Kate had the kids for the weekend of her birthday, so I couldnt do an awful lot on the day, however.. the weekend before and after were mine to do as I pleased... so I did.
Kate has a bucket list... one of those "Do before you die" checklists.. I wanted to hit a few of them for her... Part one... To arrange a romantic getaway.. The problem... getting the right place on the right date..and getting the kids sorted as the one night the hotel had.. was mid-week... typical...But with a few tweeks and phone calls... it was arranged... Next problem.. I wanted Kate to see where we were staying in daylight... not driving down after work, so with more tweeks and a very helpful Boss... Kate was to be collected early from work.. I arrived at 1pm.. to collect her... she didnt believe me when I said we were off to Cornwall... But we were and off we went... The manor speaks for itself...
It was quiet, romantic...
And perfect....The following Day we went to the Eden Project, The first tick on Kates list... It was amazing for me as it was for her.. The weather wasn't kind, but it ruined nothing. A fantastic suprise and a brilliant time.
Part two.
On the day of Kate's birthdaym, she went to work assuming that evening we would be having a quiet nite in with the kids.. she assumed Karen was working and her family were doing their own thing... Wrong... By the time I had collected her and made our way to KFC and back, her family had gathered at the house waiting to suprise her when we got back.... it was a great evening and kate found out what her present was from me.. Two Nights in luxury hotels in London, with a ticket to see Phantom of the opera & Kew gardens... I didnt expect tears, but Kate shed some that night. I had done it. I wanted so much to show her how much she meant to me, and although far from being materialistic, this was to be an amazing weekend..... lol but when do things ever go right ???
We left an hour early on the train, as kate didnt want to miss the connecting train, so we had plenty of time to enjoy breakfast in the sun in Bristol.. With plenty of time to catch our London train. Our first hotel was z hotel (soho)
These rooms were small, compact and so cosey.. and smack bang in the middle of Soho, 2 minutes from Kate's favourite Bar Soho... it really was better than I thought.. and Kate.. well she was blown away. We sat at Ed's Diner and watched the world go by.. waiting, knowing that soon we would be going to Her Majestys theatre... 
And there we were...... Minutes from the show that has been named the most famous Love story ever told...Kate had been told a week before she knew what the suprise was, to go and buy her self a posh dress... she had the most amazing black dress, and she looked stunning... I felt like the luckiest woman alive to be sat where I was, and with Kate by my side... The night was perfect in every way.. Every song, every drum roll, we felt it all... Not many people can "do" Opera or Musicals... But this one means a lot to both myself and kate, and we felt it all.... It was the most powerful feeling netx to the obvious that two people can share at the same time....
That Evening, we watched the world go by, soho people at their finest... The laughs, the tears, and the tantrums... A Perfect end to a perfect night.
Day two... was not to go as I had planned.... Like I said earlier.. Does it ever...
The idea was to have a nice relaxed breakfast and tube it to Richmond... check into Hobart Hall.. and make our way to kew.... This is how that went....
We missed breakfast.. to get to Kew faster for a nice relaxing dinner... We Arrived at Hobart hall...
I booked this luxury Hotel... for 2 reasons... Here they are...
Perfect... don't you think ??? Well, sadly we didnt hang around long enough to take the real pictures... Yes the front of the Hall did look like this... however not the bit you enter from, that looked like a dirty old brick bed n breakfast... the room we were given, was white.. and not a clean white.. the tv was over 50 years old, and I suspect a black and white one at that... Also what they didnt tell you was...we didnt actually get a room in the hall itself... to either side were newly built flatlets.. and not well kept... By now, I was struggling to maintain my temper.... I decided to take a moment and consider my options... Take a risk... and walk out, leaving us without anywhere to stay.. and stay and hope to make kate feel spoilt in some other way.. I might add at this point Kate was quite happy to stay... This however was not the idea.... The final straw was the toilet wobbled.. !!!! I took kate and we walked out...
So now, I bring Karen into the story.. I needed her to call Kew and find out if they had somewhere to store our cases so we didn't have to travel back into London until we had at least Visited Kew Gardens...
Then I was stopped on the street by a woman waving a clipboard, I needed the distraction so agreed to answer her questions, which she promised would last 5 minutes.. and we'd get a fiver.. why not I thought !!! Twenty minutes later, after eye scan's and fake shopping from a fake shop.... we left, with a crisp five pound note in our pockets... I was happy to go spend it on a coffee... Unknown to me... Kate had seethed from the moment I agreed to the research.... and she growled and seethed all the way to the coffee shop...and during and afterwards.... which I'm quite aware kate never does... but it has taught me never to answer any market researcher in the presence of Kate !!!!!!
Moving quickly on... we arrived at Kew, safely stored our bags.. and prepared for a nice day exploring... We had a lovely dinner there... and enjoyed a cold walk/bus around the glass houses...
These pictures are from Google... because this was not what we saw... wrong time of year maybe... or just the Hall/Joyce curse !!!!
However..... these we did see.... and although it was not bathed in colour... and although it was freezing cold... and a very messy set up.... we could both sit back and appreciate what this would of looked like back in it's heyday... and yet another tick on the list...
We collected our cases... and headed back into London.... the fear and dread hit me.. hard... this wasn't meant to be like this.. it was meant to be perfect and flowing... and all that was happening, was my blister was getting bigger and I was struggling to walk !!! I suggested we stopped at Piccadily thinking it would be easy to find a place to stay.... slowly I came to the conclusion that something drastic needed doing to save this weekend.... So the first hotel we found.. I would get us into it...!!!
Luckily for us... It was the Royal Trafalger...
And it was posh... Big... and the 7th floor suite was about to be used for the very first time... It was a new addition to the already extravagant hotel... Kate was blown... And that made it worth the day we had been through... although the day was far from over !!! I had decided that it would be nice to head off a little way out of the city to find a famous diner.. you know... the whole coach.. famous in films etc etc... I had a vague Idea where it was.. and off we limped (ok I limped) when we arrived off the tube, we were in what can only be described as the industrial part of the Thames... we asked people and no one had heard of the diner... Karen was called... and by phone she tried to get us to this god forsaken diner... again, my temper was slightly rising, those we asked had no idea... some plain just ignored us and some couldnt even understand what we were saying...... Two hours later, and I had managed to get a map... so.. biting my tongue.. we headed off in the right direction... Karen called us within minutes and politley informed us to turn around, as the diner had closed at 5 !!!!! so I cried.. I was gutted... this just wasnt going to plan.. we limped back into London city.. and kate decided we should eat and maybe try and calm down... We quickly popped into the chemist for some first aid for blisters and then stopped at the first decent place to eat.. The shoes came off, the coffee and food ordered.. and we could relax watching the goings on in the square.. Apart from some minor glitches... Kates steak arrived without chips..and she bit them down fast.. much to my amusement... my tiny scale of salmon arrived... and and tiny deserts with fake custard.. and then the Irish Coffee they couldnt make.. it turned out to be a very pleasant evening. Then we got back to the posh hotel.. decided to make the most of what was on offer and enjoy a nice soak in the bath... and maybe watch some tv.... except the tv didnt work... So.. My dilemma... do I pay through the nose for a room and not complain...or do I complain ??I called reception... several times.. before heading down myself... within minutes we had a man in our room trying to fix the tv.. which he couldnt do..so dragged one from the other room into the bedroom !! go figure.
Day Three.
We had ordered breakfast in bed.. and by half nine, it still hadnt appeared.. so I checked to see if it had been taken from our door... suprise suprise.. it was still there !!! Another call to receptiona and another complaint and we had our breakfast within 15 minutes...
After checking out and earning ourselves a free upgrade to an empire suite the next time we stayed in a thistle and some money off the bill..... not so bad...
We had a couple of hours to kill before meeting Kate's brother, so we decided that a nice cruise in the sun would finish the morning off.... It was perfect...and a different way to look at London.. we were pushing for time, but we made it with minutes to spare... John & Bex (kates brother & wife) took us to the Ice Bar..
It was amazing... cold... but amazing... everything made of ice... even the glasses !!!
We drank... lots..some cocktails were nice.. some were terrible... after 40 minutes we had to leave, so we headed back to our hotel with John n Bex to have a final drink before we left..
That last drink probably tipped us over the edge... and before we knew it, we had 30 minutes to get to our train to get us home... and this while half cut !!!!
We must of cut a blistering trail through London, with our suitcases flying through the air and knocking into A boards and people as we went.... but we made our train..
Although things never went to plan.. and although things may never ever go to plan with me and Kate and our away days... they are something to remember... they are something to learn from..
But most of all, I spent a magical few days with the woman I fall in love with again..everytime I wake up to a new day. You can't pay for that. You can however learn to avoid Market researchers...
This Blog is dedicated to you Kate.. You are my everything x
