May 16th

Maf played perfect host, taking Beth and I to the nearby town for some window shopping. We walked up the hill to catch a great view of the sea and town. Later we went to a village for lunch and nature walk. It was really cool to hang out with the two of them. It was a relaxing day of site seeing. We played 'yellow car' all day but Maf included gold, cream and even lime green.






We went back to Maf's and played a little bit of PS3 - An eye toy game where we had to save little alien guys.

Later we went out for Indian food, it was pretty good. Though the mango chutney had a hint of mold taste to me. I mentioned it out loud and Maf stopped eating it too. There was another dip that both Maf and Beth hated but I thought it was pretty good, a bit oily, but yummy!

After dinner we went to Lee's karaoke. I was too scared to sing alone so Maf, Lee and I sang Four Minuter Warning together. I was more scared of karaoke then I was about sky diving! Lee is a fab karaoke master. He's so relaxed and funny! Mind you a lot of the joking he did were inside jokes to the Snug people that were there.

We went back to Maf's and I slept soundly with my ear plugs in.

May 17th

Beth and I were on the road back to her place at 9am-ish. We missed Maf and Lee so we created a variation on 'yellow car'. We included all of Maf's wacky colours and called out 'Maf yellow'. Then we decided all highly unusual colours would be for Lee and we'd call out 'ewwwwww Lee'. Colours like pink or shocking colours that you just couldn't help saying 'ewwwww Lee' about. We sang BNL songs for ages and generally had a great time back, aside from a bump or two along the way. Cell phones both a blessing and a curse!

We got to Beth's mom's house to get her girls. Her mom had made a feast for us but we couldn't stay because Barry was going to be picking me up. So we made buns for the roads and they really hit the spot! Thanks Beth's mum!! Wish we could have stayed and had a chat!

We made it back to Ledbury and I packed up and before I knew it Barry was there to get me. It was a very sad moment saying good-bye to Beth and the girls. I still had a week in the UK but it was the last time I was going to see Beth! :o(

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My time in Prestayn was really cool. Meeting Maf and Lee was an awesome experience. They were as amazing in real as they are on the show. Really I was there because of Maf! Who would have thought over three years ago I would find the Snug and three years later I am there in person! Thank you, thank you, thank you Maf!
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So I pile my stuff into Barry's tiny mid-life crisis. There wasn't enough room for my bag of food so I left it with Beth.

The ride to Barry's house was long, especially after driving four hours already. We arrive at Harwich pretty late and I was exhausted. We ordered Chinese food take out, I ate what I could and then went to bed. I didn't realize you have to order sweet and sour sauce separately (say that five times fast ~ sweet and sour sauce seperately, sweet and sour sauce seperately, sweet and sour sauce separately........)

May 18th

We went grocery shopping in the morning. Then we went to visit Barry's mum. Way back 15 years ago I stayed with Barry and his mum while I waited for James to save enough money to come over. It was great to see her after all those years. She gave me a couple of books and I got a cookbook back that I had left behind all those years ago.

We then went for a walk at the abandoned war facility. It was great but so nasty with rubbish!






Then we went to feed the local swans.

We had a pretty mellow day and went to bed fairly early.

May 19th

We went to Colchester to visit the castle. It was a bit touristy for my liking but was still cool to wander around. I bought a few pressies for Willow. We wandered the town as well and bought a bunch of cool things, an addition to our Carrcasonne game, Barry bought a t-shirt with cats for Willow and I picked up other odds and ends. Then we stopped by a broken down Abby, apparently destroyed by Henry the 8th. There was a piece of the on the ground so I grabbed it. I wonder what it is about humans that we like to collect rocks so much!




We went back to Barry's and I had my left over take out, with the sweet and sour sauce I was missing the first night. I had another early night since we were going to sky dive the next day.

May 20th

We woke up early and were on the road by 7am. It was a long drive to Headcorn and traffic was bad, so we ended up being late and at the back of the line for jumping. We spent a long day waiting for the weather to clear. It was Kelly's birthday and she was finding it difficult to be sitting around not knowing if we'd get a chance to jump. But finally the sky began to clear and the first set of three jumps happened, then the second set. Finally it was our turn. We did the training, got suited up, and got onto the plane.

I was not scare, excited but not scared. Mark was the instructer I tandomed with. They have to have over 800 jumps so I felt completely safe. Everyone else got out before me and then it was my turn. We scooted over to the door, rocked forward, then back then out of the plane. That's when it hit me, that's when I realized 'this is falling!!'. As we fell to the earth I found myself inflicted with a temporary turrets, I was swearing like mad! The DVD didn't pick it up though, it just shows me with a crazy face, trying to breath way up there. The straps from the harness were really tight, very uncomfortable once the chute opened up, though on the ground it felt like a crazy sex suit! LOL A jog around the field might have done me some good! wink wink nudge nudge! So we waited hours and hours for something that took probably 10 Min's or so from take off to landing. My landing was pretty damn good too, we landed on our feet.



Unfortunately on the way back to Barry's I felt really ill and had to stop to :vom:, but once I did I felt much better. So after the long drive back we went out for a drink and had dinner and then slept, because the next day I was going back to the Snug.

I'll end for now but the 21st will be about my scary and exhausting journey by train, tube, tube, train and then train! 6 hours or so.....