Heathrow Terminal 5

James and I went to fetch my aunt at Heathrow Airport this morning. She arrived at the newly opened Terminal 5 at the unearthly hour of 5:15am. With all the news coverage of the 'disaster' that is Terminal 5, I had visions of seeing road information signs saying 'Terminal 5 - Expect delays'. I could just imagine her luggage ending up in Hong Kong or somewhere like that. Fortunately this was not the case and she had a fairly uneventful arrival.

The terminal building itself is quite impressive, but finding your way around is not so easy. Nothing is well sign-posted from the roads outside to the building inside. But we survived the experience and now... I need to go and catch up on some sleep.

Easter weekend in the New Forest

James and I headed down to the New Forest for the Easter Weekend and a much needed rest.

We left early on the Friday morning to avoid the heavy traffic. After driving through rain, wind, hail and sleet, we arrived at our B&B in Brockenhurst. I've come to the conclusion that most B&B's (in the UK at least) seem to be run by eccentric middle aged women. I soon got used to the heavy smell of Lavender and began to relax.

We did a fair amount of walking and chilling out at coffee shops (cold wet weather is good for business it seems). We took a trip to Beaulieu and spent most of the day looking at vintage cars at the National Car Museum, checking out what's left of the Abbey and wondering through the palace house.
We also took a trip down to Lymington and walked down along the quay. On the way back we got drenched in a hail storm. Rather amusing.
One of the guys at work mentioned that when he thinks of the New Forest, the first thing that comes to mind is ponies and poo. The peace and quiet, beautiful countryside and the distinct lack of any MacDonalds or KFC was wonderful, but I too will always associate the New Forest with ponies and poo.