Hi lovelies,
We are (finally) back in Hong Kong. It was a crazy journey home, I need to talk about that in a separate post.
We had the most wonderful time away. A week spent with family in Shropshire and almost a week with friends in London. Abbey and Zoe loved playing with their Shropshire cousins and being spoilt by Shropshire Nanny and Shropshire Auntie. It was hard to leave, but the Shropshire boy had to go back to work, and London was calling my name.
I have always been fascinated with the UK. I can't quite explain why, the amazing history draws me in for sure. Most of my ancestors come from the UK. I grew up watching English TV shows, I knew I would always visit, and hopefully live there one day too. I had a European holiday in 1998, nine amazing weeks backpacking around Europe, and of course the UK was visited. My childhood friend Ruth was living in London, and she showed me around. I fell in love with London, the city. Not so in love with the weather. It was through Ruth and her husband Jason that the Shropshire boy and I met briefly on this trip. After my nine amazing weeks in Europe, I returned home to Melbourne and was made redundant from my job. Actually, while in Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland, standing in a phone box with a view of a glacier, I was told work were giving out redundancies - and did I want one? I knew I had to move to London, had to have that experience, so how could I say no?
I moved to London in 1999, full of excitement and ready for an adventure. Ruth and Jason let me stay with them and showed me around. I met my Shropshire boy properly this time and we fell in love quickly and deeply. So London is special to me now, and I had to show it to Abbey and Zoe on this trip.
London really is an amazing city. So new and old at the same time. People from all over the world call London home. So much amazing live music to be seen. The pubs. The fascinating history. I was so excited to be visiting again. Flying into Heathrow, I would barely contain my excitement. I wanted to show my girls London, take them to places the Shropshire boy and I have been too. But first, just for me, I had to visit Liberty of London.
It did not disappoint. The building itself is beautiful. The whole shop is full of gorgeous things to buy. I had birthday money to spend - saved up for this very visit to Liberty. I knew I could choose two different fabrics to make dresses for me with this sweet pattern.
Zoe had fun checking out all the lovely fabric (thank you Ruth, for entertaining Abbey so I could have a proper look at all the fabric)
There were so many luscious fabrics to choose from. I thought it might be difficult to choose, but these two really grabbed me.
London and Shropshire will always be special to me. We had such a lovely time away, I look forward to our next trip to the UK.
Now, I still have this huge pile of boxes to sort through. Not to mention, Abbey, Zoe and I are still on UK time, so we have been up at weird hours during the nights. We will be taking it slowly this week.
I hope you are all well, Cat.
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