Day 14: Sheffield to Cambridge

March 10th, Wednesday.

This morning I ate instant noodles again because we needed to clear the foodstuff to allow more luggage space. What better way to unload things than to put them in your tummy, rite? William was already half way through his diaper supply (using less than predicted because he didn't poo poo everyday, and those times that he did, we had access to the toilet so he could sit down and off load comfortably) and down to his last tin of formula milk.

The kids ate their gluten-free gorilla munch cereals with organic soya milk again for breakfast. I don't forsee that they will be able to finish off the cereal and milk supply unless we are not given breakfast in our last leg of stay in london.

Last night hubby managed to pack all our goodies into our existing luggages. Now he has another challenge of arranging everything in the car, and close his boots.

It's bye bye Sheffield for us. For me, I don't know when I will be back next time. Probably not in the near future. Maybe another decade. Or probably never. I think I call this closure now, and time to move on. If God allows, we will be back (and visit Liverpool where hubby and I courted. In the meantime, I will forever hold you Sheffield close to my heart, and the thought of never seeing you again, inevitably bring tears to my eyes.

Thank you for the wonderful memories. Thank you for the experience. Thank you for the knowledge gained. Thank you for the sunshines and blue skies, the cloudy gloomy days, the snow that fell and the flowers that bloomed.

It was good to be back and see the changes. Like they say, life goes on... and we move on.

Our next destination is Cambridge. In the car, I munched on whatever snacks we brought from the aeroplane going to UK. Hubby must have thought that I was hungry, and when the kids were asleep and he stopped to answer nature's call at a reststop, he came back surprising me with very warm steak pie with marshed peas and chips. That would be our early lunch then.

We arrived Cambridge at 145pm, 15minutes before the targetted time. Carolina's Guest House, a very well recommended and highly praised B&B was our next pitstop. This guest house is made of two semi-detached house on Perne Road which is near to the city centre, and run by a nice Italian couple, Carolina (the si-tau-poh) and her husband Pasquale. Unfortunately, throughout our stay, we only met with the husband although our booking was made with Carolina.

Our room is in the house next to the dining area. We were given a family room downstairs, with a view of the back garden, comprising of a superking sized bed, a single bed and another sofa bed (which we used to place our luggage). It was definitely more luxurious than the guesthouse that we stayed in the farm at Stratford.

Vic wanted to sleep with Daddy on the single bed. We joked with her that if she does, she might end up on the floor, or hugging the cold wall, or worse, squashed underneath daddy! Then we convinced her to bunk with me and William on the very inviting, comfortable super king sized bed. So she did (she wants to sleep next to me, but William has to be in the middle in case he falls off the bed).

By now after we've settled down in our room, it was nearing 230pm. Pasquale mentioned a pub just down the road, which he has not personally tried. We checked that out, and found it a nice space and quiet place, with the most important thing... a suitable menu for the kids. They were promoting their Thai menu, which we ordered a stirfried chicken with vegetable dish for the kids, and I had burger with chips while hubby ordered a sandwich dish. And just for the fun, we ordered our old time gwailo leongcha Foster's lager - 1 pint. : ) Guess who finished most of it? (Hubs, not me! The kids wanted to try too... William even laugai-ed because we didn't let him)

After late lunch, we drove to the city centre, found parking, then walked about the shops till early evening. I thought it's better that we take away dinner again, and eat in the comfort of our bedroom and rest early. So we found this chinese take away, from a brochure left in our room, called the China Chef. It's run by a Chinese lady from Shanghai and who used to study in London. She is very entreprising, with online business as well. But the vermicilli clear soup with chicken and vegetables that I ordered for the kids didn't come cheap at 6.50pounds.

Tomorrow we will have a busy day for the first time with deadlines to meet. At 1130am we are supposed to return the rented car, and then in the afternoon take the train down to London. The train is another experience we wanted the kids (esp Vic, since she should be able to remember) to remember.