Hope you've got a couple hours...

As I prophesised in my last post, I am very nackered at the end of my holidays. Not entirely my fault though - more the tres funny and interesting motorbiking diaries of Ewan McGreggor and Charlie Boorman, 'Long Way Round'. And we had to finish watching them before Phil went home, so it ended up being a bit of a late night, and unfortunatly an early morning due to Church - 5 hours sleep is enough, right?

It's been a pretty full week. Phil arrived on Sunday, nice to see him again! He met some of my crazy friends and then we went to the pub. Late night no.1!

Monday we got up early to go to the Lake District for 4 days with my church. A 2 hour car journey, which somehow I managed to sit in the front seat and let 3 big lads squash in the back! Lucky me. This journey was the start of rudness and crudness that filled the rest of the week...what less could we expect? And being the only girl (over 16) I spent a lot of time becoming immune to the ways of young men. Got to the Lake District around lunch time. Went for a walk up a mountain through a forest (with the 4 lads I was *lucky* enough to spend the week with). This consisted of playing on the swings, having some completely un-posed photos taken (yeah right!) and 2 of said lads half stripping off in the middle of the forest...nothing to worry about there...too much! We did get some rather strange photos though. (I will put in right here that this was a CHURCH holiday, they are actually nice, good Christian boys :-) ) We got to the manor (yes I am rather cultured and classy when I want to be!) where we were gonna be staying and after unpacking the masses of cheese and ham from the car and finding our rooms, we went up to the games room and played a game of table tennis which started out as a nice, gentle 'hitting a little plastic ball across the table' but ended in a 'just slam the damn thing anywhere, try and dodge it as it flys towards your face and try to hit it in the most awkward direction for your opponent and avoid the game of pool that is going on in the same room.' Good fun, I must say! Then we played some games of Cheat, a nice Christian card game. Until, that is, someone accidently instead of just saying 'cheat' turns and swears VERY loudly at you accidently (said again for emphasis). Tea time, didn't eat much, did the dishes (and the floor washing due to someone very rudely throwing bubbles in my face, so I retaliated and it ended in, well, tears, you might say! Then had devotions led by my father on one of the Psalms but I dont remember which one, it was good I know that much! And then sat around chatting and drinking hot chocolate. Late night no.2!

Got up before 8 next morning, had breakfast, made my lunch, got dressed, then while hanging around waiting for the days trip to begin we found Twister, so me Phil and James started playing. Very painful, but it was all worth it because I had the satisfaction of winning. Go me! Eventually we set of on our walk which ended up being a 6 mile walk around a lake. A very beautiful lake, but non-the-less, a lake. It was pretty much just big and wet and tiring for us poor folk to walk around. We found the elusive bog (a documentary was started on this journey about the bogs of the world. The type that dont flush, that is.) and eventually got the even more elusive ferry. We knew it was there somewhere, but it took us about 4 hours to find it! A wonderful day. Went back to the manor, played cards, read, ate tea, had devotions, had a prayer meeting and then me and the lads watched some Norman Wisdom. Never seen it before, didn't quite know what to expect, but it was pretty funny. "Right right left left right left left sandwhiches for lunch!" (Only to be understood if you've seen it, ofcourse!) Then eventually to bed...late night no.3! I think I should actually be calling these early mornings rather than late nights...

This is getting pretty long isn't it?! Well no fear, theres just another 5 days or so to go! Although it got slightly less eventful after Wednesday. Which is next, by the way, in case you got lost along the way.

So, Wednesday. What an eventful day! Started out fairly normally, no twister or anything, just the usual routine of getting ready, and then we set off for Grizedale Forest. About an hours drive away from the manor. Fairly straight forward. This walk involved (no prizes for guessing correctly...) a forest, and a mountain. And a very strong wind. And a funny shaped round wooden thing. And a christmas tree. But we'll get to that soon! The walk started and went up. And then the path turned into a river. There was definite movement of water down our path, and there was a fair bit of water so it was a river. And we walked up it. Thankgoodness for waterproof shoes! This continued for a while. We took a break on a wall somewhere as the path leveled off a bit, took some photos (not too much posing, atleast not on my behalf!) and then we started off again walking. Found a bench which coinsided with some rather disturbing conversations from the lovely lads I was with. Then we got hungry so walked into a forest and ate lunch in it, for no particular reason other than it was there. So, carrying on, we found the top of the mountain which is where the really really strong winds came in. I, being quite a light-weight person (in non-alcoholic terms) was nearly blown off the top of said mountain. So I was kind of hanging on for dear life. To the cairn on the top by the way, not the actual mountain. After some photos and a short video on Phils camera, we set off towards the rather random funny shaped round wooden thing. It was big and carved and there seemed no reason for it. So i sat in it. Which was quite comfy until someone decided to sit on me. Then it was kind of hard to be comfy as I was being pushed off and was holding onto Andy, who was sat on me. So I'll cut this short because theres still so much more to tell for this day. We kept walking, took more footage of bogs (big bog, little bog and streamy bog...dammit Andy!), found a decorated Christmas tree (covered in baubles which I dont have one of in my bedroom...) and then found the end of the walk. Which we were dissapointed with, but it turned out to be really good thing. Lets see how quick I can tell this part. We sat in the cafe, my mum came and talked with us, went outside and slipped on some wet mud, cracked her head off a wooden post, was possibly knocked unconscious, some guy came and found us in the cafe, we ran outside, me Phil James and my Dad went to A and E with mum for several hours and entertained ourselves in the childrens play area. And in Tesco. Or Asda. Dont remember which. Doesn't matter! Mum was ok, nothing broken, no concussion (supposedly). Eventually got back to the manor, had fish and chips, had a Barn Dance (Scottish dancing, great fun, nice and sweaty after) and then went and played pool. Again, more disturbing conversatons and smells coming from my lovely lads. Eventually, after being on that flippng black ball for about half an hour, the other team potted it and we could go to bed at about 1am. Late night (early morning) no.4!

Thursday - get up, pack up, clean up, head out door. Took photos of us lot outside the manor (guns at the ready...we all originally lined up like for a firing squad) and then headed off. Went to a place called Watendlath. Found Gollum again (he is a sneaky devil), took some rather funny videos of Andy and Matthew, and then had lunch and hot chocolate (or ice-cream if you were crazy because it was freezing!!!) and then headed home. Slept a bit, played a very energetic (ha!) version of the yellow car game, then got back to Matthews house and learnt all about Chavs. If you dont know what a chav is you'll have to come visit and I'll point them out, or buy the book...I'm not about to explain! Got home, unpacked a bit, made some tea (so stressful!) and then Michael came round and we did something but I really dont remember what. Then everyone either left or went to bed and me and Phil stayed up and watched CSI and Vicar of Dibley. Hilarious. Laughed a lot. Late night no.5!

Friday - got to sleep in a bit. Then proceeded to do nothing all day. Until about 6pm when we (me and Phil) went for a walk to the beach. So cold. Went and got some chips for tea. Lovely. Went home, went to pub, had a few drink, had a lot of laughs, got home and watched the previously mentioned 'Long Way Round' episode no.1. Never laughed so much in my life. Not sure if it was the company, the immense lack of sleep or the alcohol or a combination of the lot, but I managed to fall off the settee. Not sure how I managed it. Eventually stumbled upstairs and collapsed asleep. Late night no.6!

Saturday was again filled with not-a-lot. Watched some more Long Way Round. Phil played squash with Michael and another friend, I cleaned church (a tres small part time job, I'm not just nice!) Got chinese food. Went out in the evening to Matthews house, watched the video from the hols and had a lorra laughs. Went home, drank some beer and watched the remaining 4 episodes of Long Way Round. That was a very late night. That is the afore-mentioned 5 hours sleep comes into it! We were both practically dead on our feet, but both managed to stay awake throughout the whole thing, until about 2:30am, and both managed to get up at 8am for Church this morning. I think we're insane. Very late night, and last night, no.7.

Sunday - as already mentioned, got up early, went to Church, came home and ate lunch, went to train station, Phil got on train, I didn't. To put it briefly! Attempted some homework. Managed a bit. Went to Bible Study at church. Watched some of AirForce1 but got fed up even though its a good film. Came here and wrote this. The end. Almost...

p.s. Hope you've enjoyed reading it, hope you managed it, hop you dont mind that you might not have understood all of it, due to not being there and me being a bit too lazy to explain all the jokes. Ta raa!