Saturday 4-10 - Milton keynes

Dad left in the morning. Dani was at work, but the rest of us waved to him from the window. I had two jobs for the day. First I was to go up to Cranfield with Josh to help set up. Next I was to help Dani bake cupcakes for her stall the following day. I had slept at Karen's, so the only shoes I had on me were my new heeled boots. Not the best shoes for carrying moving boxes back and forward.

A driver and black mini-van arrived to pick up 1 bag, 4 boxes and 2 people. He was a nice, chatty guy. He even offered us lollies. It must have been a long trip, but I didn't notice the time pass. Before I knew it we were outside Josh's residence. It was a nice new building with huge windows. Time to move in.



We dragged the boxes through the lift to the room, all the while with my toitering on dangerous heels. The room was surprisingly large. It even had an ensuite. We unpacked the books onto shelves and then took a taxi to Milton Keynes.



A note on Milton Keynes (from the ol' wiki). Milton Keynes is the closest town to the university. One of the first post-war 'planned towns', from 1967. It has that 'perfect small town' feel about it. It has a shopping centre, a train station and an indoor ski hill. It is kinda of boring. But replace kind of with very. Everytime we tell people that Josh will be there, they say 'oh god, I'm so sorry'.

The colossus of a shopping centre is basically the centre point of the town. I think half the population of MK was in that building. Within it is every shop known to man. All we needed was home wares. Bring lunch time, we looked to a food court. Finding food there was more difficult than it should be in a huge mall. we ended up at Giraffe. I had grilled chicken, spicy prawn and mango salad.



Josh needed bed sheets, bed cover and towels. So we hit up the big homewares stores. Part of my job also included colour coordinating the sheets and towels, since Josh has problems with reds. There were some other things on the list but we were already exhausted. He could always come back another day for the rest.

The taxi dropped me off at the train station. A few hours later I was back at Dani. Dinner was awesome soup and yummy bread rolls. It was exactly what I needed.



We made cupcakes all night, while watching cartoons off the internets and drinking wine. My favourite cupcakes were the vanilla icing batch, with red icing and topped with love heart candy.

Friday 3-10 - big lunch, farewells

Everyone went to the classy Chinese restaurant Shanghai Blues. The grandparents and Mum were set to leave for the airport that afternoon. This was a fair well lunch.



First we waited for Josh to train back from Cranfield. He had gone up to Cranfield the morning before to register. He has had spent the night there to partake in the meet and greet party that night. We were all anxious to see how his first night there had been. He later told us it had gone well and that the other students were really great people.

The restaurant was quite smart for a Chinese restaurant. We squeezed 8 people and a pram into the corner of the room. Everyone was getting the special lobster lunch menu. It entailed a dim sum starter and then lobster with rice or noodles. The dim sum were really great. Some were seafood and some were vegetable.

Next we had crispy peking duck for the table. In truth this might have been my favourite bit of the meal. An entire duck's worth of meat cut onto a tray. Then all the usual wraps and vegetables and sauces in D-I-Y fashion. Even after the bread and sauce was gone, we were all still diving for the last bits of duck with our chopsticks.



The main course, the lobster. He came cut up on a bed of noodles. Escept for his head, which sat on the front of the plate, staring at me. It's a good thing I'm not the type to be put off by animal heads. We all dug into the head and claws and tail unto all the treasure inside was gone.



By that time I was very full. It was also time for the travellers to collect their things and be on their way. There was a teary goodbye outside the restaurant as we parted ways with our Grandparents. It wasn't as bad for me as for the other two, I would see them again in just under 2 months. The rest of us walked slowly back to Karen's flat.

Then the second round of goodbyes. Mum left for the airport and we waved from the window until she disappeared from sight. Now it was Dad, Karen and three of us.

Josh needed warm jackets for the freezing Cranfield winter, so we went with Dad to my favourite addiction (H and M). We tried the near by store and were successful, but there was a jacket we had to pick up from the other store. So off we went. On the way we stopped at a candy store so Dani could get supplies for her cupcakes. Then to a dvd store to splurge on cheap dvds. We browsed dvds for the longest time, easily distracted. By the time got to the other store and bought the jacket it was dark.

We had originally planned to go to dinner with him, but after that huge lunch no one wanted to eat. So we got take out and watched 2 days in Paris. I hadn't heard of it, but Dani recommend it so I thought, why not. I enjoyed it a lot, kind of funny French humour.

It was a much nicer, much more chilled way to spend the night with Dad.

Thursday 2-10 - Bags and Billy

Mum and the Grandparents were set to leave on Friday. Gran and grandad wanted to give me my birthday present before they left for home. So the granparents, mum, Karen and I went to Neil street to find a bag. I had wanted a handbag that didn't have cartoons on it, like every other bag I own. Something nice. Off we went.

Gran and I walked around everywhere but just couldn't find anything I liked. All the bags looked the same. Just not my thing.

We got a call from Mum saying that they had lost Grandad. They were retracing all their steps, but could not find him anywhere. We kept looking for bags. The time passed and we were about to give up. Plus Gran was starting to get worried about granddad. So we found our way back to Neil Street. I tried the only shop on the street we hadn't tried yet and there I found it. A giant clasp bag with holographic Japanese prints.

Ok, so maybe not the most adult bag, but I still liked it. We got back to the flat to find Grandad waiting outside. We were all relieved.

The last night with the Grandparents. We went with them to see Billy Eliot: the musical. It was an interesting piece. The emphasis was on the mining strikes as much as it was on the dancing. Interesting also because I had never seen the film. The songs were good as was the dancing.

In the intermission we had mini ice creams. They weren't that good. The second half had the professional dancer who played adult Billy. He was incredible. There were really sad parts in the show that made me kinda teary but also happy parts to balance them out. Its not the type of musical I would have picked, but I don't regret going. I also got to spend time with the grandparents. It was a nice night.

Wednesday 1-10 - Second day

I slept at Dani's house and we made our way over to Russel Square station. Everyone was supposed to meet there so we could go together to our cousins for New year lunch. We set off much later than planned, mostly because organising 7 disorganised people can be hard when no one is actually in charge. Then we had to catch the right train. We could only take 2 of a possible 6 trains, but our 2 never turned up. So we caught another train to the point they forked out. Keeping everyone together was chaos.

The cousins lived quite a few zones out. On Dani's advice I had brought a book. I started Anthropologist on Mars, which was neither about anthropologists or Mars. It was one of these books about bizarre neurological conditions. I read through the trip.

Soon enough we were out of one train and soon onto another. From there we walked around for a while trying to find a taxi. When that failed we walked. I was reminded of the times in Europe when Josh and I ended up lost and confused. Except that now we also had the entire family, parents, grandparents and all. We got to the house more than an hour late.

Once inside we all relaxed and chatted away. I love their adorable dog who happens to be blind. I felt bad that I laughed every time he walked into a door or a wall. Then again, it was pretty funny.

We sat down at the first authentic Jewish table I had seen in months. It was like being back at home. Blessings over wine and challah. I thought it was interesting that we each had a choice of a small cup of wine or peach schnapps. Then chopped liver and egg salad. Than yummy lentil pie, stew and chicken. Dessert was ice cream, jelly and other assorted goodies.

I was chock full by the end of it. We all chatted and laughed and bid farewell. We all walked slowly back to the station, still in conversation. The train back was much easier, since all the trains went to the same place.

Only the grandparents, Dad, Josh and I wanted dinner that night. So we popped round to the local Italian. I was still so full, Josh and I shared lasagna. It was enough.

Tuesday 30-09 - First day

First day/ second night of Jewish new year. I was told to at the flat by 10-30. So after Dani left for her first day at uni I got got dressed and made my way over, only to find everyone else asleep. Almost all the others had overslept and were hurriedly getting dressed. We got to shule later that expected.

The guy at the door asked my age as he gestured me towards the high school kids seats. Then looked suitably embarrassed when I told him how old I actually was.

It was a nice service. The rabbi´s speech was bit preachy but not too bad. The congregation was then squashed into the entry hall, trying to stay out of the torrential rain. We could only wait for so long before making a run for it. What a fine day for everyone to forget their umbrellas.

We ate Itsu salads for lunch. I had wanted their amazing teriaki chicken noodle soup, but it was the height of lunch hour and they were sold out. We headed back to the flat and relaxed. The rest of the evening was quiet, spent at Dani's.

Monday 29-09 - First night

Went over to Karens. Tonight would be first night of Rosh Hashannah, the Jewish new year. I had left most of my good clothes at Karen´s, but still brought some bits and pieces with me. At the flat every thing was already arranged. The living room had been transformed into a space that would hold 20 people comfortably.

There was still some cooking to do but nothing for anyone to stress about. Josh and I had the job of fetching the last food from the shops and picking up the preordered fruit tart. First I had to charm the chicken guys to cut our chooks into 8 pieces, instead of the usual 4. The grumpy older lady who served me the first 2 chooks wouldn´t budge. When she popped out the nice young guy diced our last chook up extra tiny.

We picked up fresh salad ingredients and then to the amazing tart. It looked even better than its online picture (found at http://www.patisserie-valerie.co.uk/)



In the evening we went to shule. We took Karen´s friend´s child with us. He had never been before and we were happy to look after him. All dressed up for the high holiday we got to the tube station. Right in the middle of rush hour. We threw ourselves into the living human mass that is rush hour tube traffic. Slowly, slowly we moved.

Finally through the underground and a short walk later we found the synagogue. It was sadly empty, but beautiful. Like an old church it was decorated. The pillars and the ceilings and the stained glass windows were all intricate, made with care. The arc at the front was topped with an enormous structure not unlike a mini Taj Majal. This place felt like it had real history. A sense of presence. We stayed for a short evening service.

By the time e got back to the flat all the other guests had arrived. Lots people drinking wine and chatting away. It as nice to see many of them again, especially my cousins. We went through the chicken and salad I had fetched early that day. What I couldn´t wait for was the dessert. The fruit tart was worth the wait. So amazing. The Cupcakes,now with their honey icing, were just as good.

Everyone left feeling full and happy. Dani and I bid farewell to the rest of the family and went home.

Sunday 28-09 - Making cupcakes

Slightly hung over.

We started baking cupcakes.



Well, Dani did the baking. I was the sue chef. I did the apple cutting and flour sifting.



The first batch was just vanilla. They were flight and fluffy. Perfect.



The second batch was for Rosh Hashannah. She decided to use the apple and honey theme of the festival. So the cupcakes were spiced with apple pieces in the base. The icing was honey butter cream. So good.

We slowly made our way to the flat, were we spent the rest of the day and the night.