Not to worry, I put on my thinking cap early on, to ponder what would he really enjoy? Certainly he loves a big party but short of winning a lottery that we hadn't entered to fly special people over, this was not going to happen. Instead I reached out to some of his very special old friends from his school and medical training days to try and arrange a boys weekend. After months of negotiating (secret emails, facetime etc, all very clandestine - I could have been a spy) we had organised a family get together in Oxford with two of his best friends from South Africa. One was actually already living with his family in the UK but we hadn't caught up with him yet. He was also immigrating to Canada the day after our arranged weekend get together so he had to be crazy organised to make this happen. These two had not seen each other since medical school - 16 years ago or so. They hadn't met me or our kids and I hadn't met his wife or 2 kids either. His other friend made a wonderful effort to fly into Oxford from South Africa with his son, whom we hadn't met either. We had last seen this friend on his wedding day over 8 years ago.
As hubby is rather fond of surprises, I made a concerted effort to keep most of the arrangements a surprise. He knew we were going to England to catch-up with his UK based friend and his family, but he erroneously thought we were staying in London. An option that was not all that appealing to either of us (London is not one of our favourite places). In the end, I did break the news that we were in fact not going to London, but instead to Oxford just a couple of days before leaving and this heightened his mood substantially. Oxford is just one of those places that inspires the imagination and we were both excited to see it for ourselves.
To get there, we took the Eurostar for the first time, and this is something I HIGHLY recommend. Although if you are in the slightest bit suspicious in your plans, it may prove difficult as we were absolutely grilled at the UK border patrol in Brussels. Arriving in London and having to make our way from St Pancras International station to Paddington was, as expected, a horrid and depressing experience. We were happy to leave London quickly. 4 children and luggage in overcrowded stations does not make for a relaxed or pleasant transit.
We arrived at the amazing house that our Sth African friend had arranged for our stay and were greeted as arranged by our UK based friend and family. And then we staged the best surprise yet where hubby's Sth African friend came out of one of the rooms to greet him. Old friendships were rekindled like no time had passed. Years were caught up on and family stories and adventures swapped. Not surprisingly, the weekend was spent mostly reconnecting with little actual tourist type behaviour.
Relaxing with books- staying in the house of an Oxford professor means there are 100s of interesting books to read.
Game playing before it deteriorates into mayhem when D decided to take the cards hostage.
Old buddies.... and a small extra (where did she come from?)
They could almost be related with those eyes!
Our UK friends left after the weekend for their big move to Canada. Their two kids are older than ours and so the transition to a new country and culture and being uprooted from their friends is an even more difficult process. It was wonderful to meet them after all these years and it may be many more years before we meet again.
The next few days were all about kids, kids, noise, kids, noise, and lots of catching up with F and his son who at 5 years old was slightly older than S.
We took a trip to the dinosaur museum, which I know has an official name, but will henceforth be known as the dinosaur museum and the kids had a ball.
Before long, it was over and goodbye to Oxford and F and co. Next time we visit Oxford we will get to see a bit more of the majestic buildings and sites, but for this trip, the highlights were the old taxis (extremely entertaining for my lot) and the wonderful cafes and shops that sold all the types of food, coffee and goods that you don't really get in Belgium. But at the end of the day, it wasn't the location that made it, but the company. And that's how it should be I think.
The last couple of days we took a train to the north of England to visit new friends who had recently moved to the UK from Australia. Their daughter had been in C's year at school and they were also a "large" family with 4 kids.
We had a fantastic relaxed time connecting and sharing common experiences, lots of moaning about Belgian idiosyncracities, the inept health care systems around the world, and of course lots of laughs. The kids (eight of them in one house!) were basically not seen or heard for 2 days straight (a perfect way to spend a holiday!).
We dined at Jamie Oliver's restaurant, which started off with very high expectations. The food was ok, but they had some fantastic kids menu concepts and décor.
Despite the cold temperatures, the kids spent their time mostly outside. We introduced them to Netflix, they introduced us to Breaking Bad, so all up it was a fair exchange of addictive activities.
My troops were all besotted by the animals. O in particular became attached to their dog (poor dog) and almost refused to let it go.
Of course we missed our train home. But life wouldn't be exciting if we did things the easy way would it? 9 hours later we arrive back in our Brussels apartment and it appears by all accounts we managed to bring the cold wet UK weather back home with us. We are thankful to be back, and thankful that we have the opportunity to stay in Europe for a while longer, as this has only shown us that there is so much more to see. We will never be able to see everything we would like to, but England, on the whole, a most enjoyable experience. And a welcome novelty to be surrounded by English for a change.
So although hubby didn't get a big 40th birthday extravaganza, he did get a wonderful week away and importantly re-affirming those old ties with his youth....It is amazing how a decade can be wiped away in a matter of time. He doesn't feel a day older than when I first met him xx
