The Village

On Wednesday morning I woke at about 8:00 AM. I had some toast for breakfast. Kellie had to return to work today and I was planning to catch up on the blog as I had fallen behind. I had to go to the travel agent and try to change the dates for my return ticket, as well as booking some tickets for other travel around the United Kingdom and getting a haircut. Kellie drew me a map to the nearby village shopping centre, gave me a key and then left for work.

The washing machine had also blown up that morning and Kellie had to call British gas to arrange for an engineer to come out and repair that and the boiler as it didn't seem to be working properly. They said they would come the next day.

Kellie left and I chatted with Miss C on Skype for awhile as I was getting ready to head into town. At about 10:30 AM, I left and walked to the shops. It took about 25 - 30 minutes to walk there. The map Kellie gave me looked a bit confusing at the time but as I followed it, it turned out to be very accurate. I arrived at the shops and located a travel agent.

I explained that I was from Australia and needed to change the booking of my return ticket. The young girl in the travel agent told me that as I didn't book it through them they couldn't change the booking. I have to go through the agent that I originally booked it through. This was going to be difficult, considering I was on the opposite side of the world.

I left and went to a pharmacy to buy the shampoo that my cousin wanted and look for some foundation for Miss C. I got the shampoo but couldn't find the foundation as it was only a small village pharmacy. I bought the shampoo and conditioner and then left the village to find a hairdresser near Kellie's office. It was about a 5 minute walk from the village.

I found a hairdresser across the road and spoke with the girls inside. There was only 1 girl in there and they were able to cut my hair straight away. I told the girl what I wanted, number 3 back and sides and trim the top. She started cutting and we talked about where I had traveled so far, and about Australia. It seems everybody in England wants to live in Australia. The haircut was only 10.00 Pound.

I got my haircut and went to the post office next door. I needed bubble wrap for the souveneirs and I wanted an estimate of how much it would cost to send. They told me if I could keep it under 2kg, it would cost me around 27.00 Pound. I knew it would be more than that as i had a lot of stuff, but maybe I could split it into 2 boxes under 2 kg. I also bought a big box for posting while I was there.

I headed back to the village as I remembered I needed to book some other tickets. I entered the Thomas Cook travel agency and booked my ticket to fly from London to Bucharest. It cost me around 200.00 Pound. I probably should have booked it myself, I may have found a cheaper flight but given the problems I had with other flights decided it was easier to go through an agent. I asked about booking ferries to Ireland but they told me there would be a 25.00 Pound booking fee if I booked it through them. I opted to book this on my own.

I walked back to Kellie's place and I put the key in the door. It wouldn't turn. I started to think I was going to be locked out when finally the key decided to turn. I went inside and finished the Red Light story. I chatted some more with Miss C and before I knew it it was 3:00 PM and Kellie and Ella would be home soon. I had just started to sort through and wrap the souveneirs when Kellie, Marcus and Ella arrived home. While I was packing the souveneirs, Kellie was looking up tickets and hotels in Dublin and London and Marcus made dinner.  I spent the next hour or so sorting, wrapping and packing. I tried to weigh the 2 boxes I had but it didn't seem to work properly.

I booked the tickets and accommodation that Kellie had found. She got me a fantastic deal on a hotel in London. 6 nights in a 3 star hotel in central London for under 400.00 Pound. I was expecting to pay at least twice that much. I also got some great prices on the train ticket from Liverpool to London and the ferry from Wales to Dublin.

Marcus had made chicken wrapped in bacon for dinner and it was very nice, we also had pizza with it. After dinner, we watched the Champions League match between Barcelona and AC Milan. It was a big game as Barcelona had to overcome a 2-0 first leg deficit. I also showed Kellie some of the photos of my travels so far. She showed me the photos of some of their holidays. It was a great match and Barcelona dominated. They won 4-0 and progressed through to the quarter finals. Lionel Messi scored 2 fantastic goals.

I was pretty tired and we all went to bed at about 10:00 PM.