Brassed Off!

Well Richard and Heidie have finally arrived and it's so good to see them! We've all be waiting for this day for ages! They had a great welcome home. Mum arranged for a little salvation army band to play carols as they arrived and she also got the SA chaplains at Heathrow to help out with getting R&H through customs quicky and getting permission for the band to play. As the plane was going to be late, we did a little bit of carolling beforehand and collected some much needed funds for the chaplaincy service at Heathrow. Anyway, bless Ian (Scott)! He organised for a few bandsmen from Chelmsford SA to come along and play (Matthew, Keith and Andy) plus a couple of odd players (emphasis on the 'odd' as it was Nick and I!) Mum decided that she wanted the band to wear red festival tunics! Now when I heard that I may be needed in the band, that was one thing but then to be told that she wanted me to wear a red festival tunic well, I was not best pleased! Neither was Nick. Nick who at his own candidates farewell to go into the college for officers wore his shorts and army polo shirt! and what made me laugh was that she thought I would moan about it more than him! At least i still know where my uniform is in my cupboard! At least it gets an airing about once a month! Nick's has probably got mothballs! Anyway, my mum bribed me to wear the red tunic - yes bribed! This is meant to be a lady of God! She is corrupting me, her young impressionable daughter! Needless to say, I'm not going to look a gift-horse in the mouth! So I agreed to wear it and mum agreed to pay for a third of the cost of my new MP3/MP4 player! That is a very good deal if you ask me! Anyway, we finally got back to Southampton where Suz had bought in food from the chip shop. Richard was very excited about having a sausage and chips and a can of iron bru. He ate it down like he'd not seen food for a long time - bless him.

They've now left to go and catch up with all their friends starting with Nick and Lisa in Stratford. We've spent the past couple of days shopping pretty much all the time! I never need an excuse to go shopping so I've been in my element really and Heidie's always very good for encouraging the shopper in me and I in her. She bought the same coat as me today so we were walking around West Quay this afternoon like twins - we also bought the same skirt yesterday (of course the only difference is that she buys the size loads smaller than me because I'm a fat rat!). Today I also managed to do something which you dread doing in a shop. I picked up an ornament to show mum as a suggestion for a present she could buy for someone but I unfortunately dropped it and broke the hands off of it! Thankfully, my mum liked it so bought it and I bought the superglue to fix it! I was very embarassed!

Yesterday, we went to Gunwharf which is one of my favourite places to shop. We went to the Water Margin for lunch which is a chinese buffet. It's like a massive canteen but the food is excellent and this time it was Heidie's turn to eat like she's hasn't seen food for ages! Yesterday, I also bought a new suitcase for my holiday to Zambia next year and any other journeys where a considerable amount of clothes are going to be needed. It's a very exciting case and very good value! Last night, Heidie and I were doing some investigations to see if we could fit in the case! We both did very well but we did feel like we were suffocating so couldn't stay long inside.


As you can see the case is quite bright. I left it in the shop whilst I looked around the shops some more and went back to collect it when we were finished. Mum told Richard to shout when he saw me but when he did see me, he told mum that he didn't need to shout because I was shouting loud enough with my new case and that was without speaking because it's so bright! Oh well, at least there'll be no mistaking it in the luggage reclaim bit!

So the parents have left and I'm getting ready to go back to work tomorrow for a couple of days before I'm off again! What a life! I have a good job!

laters!
cx