NORTH WALES,THE WIRRAL AND MANILVA.

Sunday 19th October.

We were up bright and early but not as early as Tim who goes down to the beach to walk Jasper every morning; we had Bacon butties for breakfast and then popped out to catch up with the local news,We called into our friendly newsagents in Llanddulas which is the village below Rhyd-y-Foel where we used to live and then called in to see Jenny Faux who has just been back in touch with us by e-mail,so we are know up to date with all the gossip! We found out that Margaret who was our breakfast and vegetable cook for many years follows us on our web page when Janet who was our pastry chef brings her a copy to read! Thank you both for following us !We then called into our good neighbours in Rhyd-y-Foel,Gwyn,Carol,Liam, and Amanda to bring them up to date as well. At this time of the year the trees are in full Autumn colour and North Wales is at its finest.In the evening we sat down to dinner with Tim and the family as well as Patrick and Beth who have been Tim and our friends for many years,Patrick works with Tim at the school,Tim and Thea had roasted a Leg of Lamb with all the trimmings including Thea’s now famous Yorkshire Puddings! All washed down with a very fine couple of bottles of Rioja.

Monday 20th October.

Carol Ann Mellor.
25th December 1949-13th October 2008.

After picking up the flowers from the florist in Abergele we went across to Willaston to Carol’s house where all the family had gathered and passed on our thoughts to them including her mother Dorothy and her brother Dave who had just flown in from Canada.We then drove to Christ Church in Port Sunlight where the Rev’d Tom Carmichael took the service,he had done his homework very well and talked about Carol being born on Christmas day and how she got her name when her dad called into see his “ Christmas Carol”! He then went on to tell the story of Carol in her white hotpants sat in the Bridge Inn and meeting Fred for the first time with his mate Roy,I new this story as I was there when it happened and Brenda arrived in her pink thigh boots and hotpants as well !!Our two favourite Hymns,Jerusalem and The Lord is my Shepherd were sung by a very large congregation of family and friends who we had spoken to outside the church before the service including Fred’s three sisters from Port Sunlight.The Cremation was at Landican and we then returned to the Bridge Inn next to the church for refreshments.It was a beautiful crisp Autumn day on which we celebrated the life of our dear friend Carol and our many happy times with her and Fred and their children,Yolanda,Ben and Michelle.We then said our farewells to them and to Dorothy and Dave who is returning to Canada on Saturday.
The only time you have is now,enjoy what you have and you will be happy-the Mellor Clan motto to a tee!


Tuesday 21st October.

On Tuesday morning we set off back to the Wirral and first of all we called into to see Jane’s mom, Nan at her cottage as when we called into the hospital on Monday evening after the funeral she had just left for home a hour before!Nan is still not very well and is taking it a bit easy as she recuperates after her illness.We caught up with all the news as we had not seen her for many years, we have been friends for over forty years when I went to work for her husband ,Bert at the Bridge Inn-the rest is history! We then called in to see Brenda’s sister Jenny and her husband John and had a spot of lunch with them before we went back to Old Colwyn to have supper with the Moffatt family and say our goodbys and thanks as we had to leave for Manchester airport at 4-00am! for the flight home.

Wednesday 22nd.October.

After dropping off the hire car the Monarch flight took off for Gibraltar early so we expected to have no problems at the other end;as we approached Gibraltar it was covered in a very thick cloud and then a severe rain storm hit and so we had to circle for over half an hour until the cloud lifted and the runway was cleared of the flood water!The airstrip is very short and goes out to sea at one end and at the other end is stops just short so you do not want to skid,we landed and the pilot gave it the full reverse thrust and brakes as they do and we stopped a few feet from the runway red lights!!All very exciting and a good reason to have a stiff drink as soon as possible,Mano and Anna picked us up across the border and gave us a very nice welcome home in the warm rain.Tomorrow we have our flu injections in the morning and then a day at home washing and ironing as Carolyn called us and we are moving over on Friday evening to Guadalmina as they have a very early flight on Saturday;we will be there until the 7th.November looking after the villa and their animals including Bruno the dog so fingers crossed that the sun come out and then we will be able to swim in the pool,It’s a hard life but somebody got to do it!