It's a bit cold in Milton Keynes

Kia ora koutou from very cold Milton Keynes. Our first day here in the UK so this is a pretty short blog post. We stayed up til after 10pm successfully last night but struggled to get up this morning so Paul left for the marathon without us - and as we failed to get up til 9am we ended up watching the race from the comfort (and warmth) of the couch. Paul was pacing a friend who was running a 2hour 45 race today so had a relaxing time and apparently went for an extra few kms running around the place but had fun and brought a medal home. 

Our 3 flights over were ok, we didn't get our upgrades - actually only 1 person got an upgrade and the couple who were offered that one seat described it as a marriage test choosing who (he took the seat). Shanghai airport has changed heaps with noodle bars and tea / coffee shops alongside the many duty free shops now. But their crazy entry processes have not changed so the first hour was queuing and temperature checks (which I passed thank goodness). 

These photos from top left:

Steve demonstrating our new sleep neck brace thing while wearing his mask. I think he did have a micro sleep standing there. 

I love signs in China. This one indicates you cannot take your train on this luggage trolley. 

Bottom left, Shanghai queuing (we did lots of that). 

Our bags while we waited for Karen to collect us in the sunshine at Heathrow. It cost $15 kiwi for her to drive in and pick up!  crazy money. 

My one goal for the day was to go to Leon which we did in a foodcourt attached to a giant Asda. I know, walking around a giant supermarket and eating your favourite takeaways isn’t the most adventurous first day but we enjoyed in. I think the wraps were smaller but the gluten free chicken nuggets were just as wonderful and the side salad we chose was excellent. Oh and all their drinks now are Karma Cola - how cool is that. Still love Leon just as much. 

These pics - top Left, the first British woman to cross the line is a MacLennan, how cool is that. Marathon watching morning on the couch with the cat that is not Karen's but I can confirm spent 20 hours in their house today. 

Bottom row - waiting for our Leon lunches and we had to borrow beanies for the day. 

Milton Keynes is lovely. When you drive through or go to the mall you wouldn’t realise its a series of massive parks and green-spaces connected by roads and sprinkled with suburbs of houses.  There are really old parts, like this pub we went to for Sunday roast which was established in the 1590’s, and new parts like where Paul and Karen live. Their suburb which is all new is attached to a massive park and lake, has playgrounds and mixed houses with apartments, town houses and small gated communities like theirs with 10-12 5+ bedroomed homes in a cul de sac. 

Posting this at 4am cause we had a 2 hour nap this afternoon and ate far too much roast in the old old pub. We tool a fab walk around the lake on the way home, saw loads of blossom (yes it's spring but it is also freezing) and decided we could live in Milton Keynes (well one of us made this announcement and you can all guess which one). Sad to be leaving Paul and Karen tomorrow but they will be joining us in Mykonos - yay! Italy tomorrow. Here we come. 

Pics below. Outside Paul and Karen's house on our way to the pub (top left) and outside the pub walking off our giant meals (bottom right). Steve showing off some of our giant Sunday roasts (17.95 Don if you're wondering) and the old pub itself bottom left. Luckily we had some who had run ~50km today to clean up everyones excess roast dinners. 

Finally some pics from around Milton Keynes. The lake with two giant Amazon distribution centres in the background. They are painted in shades of blue so they disappear into the sky at any time of the day. They really are giant. What the forrest looks like walking around behind Paul and Karen's house and Paul showing me on the map where their house is in relation to our current location.