Floods

Floods similar to those in Newcastle, (NSW) have devastated much of the English midlands. There have been hundreds of people's homes and cars under water. Sheffield Football Stadium's pitch was 12ft under water! (I performed at the same football stadium only three weeks ago). Parts of the M1 Motorway have been closed due to flooding. A motorway....flooded?!

Now, it does rain a lot here, but this is ridiculous!

Matt and I have not been affected badly; Matt's 2hour drive to Nottingham, tripled in time, my trains were cancelled; and one of our shows was postponed. There have been some devastating stories however, and the death toll is up to 5 people.

One of the teams in our company got a 'little stuck' on the M1 Motorway, for hours. After being diverted, they, along with several other vehicles ended up waist deep in water. The car was afloat with sets, costumes and sound system in the back and had to be towed out by a lorry. The AA (NRMA equivalent) obviously had a backlog of cars to rescue and so never actually made it to them. They arrived home at 4am the next day. The car is a 'right-off' and the insurance company won't cover it because it is considered "an act of God".

A week on, and it is still raining. Thankfully God's rainbows are a reminder that He won't flood the earth again. Without this knowledge, you'd have to wonder.

Everything is So Old

At the beginning of June, Mum and Dad Moore made the long haul from Australia to England, to visit us in 'sunny' Manchester. They are tripping around Europe at the moment, but spent the first week or so of their trip with us. I had been so excited about their arrival, I counted the days down from about 75 days to go! It was so special spending time with Mum and Dad; I was missing them so much…what an amazing blessing to have parents so cool! ☺ It was great to just hang out together and share some fun times and adventures. From Wales, Scotland, Manchester and The Peak District we shared many fun and crazy times. After visiting Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, - the longest word in the English language and more importantly a very small railway station in Wales - we ventured north on a road trip to Scotland. Mum and Dad (and me) were stunned by the lucious, green rolling hills that seemed to surround the motorway for miles & miles. My fond memories as I was growing up of Dad's comments “they don’t make ‘em like they used to", rang true when all Scottish paddocks were all marked out by sturdy, carefully constructed stone hedges for 100s and 100s of miles. "It woulda taken years!" (pronounced in the best Aussie accent you can...!)
We visited Dundee, where Mum’s Grandma was born, and where the ‘Discovery’ is permanently docked. Dad loved Scotland so much, he commented he’d like to return for six months. We stayed in Glendevon that night right near ‘Roslyn’s Lodge’ (Hi Ros!), and had a good ‘ol Scottish Pub Dinner in a suburb with a population of approx. 10 people. The food was good though, even if Mum’s pork was drowned in gravy! (That’s how they eat it in Scotland Ma! ;))
Stirling Castle was quite a spin out for mum and dad, where the phrase “Everything is so Old” seemed to make its way into conversation every couple of minutes. Valid though, given the first building (a Chapel) on the land, was established around 1100! We visited the church Mary Queen of Scot's son was baptised, and saw the house Queen Mary's husband used to live in. Yup, Queeny, lived in the castle, while her husband slept in a separate cottage about 1/2 mile away. Darley's cottage is now a coffee shop, which I might add, does an amazing hot chocolate!
One of the highlights was our day trip in The Peak District where we ventured on a ‘walk’ that turned into a 12km ‘hike’, and 4.5 hours. We all slept very well that night, especially after Mum and I shared some good English cider.

Mum and Dad are now back in London after an amazing tour around Europe, and will go home via Singapore in a couple of days.

What a blessing to share such special times. Miss them already. Enjoy the photos. (when they come)

xo j

Still Alive

Hi there, just a really quick post to say that Jo and I are still alive - if a little preoccupied.
Jo's in some far flung place tonight (with work) and I'm off to Dundee, Scotland tomorrow morning for another couple of days... seems to be the story of our lives at the moment.
We still think of you... and will post again soon.
(Don't tell Jo that I'm still up blogging, or I'll get into trouble :) )