And so it begins...

It's here, guys. Cricket season, four months of sitting in pavilions, eating egg mayonnaise sandwiches, walking (or being walked by) the dog around the boundary, unsure of whether I can pass the sight screens (you'd think I'd know by now, right? Three years of cricket has clearly taught me nothing). I can't say I truly enjoy it, not the game part. I like the social aspect - the drinking of tea, cradling the mug with both hands in the hope that it can warm every part of your freezing body from your toes to your scalp, because even though it's summer - well, not quite yet - it's not hot, and it's probably about to rain soon. So then we stop, the guys come off and discuss. I sit around (I do lots of that, during cricket season) and hope to God that they get on with it or call the game off. Secretly hoping it will be the latter. I was scorer, two years ago. I focused on every ball, every over, every wicket, every run, for eight long hours, and it was difficult and tiring, all that concentration on a Saturday! But at least I knew what the players were talking about in the clubhouse over beers afterwards. Now I read books, do crosswords, talk to the dog. Steer clear of cricket talk. I never really knew what I was talking about, honestly, and it's probably for the best that I stay quiet in the corner.

This year things are different. Mike has decided to move teams, to Painswick. It's going to be strange, not going back week after week to the familiar Colwall, with its eccentric members and the usual banter, but I'll be glad, really, to make the break, to start again.

It's weird, but the boat we were on last month was called 'New Beginnings', and honestly, since coming home, things really have changed... life feels like it has begun again. We're making changes we've been thinking about for a long time, never really had the confidence to make them. Life really feels like a breath of fresh air at the moment, and I'm embracing it wholeheartedly.

Charity shops;

I've never really been one for investing in a good coat. Most of mine are old, dirty and losing buttons, fraying all over the place and generally make me look haggard whatever I'm wearing underneath. So I was looking through my coats this morning, getting ready to go into town, wishing there was just something I could wear over my dress that wouldn't drain every speckle of life out of me. Naturally, nothing appeared, and so I was stuck with my very old, very dirty, very holey grey coat that was bought in H&M sometime in my teens. I've been considering working in charity shop recently, just until I go to college in September, so today I wondered the charity shops of Stroud (there are seven!), not only sussing out if I'd like to work there, but also checking out the bargains too. I bought three books: The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguru (which I've been wanting to read forever), The Poison Tree - Ellen Kelly, and Oystercatchers - Susan Fletcher. I'm excited to read them all. The best bit, though, is that I found an adorable coat, in exactly my size, which looks like it's hardly been worn. And it was a total bargain, too. Here's a picture of the fabric: 

I love it. I know it's summer and it's really not the time to be buying thick coats, but this is England and I've spent many a day at cricket shivering, wishing I'd brought something warmer with me. So don't think I'm doubting the WONDERFUL, SUNNY, HOT summer we're going to have. I'm merely being sensible.

So I, uh, suck at computers;

Remind me never to download anything ever again. I knew there was a reason for choosing not to indulge but somehow my urgent need (for Paint Shop Pro, I might add. For this blog) got the better of me and who knows how, but my computer ended up having a dramatic fit, one coloured with flashing emoticons and inappropriately dressed women doing, uh, very inappropriate things. I managed to fix it, but then Pepper whacked a cricket ball with ridiculous force from her mouth into the screen and now I have a permanent smudge in the bottom right hand corner of my every window, beckoning me to stare at it and become rageful for the poor LEDs (or whatever they are) I have forever lost. 

I've had enough of computers today. I am off to eat Bavarian smoked cheese and sleeeeeep.

An introduction of sorts;

This is me and my husband last month on holiday. He is (obviously) the most important person in the universe to me and I wouldn't change an inch of him except for that I'd keep him in my pocket at all times if I could. We met three and a half years ago and have been pretty much inseparable ever since. He is studying at university to be a teacher, works at a school and loves sport (especially cricket), our dog Pepper, being in bed by 9 o'clock and McDonald's double cheeseburgers. He's my hero.

This is the aforementioned Pepper. She's a Rottweiler X Red Setter (unusual, I know) and she's absolutely gorgeous, albeit totally crazy and unsure of whether she's human or canine most of the time. I spend more time with Pepper than with anyone/thing else so we're usually either in a state of best friendship or arch enemies, ha. She's just over a year old and loves peanut butter (oops), cricket balls, racing across a field and showing off in front of strangers. She still hasn't understood that stealing socks is not appropriate, but we're working on it.

This is me and Rosie, my sister, whilst climbing Ben Nevis last month. Rosie lives in London and is in her final year of Veterinary Medicine - she's going to be a qualified vet in two months time! I'm always proud of her and jealous of her ambitions and talents. Not only is she crazily intelligent but she's also really arty and creative. As a wedding present she painted me a collage of all the things that have been important in my life since I was a child, and it is beautiful. It's one of my favourite possessions.

This is me with my family and Mike's family and all the besties on my wedding day. It was a wonderful day and everyone looked beautiful, especially my mother (Karen), who is the third person on the left. She made the dress herself, as well as Tasi's and Rosie's (the first two from the left) and she did an amazing job. Not only that but she decorated both the room we had our wedding breakfast in and the marquee where we had our evening party, and I couldn't have asked for anything prettier. She's a hero and I don't spend enough time with her - she lives in Cardiff - but whenever we do spend time together it is crazy fun. From L-R - Tasi, Rosie, Mum, Dad (who lives in Serbia and is my music soulmate), me, Mike, Annie (Mike's Mum), Gary (Mike's Dad), Matt (Mike's brother), Emily and Sian, who I spent the majority of my life pre-Stroud with, generally drunk and rowdy, in the many bars of Cardiff! 

Other random facts - I'm always on a diet of some sort, presently it's Atkins - my trusty old weight-banishing friend, I'm teetotal as of five weeks ago, I'm beginning a hairdressing course in September, which I'm really excited about, I'm a massive Eastenders fan and I'm currently reading NOTHING, which is really unusual for me and it feels what I imagine to be a little like what it would feel like to be without a thumb! 

Can't complain about April...

It's been a good month. That's a bit of an understatement, actually. It's been an AMAZING month. We started it off staying at Mike's (my husband's) parents' place in Worcester, so that we didn't have to drive to and from Colwall every day for the cricket camp we were holding. There were about thirty children there from ages 4 - 12 and it went really well. We only had a very minor injury and aside from a few grumbles there were no real tears, and I think they all left at the end pleased they'd come. I was mostly in charge of taking the money from the parents and thank goodness, all the finances added up. The next camp is in the summer and I'm looking forward to it. 

The day it finished we were in a total rush trying to get everything ready to head to London before our flight to Barbados. Mike still managed to go for a pint with his uni friends whilst I packed, though. He's good at disappearing when there's lots to do! We stayed at The Turret in Gatwick, which has actually been on Four in a Bed, so that was quite exciting. The next morning we boarded our flight and it was probably the best flight I've ever been on because it was so, so quiet and we were moved to the emergency exit seats (free of charge) and there was literally nobody around us. Spent the eight hours enjoying having food and drink brought to me, watching films and reading a book whilst Mike slept sprawled out on the row of seats behind me. We got to Barbados at about 1PM local time and Mike's mum and aunt came to get us, which was nice. His dad, uncle and brother were watching West Indies and Australia play cricket so we spent the day relaxing at Mike's parents' apartment before ours was ready. Our apartment was amazing, we had our own jacuzzi and swimming pool and it was just lovely, really, being able to completely relax for once! We spent the week in Barbados not doing much aside from swimming, sitting in the sun, doing lots of reading and eating good food. Mike's parents rented a car for one day and we went around the island sightseeing. Saw two men catch a shark and watched for an hour as they tried to get it in, and when they managed to get it to the cliff they couldn't get it out of the sea. It was quite exciting to watch! We also went to Bridgetown for the day and wandered about before drinking in the rum shacks down a side street, being looked at rather funnily for being there. We went to the cricket for one day, and although I spent that day mostly with my head in a book because I'm not exactly the biggest of cricket fans, it was still a good day and I'm glad I've been to at least one 'real' cricket match now! Even if it is just to know I'll never go again, ha ha! The Crane Resort - which is where Mike's parents stay - is absolutely beautiful and it's impossible to not relax there, which is perfect for me because I'm terrible at sitting in one place and just enjoying it. We ate one night at L'Azure which is their biggest restaurant and the food was delicious. The thing I have noticed about Barbados is that the service always seems so genuine, people seem to really care that they're doing their job well and it's just nice to see. There was a guy at the cricket who walked around selling fishcakes and he was so into it and happy, shouting 'I here!' and it's lovely to see people happy at work... if that was here, they'd just be grunting. 

After we'd been in Barbados for a week, Mike's aunt and uncle got a flight back to the UK and we got a flight to Antigua. We stayed the night at a really strange hotel, it wasn't BAD but it was a bit weird, people completely off their face everywhere. The food was delicious there, though. It was all good home cooked Caribbean food and the chef came out to us to apologise that there was a delay. We got lots of extras too. The next morning we got a flight to Guadeloupe, and after meeting up with Mike's sister we went to an island which was a nature reserve and absolutely stunning, where we chilled out most of the day. We had lunch at a chicken place and then waited for Viktor (the taxi driver for Tradewinds) to come and take us to the catamaran, which is where we'd be spending the next week. The boat was beautiful and spacious and the crew were really lovely people. That night we stayed in the marina and had dinner and drinks before setting off in the morning to Les Saintes. Such a pretty place! We got out the water equipment - a 'ray' which was pulled along by the dinghy and looked amazing fun but I didn't get a chance to go on it (was a wimp the first day) and kayaks - Mike and I did a lot of kayaking! - there were also 'walking on water' boards and a wake board, and inflatable chairs... there was pretty much everything you could hope for in the middle of the sea! The next morning I went snorkelling with Mike and his brother and father, and it was the first time I'd ever been snorkelling so I was quite nervous to start with and really couldn't get the hang of the breathing under the water thing! But wow... I am now a snorkelling fan and can't wait to do it again! Saw a trumpet fish and massive shoals of little tiny fish that looked electric but wouldn't move when you swam towards them, eels that looked like snakes, lots of beautiful coral and fish that looked like Nemo and everything was all so colourful and beautiful! The second time we went snorkelling I saw baby shrimp, octopus (that had been caught by a spear fisher) tiger fish (which are not supposed to be in the Caribbean sea because they're poisonous to many fish and killing off a lot of marine life) and again, it was just amazing! After we'd been to Les Saintes, we went to Dominica, and wow was that a good sail! I had so, so much fun. I was sitting right at the front in the 'dolphin seats' and the sea was very rough and I felt like I was on a rollercoaster - it was fabulous, sometimes my legs were in the sea and other times I felt as though I was ten stories above the sea. Was like flying! And the most amazing part was that the seats lived up to their name and when we were about an hour away from Dominica a group of dolphins began to follow the boat and were jumping out of the water right underneath my feet! I could have touched them if I tried! It was absolutely amazing and completely made my holiday... it was just superb, they really do seem like the happiest of creatures! 

The day in Dominica was fantastic also. It is a beautiful island, so green and full of life yet hardly inhabited by humans. We got on two small rowing boats - Lawrence of Arabia's and Eric Spaghetti's - and went to the Indian River, which is where lots of the Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed for the house of Black Magic - and it was so calm and lovely. We saw a green iguana in a tree and we stopped at a bar where we were made things out of the leaves he picked on the way through the river, and drank coconut water from a coconut, and ate coconut and other fruit. It was amazing because there was a house completely out in the open - no walls at all, except for a cabin upstairs which looked like a tree house. There was a bed just completely on show! It was so strange to see. After the Indian River tour we got into minibuses and went on a drive up the mountain (which was pretty terrifying actually) until we stopped for a walk to the waterfall. It was such a fun walk... we all had flip flops on which probably wasn't quite appropriate as we were trudging through rivers and across slippery rocks but we saw some fantastic things. We ate grapefruit which Mike got from the trees by throwing things at it, and they were delicious. It didn't taste like the grapefruit we have at home at all, it wasn't half as bitter and it was very refreshing. We also tried mountain raspberries which had a weird texture but had a subtle nice taste about them. The waterfall was stunning, but because they use the water for their drinking water we weren't allowed to go in it. It was so loud and fast and quite mesmerising really. We took lots of photos (one of which every time I look at I laugh hysterically because Mike looks SO funny it - something about the way his legs are placed, I don't know) and then headed back through the rainforest. During the car journey our tour guide stopped when he saw something that might be of interest to us, so we tried bananas from the tree and saw coffee beans and oranges and pineapples growing, also baby avocado and cotton and even cabbage! So much growing, it was amazing to see, and nothing seemed to be in plots either, it was just all grown all over the place. We had one more tour which took us along a path deep in the forest where there were loads of amazing trees that looked fantastic and it all smelled so wonderful and fresh... I loved it! One of the nights in Dominica we went to a restaurant where most people had lobster but I had chicken - I tried Mike's lobster and it was delicious, and it just kept on coming and coming! There was not a limited supply of lobster. The night was somewhat hijacked by watching 'the slug', though, and I won't go into detail because it's really rather mean but it was quite amusing. 

Most of the days apart from that were filled with swimming, snorkelling, kayaking, looking at beautiful white sandy beaches and clear turquoise seas, sailing from one beautiful island to the next, and having good conversation with lovely people. Birgit being the best at the wake boarding was quite a highlight, since all the guys tried and failed on multiple occasions. Oh, and how can I forget the food! Lu, the chef, was absolutely fantastic and I tried things I never thought I'd try, such as tuna steaks and lobster tails. The lunches were mostly delicious salads and grilled meat or fish and the evening meals were three courses and I enjoyed every single one. My favourite was the pork because it was so succulent and juicy and tasted so good, but the beef was also incredible, as was the French onion soup and sushi. Honestly cannot fault one thing she cooked us. Cocktail hour was also fun - we had cocktails and ate snacks (which were not your average crisps and nuts kind of snack but things like baked camembert and roquefort with garlic and freshly made duck pate etc) and listened to a story by the captain and spliced the mainbrace for those who did some commendable and therefore were given double rum rations though honestly I think the word 'ration' when it comes to the rum and alcohol in general that was available is not really necessary! It was an amazing holiday and I am very lucky to have had the opportunity to go on it. Will be talking about it for a very long time, and it's going to be impossible I'd say to beat it. 

A couple of days after we got back my dad arrived in the UK from Serbia and my sister, him and me drove up to Scotland to climb Ben Nevis. We managed to get about 1,200 metres up before the snow and ice proved to be too difficult to walk on in trainers and the weather was looking dangerous so we had to head back down. The views were spectacular though and if it wasn't for the weather I'm certain I'd have got to the top, so I'm looking forward to when Mike and I climb it in the summer. I WILL be the highest person on land in the UK! 

So now it's back to reality! Back on the Atkins diet and trying to get my obscenely large laundry pile under control. I've decided to start this blog because I haven't had one in a very long time and I miss it, and I don't want wonderful things to go unwritten so that they are forgotten forever. Unfortunately other entries are not going to be quite so interesting as this, but what a good way to start!