Gemma Wooldridge!

Our second visitor of the season has arrived in Gran Alacant; Gemma flew in from Bournemouth yesterday.  I have known Gemma since she was a teenager; a total of seventeen years now! In 2000, myself and Darrell started our own business, in  the village of Whiteparish, near Salisbury; Gemma was our first employee. 

Gemma is just like her Mother, a bit of an eccentric, fun to be around and a pleasure, always. We have always kept in contact, since we left the business in 2004. It was always important for me to keep in touch with Gem, she was like part of the family. She would ride her horse up to the garage we had at the time, tie him up to the petrol pumps and go about her business. It was a very tight knit community in Whiteparish; as I said to gemma today, I kind of miss that feel. Gran Alacant is a very small community, but not quite the same as this small village; a place where my family originated, a place I felt at home; a village boy at heart!

I have managed to have a chat with Gem about the old days, something I haven't done in many years; it was nice talking to her about Brickworth, where we both used to live and work. I have included a couple of short videos below of Gemma and I remembering the good and bad times, earlier. Also included are the videos I took at Brickworth in the early 2000s.

We've had quite a relaxing time, on day one of Gemma's holiday; spending time at the pool this morning, enjoying the hot weather; which is particularly balmy at the moment; anything you can do to cool down is great. After a quick lunch, we drove to the English supermarket for Vegemite, Consum for Marmite and Bovril and finally Lidl, for the rest of the shopping.

It's been lovely sat down with Gemma this evening, having a natter and even managing to speak to her Mother on the phone, who we haven't seen for twelve or more years. It is amazing, when you speak to someone, after such a length of time, how much it feels, just like yesterday. Many memories, of wonderful times have come flooding back today; priceless!