Living Like a Small Green Hairy Fruit

The Last Supper

Thursday 24 May 2007

Our last full day in England. It was a beautiful, sunny day. We laid out our 8 suitcases and 4 flight bags in the garden and totally repacked everything to try and even the weight out and make sure we had everything.  I really fancied a bowl of porridge for breakfast with golden syrup. It was odd getting up and not being able to go to my familiar kitchen as normal and just lay my hands on what I wanted.  Mark had been calling me jobless ever since I finished at work.  Now we were jobless and homeless!

Mark's dad very kindly made me a bowl of golden syrup Oats so Simple.  It was yummy! If i'd have known then that the golden syrup here in NZ tastes more like burnt caramel I'd have smuggled out a tin of Tate & Lyle's.  That bowl of porridge could be the last taste I'll get of 'proper' syrup :(

Anyway, we checked the weight of each bag with Mark having stood on the bathroom scales  to weigh himself then getting back on with each suitcase. We labelled each bag's weight so we could see which, if any!, were underweight that we might be able to add to.

Then it was off into Telford town centre to pay the last of the bills and we took the kids to the cinema to see Pirates of the Caribbean which opened that day.  Gee, was that a long film?!

Last night, Wednesday, Mark's mum had cooked up her usual excellent curries - flame hot vindaloo for Mark and something a lot less fiery for those of us without asbestos mouths. 

Tonight though was our 'last supper'.  My mum and youngest brother live a few hundred miles away down on the Isle of Wight so obviously couldn't come all the way back up just for a meal out.  One of my other brother's is at uni in Manchester and without transport or funds (though probably lots of lentils and brown rice or is it just pot noodle these days?). Another brother and his wife and baby Abigail live down in Gosport, so again too far and expensive to travel, and my sister, brother in law and nephews and niece live in Shrewsbury but unfortunately they couldn't make it either as all had previous commitments with Explorers and church groups.  And my wonderful cousins Ted and Sange were away on holiday.  So I was a bit sad really.  I'd been really upbeat up till this point and raring to go so it came as a surprise to find I was really quite tearful that this was it, our last meal - possibly ever - in England and there might be no more chances to do this ever again and I couldn't see or say goodbye to anyone I grew up with.  They'd all come to the leaving party which was wonderful and we were so pleased they did but it was such a hectic few hours that we didn't really get a chance to talk properly.  Now hear was that chance but like I said understandably none of them could make it and I just felt very small and lonely.

So it was us four, Mark's mum and dad, and his sister and her partner and his nephew and niece at the Clocktower pub. We managed to get a nice big round booth table we could all fit around.  After deciding what to eat I went outside for a cigarette with Mark and tears just rolled down.  I really wanted to just hug my folks just one last time and tell them all I loved them very much and I really missed my dad. He would have been so excited for us and so interested and amazed in our plans but obviously I couldn't tell him.  Mark gave me big hugs and was very understanding.  The meal was good, usual standard of English service - need I say more?!  The kids were all giggly and excited and before we knew it, it was over. Below aren't the best photos, but they're the only 3 we have of our the evening, taken on my phone and due to the 'mood' lighting the colours a bit weird!

Mark's Mum and Dad

Jan and Kev

and from left to right, Sian, Michaela, Andrew and Thomas (Thomas by the way is excellent at swimming, he trains hard and wins loads of gold medals - who knows? we might see him one day representing his country at the Olympics - keep up the hard work Thomas!).

We walked back to Bridge Way, full of so many different emotions, memories of good times, bad times, funny things, seeing the kids play in the street, the corner shop (we popped in to say goodbye on our way out that night), walking the dogs, and yet so full of excitement for the coming journey and new life we had to look forward to. My head was spinning with it all, it was one of those moments where you just wanted to lie down, go to sleep and have someone wake you up once it's all sorted!

We said goodbye to Mark's sister and her lot. They would all be at work and school tomorrow when the taxi came.  Lots of hugs and tears. Just what do you say? Usually it's 'see ya later then' or 'catch up with you next week' or something along those lines. What do you say when you might never see someone again? Is there a standard phrase that sums everything up other than 'love you loads, keep in touch'  that you want to express at that particular moment in time? Maybe it doesn't need to be said. Maybe it's something that's just 'felt'.

Saying nothing but simply being with someone and holding them can I think be even more powerful and convey just everything more intensely than a thousand words ever could.

But a final word to our families, just for the record and because we can't just hold you now, we love you all and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for always being there for us, for all your support and strength and encouragement and for helping us achieve everything that we have. Mark and I were both lucky enough to have such wonderful parents, without whom, we wouldn't have got this far. Know that you are loved very much and are always in our thoughts. xxxx