Sunderland
After I had been here for a while, I thought I would try and lookup the Mouats (Suzanne, Paul, Judith and Bob). They are an English family that lived next door to me for quite a few years back when I was a teenager. But they moved back to the UK when I was 16. I managed to dig up Paul's email address and got a reply back the next day filling me in on what they were all up to these days etc. Then I rang and spoke to Judith at home and we had a really nice chat, especially seeing as we hadn't spoken for about 8 years!
Paul (in the pic on the left) gave me Suzanne's (in the pic above) email address and from there we would ring each other up every now and then, anyway to cut a long story short they invited me up to Sunderland to spend Christmas with them. I jumped at the chance, because not only did it mean I got to see them all again, but it meant I didn't have to spend my first Christmas away from home alone, in London.
So I jumped a train up to Newcastle and Suzanne was going to pick me up after waiting at the pub with some mates from work.....well, by the time I got there she was totalled! Not only that but she had some guy all over her too!! I didn't recognise her straight off and had to ring her mobile from a payphone to make sure it was her....but we finally found each other and jumped on the train back to Sunderland. When we got back to Sunderland, Bob (in the pic below) and Judith (I don't have a pic of Judith, because she was feeling ill....camera alergy perhaps) came to pick
us up and after some food, Paul, Suzanne, me, and some of Pauls mates went out which started the trend for the week. I think we went out every night, either in Sunderland or in Newcastle. I had such a good time, but it started this hangover that just got worse and worse every damn time I went out!
Still I'm so glad I tracked them down and I will definately be staying in better touch with them this time! Maybe I can convince them to come visit me in London next time! But for now....it was time to head to Edinburgh for Hogmanay!!
