We spent Christmas with Sally & David in Kent this year. My family came down too, including Liz’s dog Beanie, and Gin & Jo. Lucy & Peter stayed until breakfast on Christmas Day, and Victoria, Stuart and Oliver came in their motor home, bringing Uncle Robert – so it was pretty busy.
Indie was totally crazy for the entire period.
I cooked Christmas lunch, but it was a pretty straight-forward affair – I had two days to do it in, and an army of helpers.
Father Christmas bought everything the girls had wished for, so contrary to appearances they must have been good through 2011.
Happy Christmas to you all. Here’s our seasonal broadcast, featuring Laurie as Mary, Pip as the angel Gabriel, Big Baby as Jesus, the Green Beast as the Donkey, and Indie as the Chicken.
Laurie wasn’t happy with the first take, so we have a second version she considers perfect.
Both are best viewed with sound on. I hope these improve your festive experience.
I ran the Nike Run To The Beat half-marathon yesterday. I’ve only done one half-marathon before, the 2005 Windsor Half Marathon, when I was a child-free 30 year old. As the colleague I was supposed to be racing yesterday dropped out, I decided to race my 2005 self.
In 2005 I ran the 13.1 miles in 1h 55m 8s. In 2011 I ran it in 1:52:58, 2 minutes 10 seconds faster. Victory is mine.
I did it in my (un)lucky red wig, so there might be some decent photos tomorrow.
The third leg of our Grand Tour, after Scotland, was a night in a cottage in Whitby. The town was lovely and I’d like to spend more time there one day – we arrived at five and left at two the next day. Just time for fish and chips, the lifeboat museum, the pier and the beach, a replica HMS Endeavour trip and the Abbey.
We’ve completed the first leg of our Grand Tour. We left London after work last Friday night, at 8pm, and drove to a cottage in Eskdale Green in the southern Lakes. We arrived at 2am after a ridiculous final five miles where the roads were packed with hundreds of sleeping sheep and cows.
We visited Pip’s Mum’s friend Lord Pennington at his castle, via a steam railway. I presume we have now been on all miniature railways in the UK. We balanced rocks at St Bee’s, and crossed Hardknott Pass in the car. Birk’s Bridge would have been a perfect spot for a dip if it hadn’t been so late.
I dislocated Indie’s elbow one morning, so her arm hung limply by her side all day. We drove her to A & E that afternoon. Going round the final mini roundabout to the hospital she leant against the side of her car-seat and popped it back in again.
On our last day we tried a Moss mountain climbing expedition, on Catbells by Derwent Water. I carried Indie all the way up and down in the back-carrier’s final outing, and Laurie did the whole four-hour trip (450 vertical metres of steep climb and scrambling) under her own steam. The family parked next to us in the car park gave Laurie a pair of walking boots which helped a lot, once she got over the disappointment of her first pair of non-pink shoes.
Indie made it to TWO. We had a little party at home on Wednesday, and went to a splash park in Bexley with some of her friends on the Saturday. Let the terrible twos commence.
The final camping trip of the summer was to the Yorkshire Dales National Park, 12-15 August. We camped with the Griffiths/Prentons and the Peppes and Kitty (Scotland) and the Hendriks (Amsterdam), so it seemed fairly central. The campsite (Mason’s at Appletreewick) was brilliant – on the river, just a couple of minutes from two pubs, and nowhere near anything else. The rivers were too swollen with all the rain to launch the kayaks, and the weather was a bit showery – but it was dry at most of the important times, including bathtime.
We spent a day driving round the Dales, planning to buy nearly every pub (they are all for sale). We spent another day at Bolton Abbey, especially at the stepping stones, which were an inch or two under water. The last day we Mosses went to Brimham Rocks to relive my childhood memories. The drive back down the A1 with tea at a Little Chef was also a highlight.
