Roughly every other year, bateleur and I tend to go to the parents and parents-in-law for Xmas. This was one of those years.
Royston There was a lot of snow ice around still when we got to Royston, so we did a lot less walking than we have done in previous years. Memorable moments of those three(ish) days are:
Taking the duo (and my mum) to Letchworth to swim.
Going to the nearby Thai for dinner one evening (minus bateleur who was sadly ill). Bea discovered how much she liked sweet and sour Thai style.
The one walk we did go on we passed the Royston Museum - which I'd like to look round when it's open (sadly, it had been open the day before, but we hadn't known that). From the outside it reminded me of the (fictional) Saxton Museum in The Lost Crown.
Christmas Dinner on Christmas Eve - in the main because I love my mum's roasts.
Cambridge By the time we'd reached Cambridge, the worst of the icy stuff had gone; although there was still a fair amount of sliding on the pavements for the first couple of days. Memorable moments of those three(ish) days are:
the post-Christmas meal walk; dark, pretty and slippery.
Meeting up with Luke and family for a walk one morning - he hasn't changed.
Dick Whittington and his Cat pantomime. This was OK, and I liked watching King Rat and his rattlings do Thriller, but I don't expect to volunteer again next year, not least because of the number of people who wanted to push past even in the middle of the performance. That said, I suspect the duo will be too old to see another by the next time we're back in Cambridge.
Going to the Fitzwilliam Museum where my sister-in-law works. It's a lovely place for roleplaying game inspiration.
Present-wise I received:
Dragon Age,
Dark Fall: Lost Souls,
two lots of chocs,
Books - A Snowball in Hell, Lady Oracle and The Gift,
Tesco is packed, but it's still possible to park today. We bought Bea and Ryan some new long sleeved tops as both are getting quite short of them.
My get-up time has hit ten - which is practically unheard of for me since the duo appeared (Cons excepted). I think I need to make sure it doesn't get any later because it'll be horrid when I go back to work and six-thirty starts.
Last night, leathellin and metame came over for food and gameage. bateleur cooked - stuffed mushrooms, salmon and olives followed by duck tortillas and then fruit crumble. We drank wine and finished with coffee and very nice fudge brought by our visitors.
Today has been bateleur's birthday - I got him a new elephant for the occasion.
This morning only half my train turned up. And the inside was still full of the rubbish from the night before. The reason?
"We apologise for this being a short train. This is because a tree hit it at 3am and we were unable to use the other four carriages. This is also why the train has rubbish in it."
Another busy day with slightly more cake in it. I spent some of the evening making chocolate rice crispy cakes for the work party tomorrow. I then spent the rest of it Diablo IIing with bateleur, chrestomancy and Alistair.
I'm exhausted and it's only Tuesday. At least I'm off next week.
Last all-day meeting this year. Thank goodness. In better news, the trip to and from the station has become all Christmassy. I particularly love the outside lights, but wish dark blue wasn't so popular.
Today a book I ordered secondhand arrived - it's Who, Sir? Me, Sir?. I want to read it to the duo, 'cos I loved it back when I first found it. Has anyone else read it or seen the TV series?