14th Nov day 31 action-packed

Being gentle with myself yesterday definitely paid dividends as I didn't feel anything like as rough when I woke up. Simon has a tradition of cooking himself bacon, French toast with Maple syrup and cooked banana on the top on a Sat morning when he doesn't have Nicholas. He often eats it in the garden and reads the paper. So I joined him except there was no paper reading. Although I thought it sounded an odd combination I like to try new things and it was delicious.

After breakfast we went into Hastings to get a few things, including slippers for me and some presents Simon needed. It was Jillian's birthday. Carol and Jillian's bought their house together about 8 years ago, they are good friends and neither of them alone could afford anything like they had been used to when married, so this seemed a good solution. It's worked really well and they are still close, plus Carol's sons have lived with them and they love Jillian. 

We had been invited around for morning tea (that's what Kiwis call morning coffee) so Simon and I were just expecting a cuppa and scone, probably because that's what Carol had said. We arrived in time for Jillian to open her presents and were met by a feast of home baked things as well as tea and coffee served from Carol's Grannies bone China. We ate out in the garden in the sunshine and I was delighted to meet Jillian, Matteo, Anthonio and Carol's Mum, Wendy. They are a close family who made me feel extremely welcome and at home. The food was fabulous, just a pity we had already eaten so much already. But still I downed pizza with cauliflower, egg and cheese base ( sooooo much tastier than stodgy flour-based base, yummiest scones and cinnamon whirls that melted in my mouth.

Philippa had asked if we would have Nicholas from 12-5pm as she was helping with an Orphan Aid fundraiser. It was decided I would have time just with Nicholas - no hardship there. We did some general shopping together and then went back to Coinsave for more Pokemon cards. Finally it was time for us to get his birthday present, Nicholas was 10 on the 25th Oct but decided he would rather us go shopping for his present together when I arrived - how priceless is that? We went to the Warehouse and after an enormous amount of deliberating he chose Star Wars Final Order Snowspeeder Lego. It was between 2 boxes of Lego and in the end he had to do ip dip - don't you just love how simple life is for kids!

Nicholas and I went to support Philippa for a while with the fundraiser which was being held at his school, here he is on the monkey bars (he's amazing) showing Simon when he called in.

We all had a good laugh at their colour co-ordinated, but completely unplanned look - that's what comes of your Mum ironing your most difficult to press shirt!

In the evening I was invited to join the party for Jillian's birthday which was a family/friends meal at the Focal Cinema at 6.30pm followed by watching the new James Bond film Spectre at 8.10. Carol's sister Linda joined the morning tea group and one of the boy's friends Max also came along. It was a happy, fun and tasty meal and the film was brilliant. Wendy Carol's Mum is an intrepid traveller, she asked me if I would like to do a cruise with her sometime. Am not sure how this would work logistically with me being in the UK and her in NZ but I clocked it as a cruise definitely appeals to me for in the future.

As Simon and I drove home I reflected on Carol and her loving, inclusive family. She, Jillian, her 2 boys and Max all work together, I wondered how many grown up kids who live and work together would chose to go out socially with their Mum and family on a Sat night - very few I suspect. That says a lot for how good it is to be around Carol.