Lookin' Good...

Please explain to me how you are supposed to look your best in the "Fashion Capital" of the world, when the hair dryer looks like this?! Really! Maybe it's the Italian's way of making sure that the tourists don't look as good as they do... is this a hairdryer or a vacuum?!

Later note: Seriously - the hair dryers looked like this in hotel's across the board in Italy...

Milan Bound - Hold onto Your Wallets!

We spent 5 hours stuck in Zurich (canceled flight), the world's most expensive sandwiches & a distinct lack of Fondu!.... Great looking airport but you'd think with all that cash that they'd actually be able to afford to enclose the smoking room... They give you a "delayed flight" coupon worth squat at the airport but hey at least you get Lindt chocolate on the plane.

Finally we boarded our little puddle jumper & flew off into the sunset across the Alps, Matterhorn majestic in the distance - Wow! The pics really do not do the mountains any justice!

Family Farewells

Back at the Troway for a Family Farewell Dinner...

Ben & Sam













David & Mary













Errrrr no more booze for you Chris!


















Di & Tim


















Nicola & Chris













So long Sheffield... See you next time!

Art & Soul

Exhibit on yarn & knitting at the Millennium Galleries, Sheffield

Exhibits at the Graves Art Gallery in the Central Library, Sheffield

Queen Viv!

Checked out the Vivian Westwood Exhibition at Sheffield's Millennium Gallery - Nicola's heroine! Incredible, unbelievably beautiful works of art - all of them!

Robin's Hood

Got absolutely drenched in Manchester yesterday (rain finally found us again!) & thought we'd try our luck in Nottingham today. Saw a cool textile exhibit put on by local students & then headed off to find Nottingham Castle... Turns out it's one of the few castles in England that isn't there anymore. Technically it's not a castle at all it's a Hall that contains a museum & you don't really discover this until you've paid & have walked through the walls into the grounds. Never the less, we took a stroll around the grounds. Great gardens. Really loved Nottingham's downtown shops & cafes.

Wonderland

At Meadow Hall in Sheffield there's an amazing exhibit on show. Made possible through a collaboration between Tony Ryan, Scientist at the University of Sheffield, Trish Belford, textile Designer, Interface, University of Ulster and Helen Storey, artist and designer.

Wonderland Exhibit

It's aim, to draw attention to & find creative solutions to the disposable, polluting & wasteful nature of our culture. Here you see dresses suspended from the ceiling made of a soluble material. As they were slowly lowered into huge glass water filled fishbowls the material dissipated creating streams of textured ribbons, a rainbow of colours that eventually dissolved harmlessly into the water. At the botanical gardens they also showed the process of how plastic soda bottles made of a similar material began to degrade & turn into plant food. Very cool! After Sheffield the exhibit moves to Belfast.

Looking for Bears...

Spent the morning at Sheffield Botanical Gardens, a place Nicola spent a great many happy hours as a child. They were first opened in 1836 & originally designed by Robert Marnock. After falling into disrepair, the gardens & its listed buildings including the now restored Glass Pavilions, were fully renovated & officially re-opened by HRH The Prince of Wales in September 2003.

Took Chris to go & see the famed Bear Pit. A place that both fascinated & scared the daylights out of Nicola growing up. Until sometime in the 1870's, the Bear Pit housed two bears. They were removed, following an incident when a child fell into the pit and was killed... Now all it houses is a sculpture of a Grizzly bear - a reminder of it's past.

Surprise!

The Gladwin/Watts family throw a surprise birthday bash for Chris at the Three Merry Lads. Great to spend time with family & friends - Thanks again everyone!

Diane & Chris Hmmmm Cake

Sniffin' pixie...

Errr it's a cat with a pencil up it's bum....

Janet & Michelle

Michelle & Nicola

Chris & Nicola

Betty & Allen

Syl & Mo

The Bartram Family (yes we're related... Really!)













Di, Mum Syl & Nicky.

The Inn At Troway - Meet Pete McKee

Loving Sheffield's latest Gastropub "The Inn at Troway" - Awesome! Great British pub food with a twist. Something to delight the taste buds for everyone - Even Vego's like us! Walls are adorned with art from local artist Pete McKee - definately worth checking out.

Nature Walk

Nicola's case finally showed up 3 days later after an extended stay in Ibiza... Fashion crisis avoided but not quite in time to avoid a "hmmmm now justified" quick trip down the great British high street!

Great to be back in the Old Country. Filling our days with family, frequenting the latest hit Gastropub and generally strolling about the English countryside... Not quite Africa but the UK too has it's fare share of feral, vicious & predatory animals - hiker's beware....

Mallard

Squirrel

Nuggets :-) :-) :-)