Update

Goodbye is just the hardest word.  

BOO

10.11.2010 – 15.03.2024

 

 

Celebrating Christmas 2022

Some highlights from a different but oh so lovely Christmas. 

There was the usual flurry of festive preparation and last minute panic buying (every. single. year.) in the days leading up to the main event. 

Finally, most of the familiar components came together, with just some adjustment to enable time with the Mister.  And, of course, to accommodate the newest and littlest member of the family. 

Traditional food, crackers, sparkly jumpers, piles of superb presents, games (one involved completing a variety of tasks using teeny tiny hands on stumps and was a big hit), chocolates, endless washing up, full bins, tight waistbands.  Perfect.

This year's gingerbread house, courtesy of the Boy and complete with lights, was inspired by the buildings in York's Shambles.  So good.

In the days following, there was a short drive to the coast for a Thai meal, a walk along the prom and a shuffle (me, it was so disorientating) along the pier in the dark.

We went to Castle Howard for the fairy tale themed 'Into the Woods' experience, my first visit since I was a little girl.  I've no idea why it's taken so long to as it's only an hour away through the glorious North Yorkshire Moors National Park.  

The displays didn't disappoint. Sleeping Beauty, Goldilocks, Hansel and Gretel, Snow White, Cinderella, they were all there.

It was too cold and wet to explore the grounds and gardens so a return is most definitely on the cards.

The dog enjoyed a daily walk round the block.

The cats barely moved.

2023 was welcomed in after a curry in a local restaurant, where it seemed most of the town had had the same idea, and whilst watching the fireworks in London on the telly.  

Despite some trepidation given the recent changes here, everything turned out well (best not mention the butterscotch sauce) and we enjoyed a splendidly festive time. Shame we didn't manage to fit in the annual game of Scrabble. Ah well, I'll just have to keep wearing the crown.

Happy New Year to you all.

 

Adjusting

Well, that was a long absence.  Time to briefly dip the toes into the bloggy waters once again and fill in some of the gaps, methinks.

Since last posting, there's been a big change in the set up here following the Mister's move into a care home in the summer.  It's been a challenging and emotional time on all sorts of fronts, still is in many ways, and sometimes it feels like I'm treading someone else's path.   

But I'm gradually reconnecting with friends and picking up some of the threads of the old life that was put on hold for so long.  I suppose I've become so used to being confined to base that it's taking some adjusting to the idea that I can go out pretty much whenever I want to. 

One highlight was an evening visit early in December to Nightfall, a surprisingly fabulous light show in the park down the road. 

Then, a few weeks ago, I managed a much needed short break in London which I'll write about in a separate post.  Suffice to say it was hugely enjoyable.

The dog is adjusting to life with just me and the cats.  He's now 12 and, with so many health problems and equipment, he is, as the Boy says, held together with sellotape.  I'm now in charge of once daily walks and I can't say I particularly enjoy it.  For starters, getting Boo ready to go out is a lengthy process and then there's too much sniffing for my liking. Every. Blade. Of. Grass.  Drives me mad.  But we somehow manage and the dog walking community is so friendly. Mostly.

We're all adjusting to the littlest in the family being no longer the littlest since the arrival of his baby brother in October.  Despite the distance, me and the Boy have managed to visit him several times and my Girlie has taken him to meet the Mister.  My word, he's a beaut.  A very smiley beaut.

Now we're hurtling towards the festivities and the end of another year.  It all feels rather strange in this period of adjustment and I'm more than usually disorganised.  Lists are compiled and then ignored.  I buy something and then realise I've already bought whatever it is.  Oh, and I wish I could work out how to open the loft hatch to retrieve the Christmas decorations.  A friend thought I'd deliberately left the tree bare, as some sort of statement.  So here's a picture of the one in Covent Garden instead.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas.

 

Time out

It really happened.

After much planning and jumping through hoops, I managed a short break, the first time away from home in two years.

Right up to the last minute, cancellation looked inevitable but, with the mister, dog and cats miraculously placed with their respective carers, me and the Boy boarded the London-bound train for a few days of just simply enjoying.

To say this was much needed time out is something of an understatement.  Settling into the journey with a novel and the Christmas edition of Good Housekeeping, there was such a sense of release I ended up with a soggy face mask (no, you're a crybaby).

Arriving at Kings X and being too early for the hotel check-in, cases and bags were dumped in left luggage. We had a wander round Coal Drops Yard before a most delicious lunch and festive cocktails in Dishoom, followed by a visit to the British Library.  It was a very good start to what promised to be a fun time.

After a mooch around Spitalfields and a nosey here, that first evening was spent strolling along the river before a relaxed dinner, then ending up here for a couple of glasses of champagne, spectacular views and indulging in a favourite activity of mine, people watching.

 

We'd pre-booked some tickets including ones for the Alice in Wonderland exhibition at the V&A which I'd been very keen to catch and which didn't disappoint.

Avoiding the underground because it seemed the appropriate thing to do, we travelled the city using black cabs and Uber cars (and sometimes Shanks's pony).   Yes, it's a more expensive way of getting around but you do get to see sights you'd otherwise miss.

London was looking fabulously festive.   As we weren't staying there this visit (we were based here),  we popped into the Ritz for a gawp at the Christmas tree. 

On the way out, I somehow managed to end up on hands and knees on the red carpet at the bottom of the steps.  In my defence, there was no champagne involved.  I'm blaming the steamed up specs.

A night at the theatre was on the cards and, after a spot of shopping in Old Compton Street and several bookshops, we settled down for three hours of supercalifragelistic entertainment.  

I love wandering cities at night and London surely has to be one of the best for doing just that. 

 

A trip to to the capital is never complete without a visit to Borough Market.  We arrived early as the stallholders were finishing setting up, allowing easy unhurried browsing and prompting much deliberation of what to buy, what to eat. When it was time to move on,  I was amazed to realise we'd spent three hours there.

The weather was glorious as we walked south of the river, hopefully shaking off at least some of those market calories and heading towards the Tate Modern.

This free exhibition was fascinating.  (I've tried to add a video of these floating machines but Typepad isn't playing ball.)

 

We did all of this and so much more, packing as much as we could into this visit whilst never feeling rushed.

Returning home to pets and snow, there were still a couple of days to catch up with family and slob on sofas with takeaway pizzas before normal life resumed, though with batteries well and truly recharged.