My last few days in England have been very eventful and exciting filled with new friends, walks along dirt roads next to never ending fields, and a minor auto incident which left us stranded in the country for an extra day. There are so many things to remember from this weekend that this post will have a ridiculous amount of detail. Feel free to skip around through the pictures if the details get boring but being that this is one of the most British experiences I have had, I have to write everything.The Hunt Ball is held in Yorkshire, in the north of England, about 4-5 hours from London and in the beautiful countryside. The sun is out about 18 hours of the day and I saw some of the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets I've seen this year. The 5 of us driving up together (Sharlene, Will, Nick, Imogen and myself) left London at 9pm on Friday and arrived at Will's friends house around 1am. The car ride up didn't even feel that long as we played monopoly, sang along to the radio, and listened to stories of previous hunt ball experiences. Upon arrival Will's friend, Tom, who we were staying with, showed us the rooms we could use and then of course we stayed up a while longer listening to old friends reminisce about nothing and everything. It made me really happy just to be watching their interactions though I had little to contribute to the conversation. Not that that stops me from trying. Bed that night felt wonderful after having sat in a car for so long and we all slept soundly until about 8am when I then got up and waited for everyone else to get up. I read a book I just started on the drive up, The Other Boleyn Girl, because my friend Clemmy had it at home and I've always wanted to read it before I see the movie. I'm completely entranced by it and hopefully will finish tonight before I have to leave tomorrow.
Saturday morning was a slow start as everyone was still pretty tired. I wandered around the countryside for quite some time, pausing to sit on a bale of hay and just be in the silence. It probably sounds cheesy but having always lived in large cities I often forget how much noise pollution there is around me on a daily basis. I probably sat there for about 45 minutes with my eyes closed and the warm sun beating down on me. I had expected cold weather the entire weekend so I was pleasantly surprised to be comfortably sitting outside with no sweatshirt and my flip flops on. I got back from my walk to find the boys all playing FIFA and the girls nagging them to stop so we could go explore. When we got annoying enough the boys gave up and we went up the road (literally, a dirt road) to Tom's parents home to see the new house they are building. It is SO BEAUTIFUL and I would LOVE to have their master bedroom as my room. There are stairs that lead up to a walkway that goes around the entire room that is going to be a massive closet. Brilliant I say, brilliant!
Walking across the lawns to the first marquee our heels were sticking in the grass and Sharlene and I were giggling like children as we tried to rush to get out of the rain without tripping over 4inch heels. It was a funny site indeed! Inside the first tent we were welcomed by a champagne welcome before it was entertainment and dinner time. The entertainment was great because we had a front row seat from our awesome seats. It was an acrobatic crew who flipped and turned every which way and balanced one each other....I don't even know how to begin describing it but for those who have been to Venice beach, they were kinda like those 5 guys who jump over each other and such.
After a dinner of steak, salad, potatoes and some amazing fruity dessert lots of dancing ensued. All the men knew how to dance! Real dancing with twirls and spins and dips and proper footwork. It was so much fun! Now I really do want to take dance lessons so that I'll be able to twirl and know what I'm doing! Luckily all I had to do was follow and no one expects girls to lead hahaha I would have been in big trouble otherwise.
We were up until sunrise which was so beautiful and of course, un-capturable via my iPhone but especially watching it rise over the fields...stunning.
As all good things must, our time in the country was nearing its end. Or so we thought....after packing up the car and cramming ourselves into the car we headed off to the gas station to fill up. Will headed inside to pay while Nick began to fill up. Being that it was Will's car, Nick didn't realize that the car ran on diesel fuel not petrol and less than 5 minutes down the road the car started making funny vibrations and we immediately pulled over as Nick and Will instantly knew what had happened. After a brief panic moment everyone went in to action mode calling whoever they thought could be of assistance. We hopped over the fence on the pull off and sat with all the blankets we had brought on the grass in a field. It was actually quite comical as we imagined having to pop up the tent we brought and just camping out with the car over night. Luckily for us we eventually reached Will's father and some roadside assistance people who were able to correct the problem by midnight....about 9 hours after we started off. It was too late and the boys too tired to drive back to London that night so we stayed at Tom's so we could be rested for the long drive back. Since it was daytime and rush hour it took nearly 6 hours this time around and I was sore and tired and ready to get out of the car.
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| Putting in the right fuel this time! |
It was a fantastic way to end my time here in London. And so, my next post will be coming from good ol' USofA!!! T- 11 hours my plane be taking off!
Love from London,
Kristin
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