London here we come!

London here we come!

Hi there,

Thanks for popping in. Had a great weekend in London, although it’s taken me until today to catch my breath and stop aching! 20,000 steps each day?!? Now wonder my leg calves were like lead on Monday!

On Saturday, Grace and I went up ahead of the team, and hooked up with a very special lady and dear friend: Sam Crowe. She’s been off the radar for a while, so it was just great to give her a big hug and catch up. We walked and talked and ate some great food, then walked and talked – and ate some more! Went to the V&A, then walked all the way back to our hotel off Trafalgar Square – yep! We sure did a lot of walking and talking. And eating! The weather was beautiful, and the city vibe was great.

We even saw a Shac Shack!!! Well, nearly….

Then, on Sunday, we met up with many of the Clarity Crew, and spent the day at Olympia, at a trade show called TOP DRAWER. It’s primarily a Gift and Stationery Show – very interesting. It’s important to see what’s trending, and where we fit in…

It was also a brilliant team-building exercise. It’s the first time any of us had ventured out as a group like this. 12 of us…

From left to right:

Dave, Lucy, Lisa, Jazz, Steven, me, Grace, Sam, Jim, Jilly Paul, Leanne.

Look at Paul’s hair!!! Perfect positioning, that man in the background!!

Olympia is a good venue. The show was much smaller than the last time we went, and attendance was pretty low. But hey. That was to be expected. We enjoyed it. It was well laid out and very well organised. I am not sure I would have wanted to be an exhibitor though; the footfall was pretty low. We made some good connections, and met some interesting people. There was some fabulous pottery there too, so I was in my element!

And then, after a superb meal at Pizza Express right opposite Charing Cross, we all made our way home…

I love this picture. I love these people too.

Sam made it back to Heathrow and even caught a plane home too, which is a miracle if you know Sam! We stood outside The Embankment Tube station, and her parting words – in her lovely Geordie dialect – were, “I’ll be fine. I just have to get to Picalilli from Chaaaring Cross” (pronounced Char as in Jar). Oh boy, oh boy. To know her is to love her.

See you in the SHAC tomorrow at 10am, for a shady session!

Love and Hugs

Barb xxx

23 thoughts on “London here we come!

  1. Thank you for sharing this. It’s great to see ‘the team’ and to put faces to names. Great to see you all so happy. Love and hugs xx

  2. Hat a fabulous team building day and lovely to see you all getting out xx always good to see what is out there although nothing is quite comparable with Clarity for me xx Lovely to spend time with Grace and Sam as well xx
    Glad you are able to get out better and enjoy life xx
    See you in the SHAC

  3. Sounds like an amazing weekend and you all look great. Love Paul’s hair! Poor Paul! Lol. Lovely to put faces to all the names. See you in the morning. Hxx

  4. Haven’t been on the tube since covid. To be honest I’d be really nervous about doing it, something I used to do every day without thinking anything of it, which feels a bit surreal.

    Lovely to have a team day out though, and to have Grace with you too x

  5. I did a double take when I saw Paul’s hair, so thanks for explaining! He looks better without it. HaHa.
    Great to see all the team members and glad you had a good weekend, especially whilst Grace was here. Safe travels home to her. See you when I catch up in the SHAC tomorrow. Line dancing in the morning. Hugs. Annette X

  6. When I saw the photo of you all on the tube I was trying to make out which line it was. I live at the southern end of the Northern Line!
    So pleased to see Sam back in the fold, I’ve missed seeing her cheerful face xxx

  7. Its good to see you all having a great time out together. Taking the necessary precautions its great that we can start to doing ”normal” things again.
    See you in the SHAC Shack tomorrow.
    Have my stash ready for the craftalong on Friday night, will catch up with the 3pm session with the Gud family later as I have to take Mom for a hospital appointment.

  8. Hi Barbara
    Love London born there and worked as a Traffic warden in central London for about 20years so know it pretty well. I miss it now I live in Somerset but glad to see you all seem to have had a great time.
    Paul’s hair does look strange 🤣. Glad Sam is ok and back enjoying things.
    Love Ruth and Jackie xx

  9. So pleased you had a good weekend and braved the underground. It doesn’t look too busy. Life still isn’t back to normal but great you had a team weekend. Good to see Sam. Well done everybody.

  10. Looks like you had a fantastic weekend. Love the way Paul is sitting on the train. Looks like he is 8 foot tall.
    Omg I would have been in my element at the show
    I can’t go shopping without getting a pen pencil or paper lol 😂 😆 😅 but I bet the is a few of us.

    1. HaHa, me too! Unfortunately my stationery obsession has been passed on to my granddaughter and her tastes are more expensive than mine. 😂

  11. Hi Barb,
    Sounds like you have had a great time. Lovely that you got to spend so much time with Grace. Great to see Sam too. Paul’s hair was interesting, I had to look twice to see who it was & then I realised what had happened🤣🤣. Love and hugs,Alison xxx

  12. Hello Barb, what a lovely and heart warming post. So glad you could all get together out and about. That photo of Pauls head with hair, made me burst out laughing, what a great team. Take care and stay safe everyone. Bx

  13. Great to see you having a super time. I thought Paul had a different hairstyle for ‘off air’ and was wondering where the hair had come from, until I saw the tube picture! Good to see Sam and great the Grace is over here.

  14. Great photos and nice to see the names of everyone. I used to love going to London when my daughter lived there. Happy that you are having such a happy time with Grace while she is with you. Paul did look tall on the tube. Xx

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