What a week. Crayfish, paint, glitter, chemists, drugs, riding, and more.

9 - 15/10/12

Wow! A whole week in one blog. I've nearly caught up now.

Our plan was to take advantage of Ange and John's hospitality for a few days, then move on. I should take time now to point out that Ange and John hadn't actually invited us to stay, and really had no say in the matter. Our mad friend Jo invited us to stay with her whenever we liked. When we finally arranged to come and visit, Jo explained that we weren't actually staying with her, but with her friend Ange. Apparently this is a regular occurrence. Good one Jo! 

A huge thankyou to Angela, John, Ben, Josh, and Jupiter. We actually ended up staying for eight days! We know we overstayed our welcome and appreciate your understanding (in the case of Suzanne, very understanding). I hope things are back to normal now.

Ange makes a beautiful sponge cake dessert, we were told. Personally I didn't like it.

Why did we stay for so long? Because we were sick. The first few days we pretty much stayed in bed. I blogged, and Suzanne slept. The problem was that we'd get up late, and stay up late. Jo would come over, sometimes with Jim, the paints would come out, along with the wine, and it was a painting party till all hours of the morning. John is very tolerant and understanding.

This was the kitchen table (early in the night) nearly every night...

...and midway through the night.

You don't want to see what it was like at 4am!

And I won't mention the floor.

Suzanne warmed up by playing with lines and colours...
(UPDATE: This was actually Angie painting over some of Suzanne's doodling. I was asleep and got the facts wrong so I have to make a public admission of guilt.)

...then played with a few designs...

...then played some more...

...and ended up with this

...and this.

Thanks for being a great model Charisse.

It was really good to catch up again.

Ange teaching Suzanne a new trick.

I can't tell you, I'd have to kill you.

So apart from sleeping, blogging, and painting, what else did we do? Well, now that you've asked...

• Suzanne helped Jo out on a face painting gig at a wedding, and had trouble understanding what the kids were saying, because they were speaking English.

• We went to the Medical Centre about our colds. It had been three weeks after all. The nurse prescribed us both a course of antibiotics, which after a few days had nearly killed the damn bug at last. I also got in trouble when the nurse took my temperature. He asked if I'd been taking paracetamol and I said no, I don't like to take drugs unless I really have too. He looked at me and said "Do you want a high temperature?" Then he took my blood pressure. When I explained that I hadn't been taking my medication (Hey, I'm a bloke. We're all the same) he looked at me and said "Do you want to have a stroke?" I wasn't game to tell him about my cholesterol.  I walked out of there promising I'd take my medication. Anyway, we're on the mend at last.

• We went and saw a crayfish breeding setup. It's experimental at the moment but could grow (pun intended) in the future.

Put it back Suzanne, it's under size.

I don't know why she's using two hands.

So that sums up our time in Stoke on Trent. It's starting to get cold and wet around these parts and I believe it's time to head south and find a warm place to stay for a while. Somewhere like Greece, or Spain, or Morocco. Unfortunately, in my weakened state due to sickness (it could have been my drunken state) Suzanne took advantage of me. "Apparently" I insisted that she should go with Nick (a visiting US painter) and Jo on a tour of Scotland while Nick conducts classes. Jo was quick as a wink and organised everything in a flash, so we're stuck here in Blighty until mid November. It's getting COLD.

We're heading a bit further south tomorrow, to Hemel Hempstead. We'll be staying with Paul and Juliet, more painty people, for a while. At least we can earn our keep there. Paul needs a lot of stuff shifted, so I can help out. Hang on. Physical work? Me? Oh no, what have I done.