Southampton

Where was I?... oh that’s right, just running out the door on the way to catch the  train from Waterloo. I managed to do that (after a bit of a kerfuffle with my train tickets) and Kate, Binks and I bagged a few seats on a very busy Friday evening train to Southampton.

Once we arrived and met James at Southampton Airport Parkway we discovered Becky really wasn’t joking when she messaged us all earlier in the day and it turns out she really did have to work late into the night and so wouldn’t be able to join us. Super sad times. It’s been ages since we all got together but plans are already afoot for the next meet up..

Nat eventually turned up after driving all the way down from Newcastle, looking a little worse for wear and after having to stop for a little service station nap time. What a total trooper.

It’s been just over 3 years since we all met in Cape Town, South Africa and 2 years since we had our first Southampton based reunion. And even though it’s been some months since we were all together it only feels like 5 minutes. Once we'd all eaten and talked and talked and talked and (obviously) Ring of Fire’d we headed out to Southampton town to the Orange Rooms where we drank cocktails from pineapples and huge shells before deciding it was time to dance and heading over to Revs where the music was perfect for a boogie. For old time’s sake, we wandered through Chicken Land and an hour or so later I was passed out on the bedroom floor, half under the bed and half wrapped in a sleeping bag. Perfect.

The next day we only woke up around midday and realised James had already been in work for 3 hours! We made our way into town and met him for lunch. We decided that the best option was to stay in the sunshine and play mini golf! I was crap for the most part – but it was bloody great!! We popped into STA to see James at work and talk about what everyone’s next travel plans are. Back at James' we visited the allotment and fed the chickens!

That evening, instead of getting annihilated on pre-lash games and stumbling into a bar for more, we went for a LOVELY meal at Turtle Bay. I can’t recommend it highly enough; I had curry goat with rice and peas….. SO GOOD.

..and then came the cocktails. They were all rum-based. One of them had absinthe in. Surprisingly delicious.

Another great weekend and it was super to see the gang.

Back at work this week I’ve been doing lots of learning. There is more learning to come. I’m hoping at some point in the near(ish) future I will stop having to use the phrase, “I have no idea” in response to EVERYTHING.

In other news, quite a few people have been to the house to view my room, none have taken it yet...I can't really blame them. During the week ahead I will mostly be packing up the entire contents of the room in to bags and boxes ready for the move on October 1st.

I've had a crackin’ weekend at home, it’s been dad’s 70^th birthday. But I’ll tell you all about that in my next post. My final post.

Until then…

Bren x

More pictures from the weekend: