She's got a ticket to Ryde...

Good evening one and all!

How are you all on this fine September evening? I am doing quite fine thank you!

At this moment I am sitting curled up in an English cottage called 'Hobbit House' on the Isle of Wight, sipping a cup of warm Green-Cranberry tea and enjoying life.

As you can see I have made it to England all right. The whole flight was quite un-eventful. I made it through customs and baggage claims witout any drama this time which was lovely (although I did have a trolly which had a lazy wheel-- SO I had to turn the darn thing with my whole body...let me tell you those tight corners with a loaded trolly is a little difficult! I think I was leaning on a 45 degree angle at times trying to turn corners!)and I was so happily greeted by my lovely Carolin and her lovely Mike.

We went back to Mikes place which is my home base for the time being...and we had some good visiting time! I have my own room at Mikes place so it was quite nice to be taken in by his family once again. Well, actually MY room was turned into their computer room--yeah way to oust me from my own room! (Kidding I only used it a handful of times before anyway) But I have a new room which will be mine for the time being.

I was able to spend some time with Christopher and Olivia these past few days as well...and OH MAN do they ever seem grown up! When I first arrived at their home on Thursday I heard them through an open kitchen window--I was too excited to actually go to the front door and be let in to see them that I had to climb in through the kitchen window to go greet them and give them huge hugs and kisses! Those children are so special let me tell you!

Spending time with them has been so nice! They are talking so much now and they go to school so they have matured to some extent. (they are still little brats at times though) Christopher has really stepped out of his 'hidden shell' and is really adventerous! Apparently he often escapes the house and hides in the garden somewhere--up trees or in a bed of flowers. Which I actually LOVE. Little Miss. Olivia is the queen of the roost though. Man oh man, she still is a little fire-ball of something. She is still quite opinionated and when things don't go her way...Oh we hear about it!

Today as I was picking up Nadine to head off to the Isle, Olivia saw me and came running for a huge hug. I picked her up and just held her. Her arms around my neck, feet dangling and she patted my back as I squeezed her and held her high in my arms. Oh she's a special one. I dont know how I am going to be able to say goodbye to her again. Oh Allison, dont get ahead of yourself now...that's not for a long while.

***SO. RYDE. Here's a piece of information to you which I learned today! *thank you Caro for teaching me! Did you know they lyrics to the song 'she's got a ticket to Ryde and she don't care...' Ryde is actually a town in the Northern bit of the Isle of wight?

Today I arrived in Ryde as my first destination of many on this Isle. Nadine and I were to take a few busses and then end up down in the South in a town called Ventnor, where we were to take a cab to the B&B where we are staying. Well, as some of you may know--life or adventures with me are rather...interesting. It is expected that strange things will happen--that something will go wrong, or that a story or some sort will come out of the adventure. Today, was the start to many of the mis-haps which will take place along my journey.

As I was corresponding via my new telephone to the home we were coming to tonight--I wrote down the wrong number as to what I was supposed to call once I got into Ventnor. Oops. So once we arrived it was already dark--we had already taken a boat, and two busses to get to where we were at that point in time, and all we had to do next was just get into a cab and get to the cottage. Well, I called the number I THOUGHT was right-but it wasnt. There was this kind guy named Jim who answered...the two times I called him. Yeah-twice. The first time I was expecting him to be Benedict...someone who lives at the B&B...then the second time I was hoping he would potentially be a cab driver (no idea why I thought he might be). He was neither Ben or a cab driver--but he told me that he could drive me somewhere if I wanted...I hung up because I was laughing too hard at his kind gesture...oops.

While trying to sort out how to get out of our stranded situation--we met a lovely man named Rich who met us once we got off the bus. He kindly kept us company so we weren't two random girls standing on the streetside with our luggage attached to us--looking vulnerable. How kind of him-pint in hand. He got a bit distracted after a while so we wandered off to try and find a working cab company who would take us to the town we needed to get to. In our journeying we found a pub with life music, a cab who could pick us up and a comfy stool to sit on to enjoy the music. With a cider in hand and a stool under out seats we were quite content! AND we got to the home in one piece! Only £5 for the ride and everything was great.

Now, we're safe and sound at the B&B...we visited a field party for a friend of a friend and now we're just relaxing in the home. Nadine is asleep and I just felt like writing to update you all and to quiet my thoughts for the evening.

After my novel I pretty much just wrote I hope you are all enjoying your days! I hope to hear from you soon! Please dont be shy and leave me messages! I will try my best to respond! Even if I'm away I still dont want to be alienated from your lives!

with much love and heaps of english clouds!
here signs the feather from the isle of wight!