greetings from the UK!

howdy folks- we made it! after years of talking about it, a year of planning it and many months of getting increasingly excited we are finally here in England at the start of our big trip. oh the word excitement doesn't actually come close to describe what we're feeling! before I get too far into this post I'd just like to apologise in advance for the poor spelling and grammar, I'm actually typing this on a iPhone at 6am whilst hiding under the blankets in bed so I don't wake Adam up- stupid jetlag has us sleepy at conflicting times!!! now that the apologies are out of the way I'll get to recapping the last few days... we actually left Perth on Saturday and flew further away from Europe to the beautiful city of Melbourne for the ACRA awards ceremony. Adam was nominated for best newcomer on air- a huge accomplishment as there are only 4 finalists from all the on air radio personel Australia wide. alas Saturday night was not Adams night to take home the award but we had a great time walking down the red carpet behind hamish and andy, rubbing shoulders with several celebs and being wined and dined- fab!!! we woke up slowly and gently on Sunday and spent the day killing time wandering the streets of Melbourne (not in a seedy way though). after a lovely dinner prepared by the fantastic tors we headed to the airport for our flight. there's not too much one can say to describe a 14 hour flight, at the start we were delayed because a fellow passenger fell ill and had to be taken off in an ambulance, but once we got going it was pretty smooth sailing (or flying). we managed a fair bit of sleep and kept ourselves amused with the movies and games. Dubai came and went without much of a fuss and then it was on the airbus a380 for another 7 hours to heathrow. one bit of excitent on landing was the captain made us all stay seated once on the tarmac because 2 policen had to board and arrest another passenger! such excitement! seems we were on a flight of invalids and criminals!!! after breezing through customs we hopped on a bus bound for headington, oxford where we walked to my grandads house where my aunt Caroline was Also waiting for us. it was SO lovely to see them both again, it's been almost 4 years since we last caught up!! due to my tired levels I can't for the life of me recount with any accuracy what we talked
about all afternoon but I know numerous cups of tea were drunk and we had a lovely time chatting and catching up. Adam and I hung in there iil after dinner, but by 8pm we surrendered to our drooping eyelids and headed for bed. 12 glorious hours of sleep later and I awoke with a cold! can you believe it!! extremely unimpressed! so we dressers and headed into oxford where our first stop was boots pharmacy where I dosed myself up ready for our first proper day of holiday. and I rather think we did quite well- we climbed carfax tower
for a view of the city, visited Christchurch college which is where Harry potter movies
were
filmed, had a £1 marks and Spencer sandwich for lunch, had a beer at the eagle and child- the pub where j.r.rtolkien and c.s.Lewis used to meet weekly during their university years, saw the musuem, hit up the covered markets and even swung by the townhall. my grandpa was
the lord mayor of oxford back in the 1980's and I mentioned this to the lady working at the information desk and she scurried off and found a historian who was so kind to take Adam and I into the town hall and even unlocked my grandpa's old study for us to have a look around! his portrait is still hanging above the desk- it was really really special. after heading back to grandads house I whipped up a quick dinner and then we went to the pub my grandad works at where we met a few of his mates. over a gin and tonic or two we were taught the finer points of how to play snooker. it was quickly explained to me that wen are not allowed to play snooker in the pub ( a throwback to the days when women were forbidden from even entering). I can't say I minded though- the couches were very comfy and the gin was very delicious. Adam had a go though, and whilst he put up a good
fight, grandad walked away with boasting rights. and so once grandad had closed the bar up we headed home to bed, which is where I still am, typing this right now. I apologise for the lack or photos- I'll try and add some with the next post. hope all is going swimmingly for all of you,
much love from Lauren (and Adam- if he were awake)