The FastDay Forum

Enjoy your meet up ladies!
@Sassy1 are you still visiting the UK this year?
@Sallyo when in Rome

Yes, Liz @Lizbean, all booked! We arrive Mon 1 June into Heathrow and have 4 nights in London at the Fraser Suites Queensgate apartments near Glouscester Rd Stn before flying to Rome on the Fri. When we return to Heathrow (20? June) we will be hiring a car and heading for Dorset, then Yorkshire, then Buckinghamshire before back to Heathrow at the end of the month and return to Oz.

We have quite a few people to visit, but I would love to meet any UK forum members on our route who are interested in catching up. i will have a more detailed itinerary closer to the time.

@Sassy1 - sounds like paradise I am vey pleased it's all booked and happening for you and your family.

@Sassy1 You beat me to Heathrow by a couple of weeks.

What do you have planned, @Wineoclock? (You have probably already mentioned this in a post somewhere...) Aren't we fortunate to be able to travel overseas.

Hi @Sassy1, yes we are very fortunate to be able to travel. We fly into London, grab a car and head towards Cornwall, then Cotswalds. Over to Ireland and lots and lots of driving. Ferry back to England, drive up to Scotland, back down to Yorkshire, North Wales, Nottingham to meet with friends then to London. Then we fly to Macau for a couple of days to unwind. Nearly 6 weeks in all. Lucky we are used to driving long distances. Im just booking all the accommodation (a bit scared to think of the credit card bill . )

Sounds fantastic, @Wineoclock Living in Australia does help prepare us for distance driving, doesn't it?! i have yet to book the accommodation for the driving part of our trip - I have to wait til closer to the time as we are planning to visit elderly relatives and they won't know til closer to our travel if they will be up to visitors (not that we stay with them, but we would stay in a B&B near them).

@wineoclock are you planning meet ups in the UK? hope so

@Lizbean when the plans are all in place I'll see what time we have. Maybe a "wineoclock" in London.

@wineoclock cheers

Did the meetup happen today? Pics? X

Hello all, apologies for not posting this yesterday.
We three met as planned and decided to go to the Hopetoun Tea Rooms in Block Arcade in the city, as time was limited.
It was lovely to see @Carmelk46 again and meet @Sallyo - such a stalwart of this forum!
Here we are: Carmel, Sally and me - we only had to queue for 10 mins or so, but of course lots to chat about while we waited.

mm1i.jpg (29.64 KiB) Viewed 444 times

We all decided to have the "Caribbean Crab Salad - Blue Swimmer Crab with flame roasted sweet red & green bell peppers, diced avocado & chives, dressed with lime juice, extra virgin olive oil & a hint of Tabasco - served with tomato mousse & brioche toast"

mm2i.jpg (34.29 KiB) Viewed 444 times

followed by...

mm3i.jpg (34.97 KiB) Viewed 444 times

Carmel had the lemon? tart, Sally the pistachio and ? tart (terrible memory) and I couldn't go past the pavlova.

As for gossip (!) - Sally and I discovered that we had both grown up in Adelaide, Carmel and I share a love of caravanning and both Carmel and Sally love to cook. They both have a very sensible approach to 5:2!

And for those that missed the meeting (and we did miss you, especially @Maggiee) - Maggie, Carmel and I plan to catch up in mid February and welcome anyone else - will post the details once confirmed.

How lovely! Thanks for sharing your good times.
Raspberry and Pistachio cheesecake? I had a sneaky look at the menu!
As for the history, I just can't help myself ... 'Representing some of central Melbourne's most charming late 19th century history, the Block Arcade site was purchased for 18 pounds in 1891 and a small tea room was set-up for the Victorian Ladies Work Association.'

@Sassy1 - thanks for the pics and updates, i am so sorry to have missed you all.

Had to come to Adelaide to visit my sick Aunt who died this morning.

Looking forward to our gathering sorry i missed you @Sallyo have a nice safe trip back to Tassie.

I'm an Adelaide girl as well!!

Cheers
Maggie.

So sorry Maggiee. We did miss you.
My tart was the pistachio and apricot. Very delicious. But even more than that, it was so lovely to meet Carmel and Sassy1. It was my first actual meet up and I am hungry for more. I have been away from my computer, depending on my i-phone but we are now re-united. I am having a very social time all up, last night it was dinner with sisters and cousins and now it's off to the Barwon Heads pub for a pre-wedding dinner with lots of family. Tomorrow my niece's wedding.