Where have all the juicy bits gone? (and other long ramblings from a holiday week)

OK, strange title for a blog post - but seriously where have all the juicy bits gone from orange juice with juicy bits?  Even Tropicana Extra Juicy Bits was almost devoid of them.  If I wanted smooth orange juice I'd buy it.

Anyway, just winding down from a great holiday week and facing up to going back to work tomorrow.  It will be absolute chaos as next week was always going to be busy, but I've also got all last week's work to catch up on too.  I must remember to try to keep calm, breathe and count to ten in as many languages as I know. 

In the last week we've travelled around 1,500 miles in the car taking in Harrogate, North Wales, the Northern Lakes (and other parts of the Lake District), parts of the East Coast of Yorkshire (Saltburn by the Sea [which was a revelation], Whitby and Scarborough), Edwinstowe, Buxton and London!  So you can see why going back to work is going to be a complete let down.

Had some completely fantastic weather all week which has made all the difference.  Places always look great in the sunshine and you feel so much better too. 

Saltburn by the Sea

Buttermere, Lake District

We ended up driving down to London yesterday because the train fares were just horrendous.  It would have been well over £100 for the two of us to go by train, plus the cost of either parking at the station or going down by tram.  However, by driving down to Luton Airport Parkway, parking there (£2 for the whole day) and getting the First Capital Connect train in from there we saved over £50!!!  It also meant that we weren't tied to a particular train time coming home which made everything so much more relaxed. 

Had a lovely day there, but there was a really horrible moment in St James' Park whilst we were having a picnic.  On the shore of the whole lake is a low fence which shows the boundary of areas set aside for wildlife, into which people are not supposed to go (nor let their dogs go in).  However, one young(ish) boy had gone over the fence and was crawling along the shore.  He scared off a pair of moorhens and then kicked their nest over!  The women that were with him hadn't seen this as he'd been very crafty - although they knew he was in the prohibited area.  I was so utterly incensed by this that I just couldn't sit by and let him get away with it - so I went down to where he and the group were and called across to them.  I couldn't get closer as I was behind a small fence (but it's probably a good job I didn't get closer to him!) so I had to raise my voice.  I was so unbelievably angry that I definitely made my point clear but stayed very polite.  The women were completely useless and just said that his dad was coming along behind and would have a word.  Fortunately the dad seemed to take it seriously and gave him a talking to, but the little monster looked sullen rather than contrite and to me looked more put out that he'd been caught rather than for what he'd done.  I was shaking for ages afterwards - but I was glad that I'd made a bit of a scene otherwise he'd have just got away with it with no censure.

Fortunately, I did calm down and it didn't spoil the rest of the day.  We did loads of walking and found some really nice areas of London off the beaten track.  Also came across a branch of Muji by accident so had to buy a few things from there :-)  The South Bank was buzzing and there were some great seaside themed displays which looked lovely.



Must get back to some crafting now as I've just not had time for anything this week. 

If you've made it this far, thanks for sticking with me, despite the rant.