packing it all in

What a weekend!  It started with an unexpected phone call from the Royal Photographic  Society (RPS) on Friday to say that a visitor to the RPS International Print Exhibition currently on show in Bath, wanted to buy a print of Steve's Tulip Sky image (see blog 25 September 2009).  How nice! As it happened, the would-be purcasers lived in Bristol, so we could deliver the picture this weekend....


But before then, we had a second birthday meal at home for Steve on Friday night, this time with our daughter Katie and her partner George, back in Oxford for the weekend (and an early Mother's Day celebration for me). 


Saturday saw us in Bristol, starting with a visit to Steve's mum to wish her a happy Mother's Day for next Sunday, then on to deliver Steve's print to Redland, where it will be living with some very fine artwork, from what we could see. A brief pit stop at our son Jack's house to drop off our overnight bag, before joining nephew Nick, his partner Kate and baby Esme for a third birthday meal for Steve - is this the longest birthday on record???

Sunday morning we were up relatively bright and early, to catch the train from Bristol to Bath, where Jack was one of 11,000 or so runners to brave the bright but very cold conditions to complete the Half-Marathon.  Although not a personal best, considering that he had only done five practice runs (none of which were to the full at the full 21 km length) Jack did very very well - and here he is to prove it!  


Before leaving Bath, there was just enough time for a very brief encounter with our niece Heather and her son Zac, to hand over Zac's present for his 2nd birthday.  Runners were still out on the course as we headed back to Bristol on the train....


Full details of the time and amount of money raised soon! Our grateful thanks for all of you who sponsored him to raise money for a very worthy cause, and to Jack for his energy, enthusiasm and commitment!


Back in Brsitol, it was time for a long well-deserved soak in a hot bath for Jack, a doze on the sofa for Steve, and a short break for me to catch my breath before we headed home again.  It's not that often we manage to pack so much into one weekend, but what fun!  Time for bed now, exhausted but happy :-)