Part of this blog is missing as website keeps crashing.
Last week was a bit of blur. Sam, Milly and Zak came up to stay for a mid week visit, which was absolute heaven.
That kid cracks me up. He’s so cute and funny, my god he’s got an amazing sense of humour.
He walked into the living room and said “we’re going on a nature walk”….(which is what I called the walk I’d taken him on a few weeks back).
I said “oh, you and mummy?”
And he said “noooo, mummy, me and you nana!”
So just a few days after I swore I’d never go on a hike again, I was straight upstairs, like a rat up a drainpipe getting dressed to go on another one!
There are very few people that could get me traipsing round the countryside…Zak is most definitely top of that list! Him, and if Dick Van Dyke asked me I’d go merrily (he is, and has always been my dream crush!!….Don’t judge me! The heart wants whet it wants!! Hahahahaha)
Anyway, I got myself dressed for hiking…
I didn’t say I dressed appropriately for the walk, I merely said I dressed for it.
I decided many years ago that life was too fleeting to work to other people’s rules.
In the nicest way possible I do as I please - when I please. Yeah, yeah, I’m nice enough, I give my time to charity blah blah blah, but for the most part I do as I like.
And so too with dressing I don’t let anyone decide what I wear. I set my own dress code. From hikes to balls, and anything in between I wear what I like.
It’s incredibly freeing to release yourself from the weight of other people’s expectations. You live lighter when you don’t give a shit about what other people think.
That was one of the reasons I was so irked when that troll on Instagram had the temerity to pass a comment about my “disgusting” stoma bag being on show while I was in my bikini.
What’s it got yo do with anyone else!?! Don’t like what you see? Then look away!! It’s so simple. Life is simple if you just focus on you and yours (that doesn’t mean excluding anyone else or not doing good deeds, but feeling free enough to be confident in your choices is empowering).
So off we went for our nature walk hike. It was really lovely. Near where I live is a linear country park, along a decommissioned railway. It’s called the Flitch way, it’s so wonderful for walking, cycling, horse riding etc. there are no cars, which means everyone can roam freely.
We walk past a fallen free that has been sculpted to look like a crocodile, he’s called Hadrian, I told Zak this. He smiled at me, and patted Hadrian.
He then walked over to a tree, patted the trunk and said “what’s this fella’s name then!?”
Hahahahshahah…
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Then we come to the weekend. And as the great Molly Mae says, we all have the same 24 hours!
Or as in this case, we all have the same 48 hours.
We could have sat at home, staring at the walls wondering what to do with ourselves. But I live with the most beautiful hearted, impulsive, spontaneous lunatic you’ll ever meet.
So I spent my 48 hours at the weekend in Lithuania!
“How the hell did that happen?!”
Well, when we were transferring our guests from Ukraine to their new hosts in Southampton, we hired a car service.
There were a few reasons for this, but the main one was - we wouldn’t have fitted the pram and the new large suitcase I bought for them in either of our cars, and also Chris and I weren’t getting back from Spain until the early hours, so picking up a hire car would have been a pain, and also it meant if we were tired from the flight getting in late we could both have a nap on the way down there.
So a car service just seemed the best solution all round.
We got chatting to our drive Tomas on the drive home from Southampton, we asked where he was from and he said Lithuania. I said “oh lovely, what’s it like?”
He sung its praises so much that Chris and I googled Lithuania there and then.
I had to agree, it looked spectacular.
Then Chris looked up and said “booked it!”
“Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!?!?”
Hold on a minute babe, I said it looked lovely, I didn’t say I wanted to go necessarily.
Anyway, skip forward a few weeks and the date of departure to Lithuania was getting closer. All my friends thought I was bonkers for agreeing to go.
Then rockets got fired into Poland and it looked like world war three was going to start.
At this point I was getting proper antsy and distressed/excited/ confused about whether to go or not.
Tomas was going home the day before we were due to fly out there.
So I asked Chris to text him and see if he had gone. My feeling was that Tomas’s family in Lithuania would have told him not to come if anyone thought there was any real risk of danger or harm.
Once I found out that he had gone over I thought, oh well, fuck it, what’s the worst that could happen!?
(Well, obviously running simultaneously through my mind were thoughts of a ground invasion from Russia, or a nuclear bomb from Russia.
I gave both a lot of thought;
Ground invasion wise, I felt I’d probably just pull the old, very British “don’t you know who I am?!” card. Or push come to shove, we could probably escape over the border into Poland and get to our Polish daughter’s house.
Nuclear war is slightly trickier, but my thoughts about this have been set in stone since I read the book Z for Zachariah, in school.
I know deep in my heart that I’m not made for the survivalist life. I cant be scrabbling about fighting off zombies for food (I may have mixed my genres there, but you get my point), I can’t face the thought of fighting off others for a can of stewed beef (obviously at this point I doubt I’d still be pescatarian).
Not that I’m a neurotic over-thinker or anything! Hahaha
I was nervous to go, as is evidenced by the fact I have a whole scenarios in my mind pre trip.
Chris said it was fine if I wanted to cancel and that he wouldn’t mind in the slightest. But knowing Tomas had gone I thought why not. Let’s have an adventure! And adventure we did!!
Goodbye Blighty, it was nice knowing you…
We arrived in Vilnius (the capital of Lithuania) during the first snow fall of the winter, and right there and then at the airport Lithuania captured my heart.
We stayed at the Hotel Pacai, it’s a 17th century converted palace. And it is heaven!! Definitely recommend.
Well, what can I say?! Vilnius is sensational!! An absolute treat, a hidden gem.
The people are wonderful, and everyone we met spoke the most impeccable English (not that they have to or should, but it does make life easier for thick English that only know 1 language…hello! Thick English lady here! Hahaha).
The cake shop we stopped at for an afternoon treat was amazing. I have never bought cake by weight before! You tell the lady how much to cut and she weighs it for you got the price. You can imagine what it was like for a glutton like me!
We did notice our portions were significantly larger than the other patrons. ;)
