What a mad couple of days....

Hi everyone,

Just got home from London last night and oh boy what an adventure that was, I have never seen so many ppl in my whole life.

We caught the train to London on Thursday and we left about 10.00 a.m. and arrived in London at midday. We made our way to the hotel and checked in, it was a lovely hotel called The Trafalgar Thistle. Mum's cousin was paying for our London trip, she is the one who's husband owns the Porsche so they can afford it.

We dumped our bags in the room and went and got a sandwich for lunch and took it and sat in Leicester Square to eat it. We then set off walking, we walked down to Trafalgar Square and took some pics there and then we walked down towards number 10 Downing Street but couldn't get in to see the PM as he wasn't taking guests from Australia. From there we walked down to Big Ben and West Minister Abbey where I had to go in by myself as it cost £10.00 to get in and Mum and her cousin didn't want to pay. Boy was that a totally amazing place with all the old bodies burried in there of Kings and Queens and Arch Bishops. So guess I could say that I have been in the presence of royalty. We then walked to have a look at the London Eye (didn't go on though) After that we walked to Buckingham Palace to visit the Queen and wouldn't you know it she was out down the back walking the corgi's so didn't get to see her either. We then went back to the hotel to get ready to meet my cousins from NZ who live in London. We met them in Leicester Square at a pub called Yates, you wouldn't believe the amount of ppl that go out for a drink after work and don't go home til very late. Had dinner in a lovely little restaurant called Garfunkel's and that was so yummy. After dinner we walked up to Compton St which is a bit like Oxford St in Sydney (get the picture). Boy was there some sights to be seen there, we had a drink at a very crowded little bar. It was so funny, Mum's cousin drank quite a bit of wine as she had never met our cousins from NZ before and she was so funny. After my cousins left we then got a Rickshaw ride, yes a Rickshaw ride in London. That was just death waiting to happen as it is very dangerous, they dodge in and out of traffic. Mum's cousin Maureen had a ball as she had never been on a Rickshaw before and by this time was very drunk. All in all we had an excellent night.

The following day after we had all slept in needless to say, we went down and had breakfast and then headed out again. This time we went on the open top double decker bus which takes you around London to see all of the sites. We went over the London bridge, saw the Tower of London which is London's only castle and then went for a River Boat cruise on the River Thames to Greenwich which is Greenwich meantime for anyone who doesn't know as I didn't know that til yesterday. After we came back I we got off at Harrods and went shopping very quickly as we were running out of time.

We then went back to the hotel to collect our bags and catch a cab to Kings Cross Train Station. Our train had been cancelled along with the one before so it was very crowded there with heaps of passengers who had all been booked on these trains so when the train finally came we had to run like mad to the platform to try and get a seat. Luckily Mum's cousin can run very fast and she is quite scary so no one dared tried to take the seat that she wanted. We arrived back in Wakefield at around 11.00. Very long day but so much fun and yes I did all that in two days, oh and I forgot to say that I feed the squirrels in Hyde Park. You don't get to do that everyday, do you.

Off to Scotland tomorrow and then I come home in a week. Yippee, I can't wait.

Take care everybody and see you all soon.

Hugs
Gypsy

Hi everyone, tis me Gypsy!!!! Well I have been very busy the last week.

On the weekend we went and stayed with my Mum's cousin Maureen and her husband Chris took me down the pit. I really enjoyed going down as most of my ancestors worked down the pits. We went 140m underground and I was so nervous going down in the little cage. There was 20 of us in this little lift and I felt very apprehensive when we where going down as I didn't know what to expect. When we got down there I was fine. They had exhibits down there to give you an idea of what it was like to work in the mines 100's of years ago. It was so sad to think that whole families worked down the mine even the wives so if there was an accident the whole family was at risk. It made me feel so lucky that we don't have to experience that, the conditions that they worked under was absolutely awful. It really does make you realise how far we have come. They spoke of kids as young as 7 who worked down the mine's to earn money for the family to eat and the worst mining accident which changed mining history was when 23 kids were killed in one accident and how another disaster trapped the workers down the mine and the village could hear them crying for three weeks until it all went quiet because they couldn't get to them. It was a life altering experience. Anyway enough doom and gloom. The highlight of my afternoon was going for a ride in my Mum's cousins 6 month old red Porsche (midlife crisis definately) We went 187kph and that was slow as he has had it up to 230kph, it was awesome.

On Monday we caught a train to Derbyshire to have a look at where our ancestors lived. It is so pretty there and we had a very tiring couple of days. We stayed at a Hotel which was haunted and 200 years old. I was so scared as they had told us that a ghost had been seen in our room in the mirror by one of the chambermaid's. When we went to bed we turned the mirror's around so we couldn't see the ghost in the mirror. We went for a 2 1/2 hour walk over to the church where most of my ancestor's were married and baptised and found a couple of headstones in the church yard with our ancestor's name on them and then we visited the local cemetry which was way to big to have a look around as we found graves as old as 1700.

It is Wednesday today and we have had a rest day before we head off to London tomorrow and then we get back on Friday and then we are off again on Sunday to Scotland. I can't wait for that.

Anyway, until I check in again which I don't know when that will be. I am missing everyone so much and can't to come home and then the countdown for Warana will be on.

Take care everyone.

Hugs
Gypsy