May 2008

With finals looming, a majority of May was taken up studying while trying to retain my sanity at the weekends. The month started with a mass invasion of Newcastle for May day bank holiday. Anna and Ben, Tom and Gareth and Suzy and Harry all arrived in Newcastle on the Friday night, surprisingly early considering it was both a bank holiday weekend and a long way (Oxford, North wales ......). We went off to Kielder biking on Saturday. It was an excellent ride with both Suzy and Anna demonstrating acrobatic falling off. The trip was ended by an impromptu trip north to Scotland since Tom and Gareth had landed themselves in the middle of nowhere without considering the need for petrol to get them back again. Even getting to this northerly petrol station was a tight call!!! Cath and Alex arrived after a days DIY in Sheffield and we all went out to china town for a fab meal! On Sunday, not really feeling i could justify a whole weekend without revision, I packed them all off for a days riding at Innerleithen. I felt quite pleased with my decision to stay behind while i was working/ watching the rain lash down outside, until they came home with tales of glorious sunshine in Scotland!!!! We rounded off the weekend with a trip to Hamsterley on the Monday. A fun trip round the black run was rounded off nicely with dinner in the pub!

Most of the rest of May consisted of revision with the odd day off here and there. Alex's parents came to visit. They spent half the day exploring Newcastle with Alex before i picked them up form town and we all headed off to the coast near south Shields for a beautiful walk encountering the coast line, lighthouses, wind mills and spectacular views across the countryside, enhanced by the flowering rape seed crops.

On bank holiday weekend, Alex went karting for Billy's birthday. A good day was had by all, although Alex was some what put out not to have won the race. We finished the day with a brief outing to the pub and birthday cake. We also went up to Northumberland on the Sunday with Billy and Lou to explore the Couquet gorge. It was a fun walk, although i did get quite a lot of abuse for not reading the guide book before setting off rather than just looking at the location - not only did we end up fording a river which was somewhat less than empty but also ended up walking across a firing range while the red flags were flying!!!