We stayed a few nights in London with Emm’s cousin Gary, and his partner Rob. It was quite a situation for a couple of nights as all 5 of us shared a one bedroom London flat! Poor Janet had a mattress on the kitchen floor whilst Emm and myself the loungeroom floor. To make matters worse, poor Gary had a Uni essay due also! Talk about chaos. It was quite a laugh though as we all became acquainted (or re-acquainted in Emms case) over a few nice duty-free whiskeys, some wine, beer, schnapps and some good food.

A few days later we were off to Portsmouth to catch up with all Emm’s family and surprise her Granny for her 90th. We were dropped off at Brian (Emm’s cousin) and his partner Debs’ house, were we would be staying while in Portsmouth. Time for a quick beer, a meet and greet, a shower then straight off to the party.

In true English fashion the party was held at the local pub, with a nice end being blocked off for the Party goers. There was a great turnout for Granny on her 90th with all her children, most of her grand-children, and even a few great-grand-children!

The surprise on Granny’s face when Emm walked in was priceless – poor Gran thought Emm still in Africa, and was not quite sure at first whether it were her or not!! In her surprise she exclaimed “How did you get here”. It was great party for a great Gran!

Emm, Granny and Janet at the Party

Granny and her Birthday cake being presented by Louise, Granny's great-granddaughter.

Granny and Alfie, Brain and Deb's pup

Brian, Steve, Barry, Terry and me enjoying a few cold ones

Whilst in Portsmouth we nipped across to Brighton on the train for a day by the seaside. What a cool place – it would be fantastic on a nice summers day! Great unique shopping (lots of antique, music, odd and eccentric little lanes and markets), an awesome pier with a fair at the end, and quite a pretty beach (note lack of sand).

Beautiful winter day at the seaside - Brighton Pier

Cool British street lamps (note blue sky) - Brighton

From Portsmouth we headed back up to London and stayed in Russell Square, quite central to the inner city. Here we became your standard tourists looking at all the sights, riding on the front seat of the top story on the red double-decker buses and visiting most pubs we walked past!

St Paul's Cathedral - note blue sky.....

St Paul's Cathedral

Tower Castle right on the Thames River

Tower Bridge - not to be confused with London Bridge, which is very crappy

London Eye, Big Ben and the Thames by night

Natural History Museum - a very awesome museum in a very, very cool old building!

To our surprise the weather was amazing – quite the opposite to any reports any English people have ever given us about their winters! We had mostly sunshine for the few days we were there with only a brief drizzle on one day. great for being a tourist on foot. we even found ourselves caught up on Oxford Street (the main drag) right as everyone finished work – not an enjoyable experience!

From London we said our good byes to Janet as she was heading back to Oz via Malacca for a little trip, and then jumped on a plane en-route to Edinburgh and Scotland to visit a mate, Callum.