We spent a long Easter weekend in Friog and were joined by Steve, Debbie and kids - enjoying, amongst other things, some time on the water at nearby Bala. 
After our break in Wales we headed - via Bristol and an evening with Duncan Cranmer and boys - down to Portsmouth for "Cousin Matt's" wedding to Lou - our soon-to-be fellow Christchurchians. Great family gathering at the Maritime Club and well hosted by the Ashworths. A period of much welcomed alcoholic abstinance descended and the gym saw a few more visits in an attempt to halt the worryingly increasing waistline!
Not for long though, and I was off to London to meet up with college pals Steve Apted, Sham Dhar and Hugh Thompson - sinking a few beers in the Devonshire Arms somewhere near Clapham Common. My journey to the Smoke was also for business and I spent the day with Mike Finnigan - CEO of "i2i" - who has agreed for me to be an "i2i" franchisee in NZ. Awesome!
Back in Derbyshire, we enjoyed a pleasant trip up to Dovedale for a sunday afternoon picnic - though the sun seemed to bring everyone else out too!I also managed to squeeze in some decorating around the house before going over to Wales to complete some (promised) decorating for Jack and Eve. Chris and I also enjoyed an afternoon of power-kite flying whilst we were there - as a precursor to doing some kite-surfing lessons. Good fun but very hard on the arms!
Mid-May, Maria and I headed off to Barcelona for a short break (away from the stresses of our impending wrench from the UK!). We had a fab time - did lots of Gaudi-spotting, ate plenty of Tapas and drank lots of Cava! We also witnessed the reaction of the FC Barcelona fans to their team's success in the Copa de Rey - they are mad! Upon our return, we were informed that we have a prospective tenant identified for our house - good news.
Back to Stockport for a family gathering with cousins and old school pals - kindly hosted by Mum and Dad at Well Mead. 
This was quickly followed by a flying trip to London to watch the filming of Question of Sport at the BBC Television Centre. We were lucky enough to be invited into the green room - many thanks to Caroline Roberts for that treat - where we mixed with Tuffers and Matt plus a gaggle of other sporty celeb types. Signs of burn out were starting to show and a few snuffles and sneezes were appearing at a regular rate, so the planned Bank Holiday trip to Friog was postponed for some Derby-based R&R. I actually spent the time mostly in the loft putting more floor-boards down for storage purposes and sorting through 8 years worth of "stored stuff". Horrible, dirty job.
Bank holiday Monday - it must be London then, and off to meet up with my Pembroke College Camping pals and respective families - Christine Raeside, Leon Robins, Jay and Sally Macleod. Unfortunately we happened to choose the day that 60,000 Burnley and Sheffield Utd fans were also using the M1 to get to the Coca-Cola play-off final so the journey to and (particularly) from the capital was a little slow and tedious.
However, we still had a great time - meeting up at the Tate Modern, sauntering along the south bank, lunching and then working our way to Covent Garden for some street entertainment before departing for the congested motorway north.
