I have also now completed my Silver DofE, having gone on my final expedition in the Isle of Purbeck at the beginning of the summer holidays. With only a few days to recover from the ordeal before I was heading off to Fuerteventura with the family, I decided to take full advantage of the fact that I am an Orange customer and went to see the finally Harry Potter film with fellow expeditioner, Louisa. In fact, every Wednesday I have spent in England I have been making good use of Orange Wednesdays: Harry Potter, Bridesmaids, Horrible Bosses, The Inbetweeners Movie.
Very early on the Saturday morning, we set off heavily laden with 4 suitcases (trust me to have the heaviest!) to Fuerteventura. It is one of the Canary Islands, twinned with Lanzarote, and is the setting for many films (including Pirates of the Caribbean!). There we lived the life of luxury, indulging ourselves on lavish food, rich ice cream and (in my case at least) cocktails. Staying just a 10 minute bus ride from Corralejo, we were in a prime location for shopping! Yet we were still far enough away from the town that we could enjoy a peaceful holiday on the beach looking out upon miles of uninterrupted (apart from by our hotel) coastline. We rode camels, went to the uninhabited island Los Lobos to swim in the lagoons, took at day trip to Lanzarote to see the evidence of volcanic activity in Timanfaya National Park and went to water park which was unusually situated in the centre of Corralejo. The food was amazing, and I almost enjoyed dressing up each evening (as many people know, I am not ordinarily a girly girl). The weather was good, and I met loads of lovely people and I met a few single guys but unfortunately I didn't get any mobile numbers off them. But the best thing was, I got a tan! And, although it has faded a little, I still have it! My life is complete!
We arrived home, completely exhausted after a night flight with a crying baby, at 4am. After a few hours of sleep, I unpacked and repacked and was on my way to Portsmouth to spend a few days with my sister, Gem, helping her with childcare whilst she worked. I had a lot of fun with the boys. We went to the park, decorated cakes (twice because they loved it so much the first time), went to football training, went to Paultons Park, painted and cooked. Fortunately, Joey, 6, and Ashley, 4, were actually a help rather than a hindrance in the kitchen. Ashley helped me prepare all the vegetables for the stir fry on my first night with them, Joey helped mummy make the lasagne on the second night and both boys helpled me make a pasta dish on the 4th night. The experience of them cooking, and seeing exactly what is going into their dinner encouraged them to eat foods they wouldn't ordinarily eat. Ashley had 4 helpings of stir fry!
When I returned to Reading, I only had two days to recover from my exhausting but wonderful day with the boys (in which time I met with Clo to see the Inbetweeners and have lunch at Yo Sushi), before I was off to work in Winchester with my neighbour. She is a home economist, and was helping Rachel Allen film her new cooking programme. It was exhausting work, but I really enjoyed myself and I learned a lot (including the fact that I am not cut out to be a home economist!). But if you are ever watching Rachel Allen's knew cooking show, if you see any ginger at all on screen, I peeled that! I did other things besides peeling ginger, such as a lot of fetching and carrying, and I made a fair few cups of tea. It was such an experience.
I then had a few days to do some homework - Kendrick couldn't stand us not having any work to do over our summer holidays, so they set us bridgework. On Tuesday night, after a lot of last minute organisation (because my phone failed me), my friends and I went out for a meal at the Peking Palace in Caversham. You may remember from a previous post, that I went there with friends to celebrate my 15th birthday. Because we enjoyed ourselves so much, and I felt so bad that Becca had missed out because she was unavailable before, I decided it was about time that we visited the restaurant again.
The following evening I set off with my Dad and brother to London passing many early bird campers for Reading festival on our way to the station. We met my Mum for dinner before going to the London Palladium to see The Wizard of Oz. I won't go into too much detail about it because you should all go and see it. It was amazing. And the star of the show was definitely the little dog that played Toto. He got the loudest applause by far.
Then there was results.
To celebrate I went to Reading Festival. I loved every minute of it. Such a wonderful experience and it was definitely the highlight of my summer. I loved it so much that I've already bought my ticket for next year, so I am a little bit strapped for cash at present. And there is most certainly such a thing as post-festival depression. It took me several days to recover and I am still a little depressed, although the memories and the music are keeping me going :).
Because I had not had the chance to celebrate with my family, my parents, brother and I went to Mya Lacarte Thursday evening. They serve such good food. Unfortunately I had to get up early (well...early for me) to sign up for my A-levels at Kendrick, and then I made the most of my walk into town by going shopping with friends. But, because Reading Festival has drained me of all my money, I didn't actually buy anything!
And that brings me to the weekend just gone. My sister, Michelle, drove down on the Friday night with her husband Danny and her adorable daughter Jess, who is two years old. They spent the weekend with us, and I am missing them a lot now they've gone.
And now, as my last day of freedom is coming to a close, I must say farewell.
