Jo and I have met briefly before in South Africa on a professional basis and as I have been reading her blog for the last two years it really felt like I was meeting an old friend for lunch. I know her lovely children from their photographs, know about her dh's new business from her blog posts and have a pretty good in site into how she has coped with the ordeal of immigration.
As Jo and her family live about 3.5 hours from us in Suffolk we agreed to meet about half way to spend the day together. I chose Southend-on-Sea in Essex, and let me tell you just picking a spot half way on the map is not necessarily a good idea - picture the Starwars bar, well that was Southend lol - chavy is a nice way of describing the town and we found ourselves walking through some pretty dodgy areas at times but fortunately it didn't detract from the day as a whole and I know my family certainly enjoyed themselves immensely.The seafront from the viewing platform
Southend-on-Sea High Street is all pedestrianised
Jo and I realised we weren't walking in the best area when we came across this totally boarded up house lol, still didn't feel threatened at any time
We met up at Adventure Land on the seafront and allowed Phil to burn some energy on the rides, which Erin and Scott kindly joined him on and then it was a loooooooong coffee at Costa Coffees chatting and finding out more about each other's lives.
Megs only managed this one ride, she really isn't wild about rollercoasters - can't say I blame her :0)
It was really lovely to meet and spend time with this fab family and I hope we can do it again before too long......only this time Si has made me promise Joanne gets to choose were we meet (yes Southend was THAT bad lol) and after our 50 minute traffic jam on the M25 he has made me vow he will never have to travel on it again, so no pressure Jo ;0)Bumper to bumper traffic on the M25 waiting to cross the Dartford Bridge
Nick and Phil shouting into each others faces to keep themselves entertained - we got some strange looks :0)
Finally the very impressive Dartford Bridge which crosses the Thames Estuary
Such a great day, thanks for sharing it with us Jo, Paul, Scott and Erin :0)
5 comments:
We had a ball, thanks for organising it (even the venue) we will have to come closer to your side next time cos that traffic looks horrendous. We had cows on our highway and I even ended up reporting it on the radio ;)
Oh...I love the photo of the two of you.
Those photos are amazing and it feels as if you have taken us with you on your "kuier".
xx
Hmmm...well chavvy as it may have been it still looks like you had a gas there & were safe enough! Love the photo tour - thanks ;-D
heyyy...you said you had a looong coffee...the rest of it...welll that's just arb detail....the coffee love and a chance to meet a friend makes everything so so so worth it!
Glad you had an awesome time GF!
I've also met many of my blogger friends...whenever I go home to SA we all have a get together as well as the bloggers I have met in Germany and in Holland.
Its really wonderful how small this cyber word is.
Some nice pics of your time together and fun fair.
Post a Comment