Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to our readers all over the world from a very wet and windy Southampton. The last two Christmasses were spent away from the UK and I wanted to spend time with family and friends over here. The van is parked outside our friends' house near Paderne, just inland from Albufeira and we will return after our break and resume our meanderings. Notice that I use the word 'break' in place of holiday. I am aware that some may find it a bit galling to read that we take a holiday when we already live an extended one, but we have found that because there is limited space, a break away does mean that we look forward to calling the van home when we return. If we didn't it could well become a prison cell during the winter.

Mike and I flew into Leeds Bradford Airport the week before Christmas and visited friends and family in the Hull area. From there we proceeded south to London where we celebrated with some of my family.  A neighbour offered Mike and I her house to stay in for the duration of our visit. She had been burgled whilst away a previous year and we could act as a deterrent as well as feed her pets and help ease the congestion for the shower at Cath's house. The pets included a dear little cat who was full of life and proved a lot easier and less stressful to take care of than the goldfish. They appeared to be at the palliative care stage of life and fortunately did not reach death's door on our watch.

For our New Year celebrations we joined our friends Jon and Linda in Oxford. They are pictured above with Mike.Their motorhome is big enough for sleepovers and four nights with them shot past in an instant.  Oxford was beautiful and we were able to get out for a walk in the sunshine yesterday. Pictures below. 

Finally, back to the holiday news. Mike and I are due to embark on a cruise from Southampton to San Francisco tomorrow. I am incredibly excited as I have wanted to transit the Panama Canal ever since I learned of its existence and can't believe my luck. This journey will take three weeks and so I'm not expecting to provide any blog updates during that time. All the news is of the storms so lets hope the captain can sail round them.

All the best and have a very happy 2014 from us.


Photos to demonstrate packing skills below.