Weekend "up north"

I put up north in quotes as people in London consider everything outside the M25* to be up north. I found this amusing when I lived in the Midlands, as I was obviously not in the north. Now that I live in London I find myself referring to the midlands as the north. Odd.

I had a pretty busy weekend visiting friends in the Midlands. I drove up to Derby on Friday night and saw some people I used to work with, then went across to Ilkeston to visit with my adoptive parents (Jon and Patty). I ended up staying the night there. Saturday I drove across to Lincoln and spent Saturday and Sunday with Jon and Dawn. I got stuck in a bit of traffic going to Lincoln and over-estimated how long it would take to get through the traffic, so when I arrived early Jon was still out. As it was a gorgeous sunny day I took the opportunity to sunbath on the hood of my car. Jon found this very amusing when he pulled up. 'Only an American' I believe is what he said. :) I hadn't been to their house before and I'd never really spent more than a few hours with them. I had a good time with them. Jon kept me busy fixing his laptop (the fact that I could fix it and get it working again made me feel really smart!) We had a pretty chilled weekend. Sunday Jon cooked a great meal after church - I think those were the best mashed potatoes I've ever had (sorry mom - they were really good though.)

This is Jon and I a while back. I forgot to take any photos at Jon and Dawns. Opps.

Sunday night I drove back to Nottingham (church) and met up with Andrew**. After church we went and had a meal at a pub by the canal. It was absolutely gorgeous outside by the canal. There was a swan that Andrew enjoyed feeding his chips to. We talked so long that we got kicked out when the pub closed so Andrew came back to Jo's (where I was going to stay the night) with me for a cuppa.

You can see how much he likes his picture taken

So I caught him while he was busy talking about trains on the phone. You should never let your guard down :)

Monday I had a nice lie in and met up with Jim and Jo for lunch at a pub in Derby and I ended up meeting up with Andrew again before I headed home.

This is Jo and Jim. I took this photos a few weeks ago when I was up.

The road I normally take to get home was blocked off because of road works. I tried to find a new route back and ended up at a red light with the Savoy in front of me. The Savoy being a famous hotel in London. I thought it was pretty cool as I'd seen this shot in movies many times.

(It's pretty blurry, but you can just

make out 'Savoy' in green letters.)

Although I'm exhausted, it was a really good weekend catching up with friends I miss now that I live in London!


*M25 is the ring road around London
**Those of you who were at my wedding would have probably met him. Bar the minister, he was the only one from England not related to Ben.