find the main gate. MC and I decide that its raining quite a bit and go back to the car while eldest sister and Alf go to the finish line. MC tries to fiddle with the window a bit without any luck. Eventually parents and sister come back to the car. Parents are a bit muddy so they clean up and we all head back to MC's parents' house. Parents take showers. Everyone warms up and enjoys some tea. MC's mum makes dinner. Think we had roast. I know desert was strawberries and cream.
Monday
MC gets called over to help his mum sort out the phone line. She had been in the middle of painting and redoing the front room. This caused Mathilda to be even more of a little devil with claws. We went over there and MC figured out the wiring. Played with the cat a bit. His mum had bought some donuts that we shared. Probably was a low key day.
Tuesday
Ventured into town to have tea with MC's co-workers at Britannia Mill. I had met one co-worker before but not the other. I tried some coffee and learned about the importance of having toast be available at the cafeteria. Then we ventured to the Westfield mall in town. Think we were looking for eyedrops again at the Boots and a hairclip. Walked around a bit. Went into an Apple Premium Reseller store. Found a much needed hairclip (that I'm wearing right now). Had lunch in the food court. MC had fast food of some sort (Burger King?) and I had Thai food. I was missing Iced Coffees by this time and was sad that an Iced Americano was not remotely the same. Somehow we found out that MC's other sister's family's computer once again needed some TLC (last time I visited we went over there to figure out what was going on with a wifi card). Apparently trying to sync a huge homemade movie to an iPod can crash a Vista machine and cause it not to want to work again. MC tried and tried to fix it without luck. Since we were going to London the next day, there was only so much we could do. Was nice to see that part of his family though. Probably went home after that and got ready for our trip to London.
Been awhile since the trip so details are fading a bit. Luckily I kept a calendar with short descriptions.
Next time will be a whole entry dedicated to our London trip. It was a trip filled with walking and cussing out Bob Crow.
Friday, June 5th
As you might have guessed, this was a sleep-in and relax day. A long driving trip does that to a person.
Saturday
We went and visited MC's youngest older sister (he has 5 so without naming names...) and her family in the afternoon. We talked a bit, annoyed their cats, played a lot of MarioKart on their Wii, and stayed a bit later than we all thought we would. I'm not that great at racing games but I think having a "steering wheel" does make it easier. Went home and had dinner.
Sunday
MC's parents had a run at Elvaston Castle so MC and I went with his parents, eldest sister, and Alf, the dog. It had or was suppose to rain. His mom kept hoping they'd cancel the run but, nope, they didn't. His sister was driving this time. I was in the front seat and.. well, I kept my mouth shut but, boy, did I want to tell his sister to shift a lot of the time. She drives a bigger car than MC and its a manual, hence all the "shift" mental muttering and mostly when she didn't downshift. During the drive, MC's dad realizes that his window doesn't anymore. We figure that the motor died. We arrived and found a non-puddly spot and try to figure out how to make the window waterproof-ish. MC's parents go to start their run while MC, sister (along with Alf), and I go in search of something to drink and a place to watch them run by us (and a shelter us a little from the rain that had started). Nice cup of tea later and a few pictures taken to annoy his parents, we start to walk about the castle grounds. Go back to the car to get towels for the running parents as they'll need to dry off and get less muddy. MC and I actually take umbrellas with us this time. I take more pictures and we get a little lost trying to find the main gate. MC and I decide that its raining quite a bit and go back to the car while eldest sister and Alf go to the finish line. MC tries to fiddle with the window a bit without any luck. Eventually parents and sister come back to the car. Parents are a bit muddy so they clean up and we all head back to MC's parents' house. Parents take showers. Everyone warms up and enjoys some tea. MC's mum makes dinner. Think we had roast. I know desert was strawberries and cream.
Monday
MC gets called over to help his mum sort out the phone line. She had been in the middle of painting and redoing the front room. This caused Mathilda to be even more of a little devil with claws. We went over there and MC figured out the wiring. Played with the cat a bit. His mum had bought some donuts that we shared. Probably was a low key day.
Tuesday
Ventured into town to have tea with MC's co-workers at Britannia Mill. I had met one co-worker before but not the other. I tried some coffee and learned about the importance of having toast be available at the cafeteria. Then we ventured to the Westfield mall in town. Think we were looking for eyedrops again at the Boots and a hairclip. Walked around a bit. Went into an Apple Premium Reseller store. Found a much needed hairclip (that I'm wearing right now). Had lunch in the food court. MC had fast food of some sort (Burger King?) and I had Thai food. I was missing Iced Coffees by this time and was sad that an Iced Americano was not remotely the same. Somehow we found out that MC's other sister's family's computer once again needed some TLC (last time I visited we went over there to figure out what was going on with a wifi card). Apparently trying to sync a huge homemade movie to an iPod can crash a Vista machine and cause it not to want to work again. MC tried and tried to fix it without luck. Since we were going to London the next day, there was only so much we could do. Was nice to see that part of his family though. Probably went home after that and got ready for our trip to London.
Been awhile since the trip so details are fading a bit. Luckily I kept a calendar with short descriptions.
Next time will be a whole entry dedicated to our London trip. It was a trip filled with walking and cussing out Bob Crow.