Post 8

We had a lovely week in Icmeler, Turkey. We stayed at the Efendi Hotel which was only 50m from the beach, lovely and had a great bar that did fabulous cocktails.

The weather was perfect, we didn't see a cloud the whole time and the temperature was in the mid thirties with light breezes. It was a very lazy holiday, most days we would get up late, go out for breakfast then hit the beach where we would spend the afternoon reading, sunning, swimming and having watermelon, chips and beer brought to us by our nice sunbed man, Patrick Swayze.

Late afternoon we'd drag ourselves off the beach, go for a walk then find a restaurant for dinner. The food was really good, everyone was more than happy to accommodate my fussy eating although trying to explain vegan was sometimes a bit tricky. 'No animals, eggs and nothing from a cow' normally worked! I managed to eat roughly my own weight in baklava during our week there. Mmmmm. It was a stroke of genius going on holiday during Euro 2004 as it was the quarter and semi finals and there was a game most nights which would watch in a bar with Efes beer for Andy and buckets of cocktails for me.

We didn't deviate from our exhausting daily routine much apart from one afternoon when we hired a speedboat for three hours and checked out the coastline. Andy's phone took an unscheduled dunk (or three) in the Mediterranean when he forgot he had it in his togs pocket when leaping off the boat. Oops.

It was a fantastic holiday and we recommend Icmeler and the Efendi Hotel to anyone wanting a week or two too chill out, relax and have a great time.

We arrived back in London late Friday night after a marathon journey, with a four and a half hour delay on our flight. Mum, Dave and Bev were staying so it was good to see them. On Saturday we headed up to Hertfordshire to a pub to meet a few of the Coppard (Grandma Warren) side of the family. We met at a lovely village pub where we had lunch. Everyone was really nice, there were three of Julie's cousins plus a few partners and kids, John and Doreen drove down, plus Dave, Bev, Mum, Andy and I so it was quite a gathering. After lunch we went to cousin Stephanie's house in Buckinghamshire where we carried on the drinking, eating and catching up. It was a very nice day and interesting to meet a side of the family I hadn't before.

This weekend we have John from Guernsey coming to stay so a few drinks are planned. Next weekend we are going up to Rotherham to see Andy's parents and brother. Madge and I are going wedding dress shopping on the Saturday which I'm looking forward to. We are bidding the Merc farewell next week so will be driving our new car up to Rotherham. How exciting! It's a Mitsubishi Shogun Warrior (known as a Pajero in NZ) and is black.

Photos of the Girl's Weekend Away, Turkey and the family day will be up soon. Along with some shots from my Waimean dinner a few months back.

Bec