Tag Archives: Jersey

Sep1

The rest of the holiday

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I realised when I returned from holiday that I had blogged on Day 1 of my vacation (Saturday) and then went silent for two weeks. The main reason is that my father-in-law, whose house we were staying in, doesn’t have wifi and I generally had to keep my wifi time to essentials only when I managed to connect somewhere.

After I published that last blog post, things went pear-shaped. Westjet decided to delay our flight by 2.5 hours which meant that we missed our connection with BA for our transatlantic crossing. What followed was a major hassle as our travel agent tried to rebook us on the next BA flight to Heathrow the following evening but Westjet tried to get us booked via Toronto and Gatwick.

We ended up staying in the super-expensive Fairmont hotel, right in Vancouver airport, which we weren’t really able to appreciate fully as we spent two hours on the phone to Westjet to attempt to get back on the Heathrow route. I’m glad our insurance will cover at least part of the cost of the $500 room. Breakfast was $70 which thankfully was also ameliorated by the meal vouchers that Westjet gave us.

We hung around Vancouver airport all Sunday afternoon and went to the check-in desk an hour and a half early to be at the front of the queue, as we weren’t convinced that things were ok. The BA check-in person referred us to their ticketing person as she didn’t think it looked right either and he sorted it out quickly and we finally felt happy that we were actually getting on the plane.

Because of all the schedule changes and hassles, we ended up having no special meals reserved for us and were really glad we’d stuffed our faces with large Subway sandwiches before getting on the plane. My plan to wear an eye mask and earplugs worked well and I did manage to sleep a lot of the 9 hour flight, which is a first for me. My Fixit did get some sleep too, just not as much.

So, we arrived in Jersey on Monday, after three flights and an extra 24 hour delay, comparatively well-rested.

As I mentioned, we stayed at my FIL’s and we were able to borrow his car or be driven around by him. I spent some quality time with my mum and sister, and on the middle Saturday they threw a family birthday party for me as I turned 60 while I was there.

I ate some nice meals out and caught up with some old friends.

I swam in the sea most days – we had lots of sunshine – and I really enjoyed it. When I lived there I didn’t appreciate it as much. My sister has become one of those people who love to swim nearly every day and in most weathers.

The flights home ran mostly to schedule and the connections were pretty tight. It was a bit of a rush in Vancouver, as we had to clear Customs before getting to the Westjet gate, and we hadn’t been able to check in ahead of time, so again we were concerned we wouldn’t make the flight.

I will have to forgive BA the lack of a vegan meal as we were allocated seats in business class for the long-haul flight. Holy travel pods, Batman! How many times have we walked enviously through business class with their cool little pods with all the amenities and seats that recline flat for a proper sleep, and a quilt and a pillow and real cutlery and ceramic mugs for their fancy coffee, proper headphones, a little zippered pouch of eye mask, socks and spa products?! I followed my husband towards the economy seats and then he turned around and said the row numbers were going the wrong way and where was row 56? When we realised we were in Club World we couldn’t believe our luck. It felt like we had won the lottery!

And now we’re back, and back to work, and pretty much over the jetlag. A couple of mornings of getting up at 4am, and then I was back to my 6am starts. Still going to bed early though, as I find myself dozing off on the couch well before 9pm.

This is getting pretty long, so I’ll publish this and then add a second post with photos.

Oct8

Yarndale and other holiday fun

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Yarndale and other holiday fun

I have been on holiday! I only had my old iPad Mini with me, and no phone, so I was only spending minimal amounts of time on t’internet, hence the gap between blog posts.

I had a lovely time. It was quite the whirlwind – the itinerary involved flying from Canada to London, England, driving down to see my cousins on the south coast, driving up to Yorkshire to spend a few days enjoying the area, including Yarndale, driving back to London, flying over to Jersey, a few days with the close family, then flying back to London, then flying home.

Kudos to Tai Chi Man who drove about 750 miles while we were in England. And motorway driving is NOT fun.

Highlights of the trip:

Yarndale, of course…

I was excited to meet Kathryn from CrafternoonTreats. We had been in touch prior to the day, because I have been helping to moderate her Ravelry group for a long time now and I just had to make sure we met up. She was a vendor, so she couldn’t avoid me, LOL. All of the yarn she dyes is wool, but knowing I am vegan she and her friend Helen had dyed up some natural coloured Stylecraft Classique Cotton with Procion dyes as a gift. So lovely!

Sorry, my photos aren’t great. iPad in poor light.

A few other souvenirs…

Being vegan helps me be disciplined in my yarn buying! Most of the yarn on sale at Yarndale is wool. So all I bought was this Louisa Harding Giardino (though it was pretty expensive)! And of course I had to get a Yarndale bag.

I was fan-girly about Lucy from Attic24, whose blog I have been reading for years. She is one of the organisers. I saw her, but didn’t talk to her, in the Knit ‘n Natter room. And I also spotted Tatsiana from Lilla Bjorn in the Scheepjes booth.

My travel knitting was a simple pattern from DROPS called Rascal. A two-row pattern repeat, it was just knitting back and forth until I felt the shawl was big enough. And I wanted to give it to my sister when it was done, so I had to finish it before I came home.

I forgot to get daylight shots before giving it away.

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It’s made with Lion Brand Mandala in Phoenix.

Other notable mentions…

Met up with my English cousins (one I haven’t seen since 1988) for a lovely day of hiking and lunching and catching up.

Took the tube around London, including Camden Market, Regent’s Park and Tower Bridge. Went up inside the bridge and got a funny feeling in my tummy looking down through the glass floor.

Seven hour drive north to Ilkley in Yorkshire where we had a lovely cosy Airbnb. Hiked around Bolton Abbey, saw some of the cycling world championships, got absolutely soaked on a three hour hike up on Ilkley  Moor. After Yarndale, a 5.75 hour drive back south to Gatwick airport.

The island of Jersey in the Channel Islands (close to France) is where most of our family lives and I stayed with my mum and Tai Chi Man stayed with his dad. That gave us the most time with our respective parents. And one day was spent almost entirely with my sister, including lunch at a vegan restaurant and a walk on the beach with her dog.

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A successful trip, all went to plan, with the only travel hiccup being a three hour delay getting out of Jersey. But as we had split up the three flights home with a stay at a Heathrow hotel this time it wasn’t a problem.

We were happy to see so many vegan options in many places. Supermarkets and restaurants are now offering so much more than they used to, so finding food is easier than it ever was. We still mostly self-cater when travelling, but it’s good to know we won’t starve if we have to rely on outside sources. There was a lovely cafe in Ilkley called The Veggie, the Sinful Vegan in Jersey, tons of vegan places in Camden Market, and I can’t forget Ransom’s Garden Centre in Jersey which has so many vegan mains and desserts that it’s hard to choose. (I had the coffee walnut cake, which was so rich I couldn’t finish it all in one go and had to save some for the evening.)

So we’re back to our regular scheduled programming. We arrived home Saturday evening, and Tai Chi Man had Sunday in which to recover somewhat from the jetlag and was back to work Monday. Thankfully my schedule meant that I am not back to work until tomorrow, Wednesday, so I’ve had time to blitz the house and do some grocery shopping. I haven’t quite had the energy to get to the gym yet though.

I’m back to crocheting the Party Cardi (a video tutorial on The Secret Yarnery’s YouTube channel) now that I have had a delivery of two more cakes of yarn. My stashbusting for September was pathetic, with the only outage being some tiny pumpkins, and then of course the incoming yarn from Yarndale. However I have blanket plans, because there’s nothing better than a blanket project when the weather gets cold. What are your favourite blanket patterns? I have some Red Heart With Love (which will probably become a giant granny square) but also a tonne of random worsted and DK to use up. I need ideas!

 

Jun20

Hello dear readers

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My apologies for the long silence. What was that? Oh, you didn’t miss me at all. Well then!

I’m sure you realised that I was on holiday and that of course I was staying in a house with no internet, no wifi (oh, the horror!) and I had to snatch moments of internet time at other people’s houses or coffee shops where the speed was as slow as a snail with a broken leg.

I have to admit it’s good to get away from the dependence on ipads/ipods for a bit. We all had more sunshine and exercise than we get at home. We also had some good family and friends visiting time, back in the island of our birth.

For those who haven’t heard of Jersey (no, not New Jersey, the original Jersey) it’s a small island in the English Channel. One of the Channel Islands, close to France but part of the British Isles. There’s a whole lot of info about it on Wikipedia if you’re interested.

We stayed with my FIL, spent time (not enough) with my sister and mum, met up with some of Tai Chi Man’s numerous cousins, had dinner with an old friend of mine from way back when our children were small. It was great to have a mini reunion with two schoolfriends, one of whom I saw four years ago; the other I haven’t seen for over 35 years. I love my sister’s family – my niece and nephew have become delightful young adults, and she has two stepsons and a daughter-in-law now.

I actually swam in the sea – it was freezing!

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We walked a lot, sometimes twice a day, along cliff paths, narrow lanes and beachfronts. We were reminded of the joys and frustrations of living on a small island with too many cars, miles of winding roads (some of which are only the width of one car) and the constant issue of whether one will find a parking space.

I bought souvenir yarn…

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This from a small but well-stocked shop called Country Wools which I came across accidentally next door to a farm shop. They even had Stylecraft!

My sister had booked 12 of us for a tour to the Ecrehous, a reef that lies between Jersey and France. We showed up early on a drizzly Sunday morning, wondering whether it was a good idea, but even though the boat operators gave us the option of cancelling or postponing, we went ahead anyway. We were provided with waterproof jackets and lifejackets and took our seats in the rigid hull inflatable. It’s a good thing we all had handles to grip, because it was a white knuckle ride across the open sea to the reef, but in a good way! The drizzle stopped as soon as we left the harbour, and the sea was pretty calm, but there were still some interesting bumps to make some of us scream as if we were on a rollercoaster. That was fun!

The reef itself is, at high tide, made up of a few tiny islands – at low tide, a sandbar is exposed. There are some fishermen’s cottages built there which are rented out in the summer months. One of Tai Chi Man’s cousins actually honeymooned there. You have to take everything you need, including fresh water, and there is nothing to do except swim, sunbathe and watch birds. The day we went, it was a little chilly, but three of our group did go in the sea, and a couple of seals popped their heads out of the water really close to my nephew as he stood in the sea. Of course it happened when he didn’t have his GoPro to hand.

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This is my windblown tourist look!

We were on the reef for a couple of hours, and hadn’t taken any food with us as we had lunch planned for later at my sister’s house. Or so I thought. I sat on the pebbly beach and dug into my backpack for something and found two bars of chocolate. My brother-in-law is an avid photographer and you can’t move without being in danger of having it recorded for posterity, hence this shot. The boat ride back was more eventful as we were accompanied by dolphins, which really made the day special.

Our round trip to Jersey was over 14,000km, with three flights each way. It’s a long way to go for only two weeks but it was worth it to see everyone again. However it’s good to be home. There’s nothing like your own bed, your own kitchen. Sometimes I think the purpose of going away is to make you appreciate what you have at home.

Before I sign off, I had better show you my FOs. I have no current WIPs as I haven’t decided what to make next.

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More gift bags for jewellery, most of which were given away. And the finished Dragonfly scarf, which was left in Jersey with my sister. The colours are more blended in real life.

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That’s it for now. I have to work tomorrow so I should probably get to bed and dream about my next project!