Life up North

Wow, what a 2 weeks we have had.  We haven’t had any internet until yesterday, and I didn’t have a mobile signal for the first week (had to change mobile service provider).

So last Monday the removers came round to pack the house up and load it on a van.  Jude took Tom out in the morning for us (they had a great time which was fab) and then I took Tom to Wacky Warehouse with Rachel, Lucy and Mae for a last play.  Got back at 5 to find quite a bit still left in the house – the removers had decided to call it a day and to come back early in the morning.

We went to the Golf Club for our last Calzones.  Tom had scrambled egg on toast – a first – he’s never shown any interest in that before, to his credit he did eat it all.  We then went home – Tom went straight to bed whilst Matt and I took it in turns to go to the Gouges for a last drink and to clean the house.  We had a broken night, Tom had an upset tummy and woke up twice in the night.  He leaked through his nappy onto his cot – bugger.  We didn’t have a replacement cot sheet, and only had one spare nappy.  He has NEVER leaked through his night time nappy before.  We did have Calpol which was a help, but in the end Matt had to go to Asda (at 1.45am in the pouring rain) to buy nappies, replacement cot sheet and a banana.  Great timing Tom!!!!  Anyway we settled him down and didn’t hear from him again.

Bob was sleeping in this room later this day!

Afternoon nap with sunglasses on?  (Cool dude?!)

We were up early on Tuesday as the removers were supposed to be early on site to finish up (they were a little late!)  It was raining – not great, but they finished up in an hour.  Matt left on the bike in the rain, then the removers left, then I finished up cleaning the house and checking we hadn’t forgotten anything.  This took quite a while, especially with Tom’s help.  In fact in the end I took Tom round to George and Marg so I could get on.  Grace was round, so they were very happy – in fact Marg said I couldn’t have Tom back!

Eventually at 10am we left and headed up the M6.  I over took the removal van at Wigan and got to Lupton at 12.  The van turned up at 12.30, closely followed by Matt with the keys at 12.40.  It was then all hands on deck to get everything in the house – luckily it had stopped raining.  Our possessions seemed to completely fill the house – in quite an alarming way.  Around 4pm the lads left and we were left in complete chaos, the kitchen and 3^rd bedroom were completely swamped.

Matt got the two beds put together whilst I emptied boxes.  We kept going until 5, then called it a day and went into Kirkby Lonsdale for a pub dinner.  We settled on the Snooty Fox and had a fab dinner with the biggest and best onion rings we have ever eaten.  Came back, Tom went to bed and we collapsed in the lounge.

The new house in the sun - not bad hey?!

Both of us had a sleepless night (Tom didn’t).  We got straight to it first thing.  I sorted out Tom’s room (the most important room of course) and got it looking good and box free in an hour or so.  Our landlord turned up at 10.30 to say hi, show us round, answer all questions and sort out the garden.  He seemed ok, quite sensible which was good.

We went out to the local tearoom for lunch (very lovely view) then at 1.30, Bob arrived.  With his help we managed to sort out the house much quicker, before we knew it we had the kitchen and 3^rd bedroom back (just as well as that was where Bob was sleeping!).  We treated Bob to dinner at our local pub (monumental fish and chips which were fab), came home, put Tom to bed and collapsed in the lounge again.

Land Ahoy!

A British Seaside!

Thursday was a nice day so we decided to go out to play for the day.  We went to Carnforth Station which has recently been done up (setting of Brief Encounter).  It was good – has a model garden rail shop (something Pop Pop would like to explore I’m sure), a pub, a café, a Thomas themed play room for little ones, a shop and a museum which seemed to focus on The Titanic – not sure why?  There are two lines going through the station meaning that Tom was very happy – watching Pendolinos and local trains AND even a steam train.  He also enjoyed the play room.  Think we ended up spending a good 2 hours there.  We then headed off to Hest Bank to a level crossing and beach.  The beach isn’t a real beach – mud with lots of shells in it.  Tom didn’t mind though and spent a lot of time relocating shells from one area to another, filling pools etc.  He then had a good game of football before we headed back.  We did some more clearing out in the afternoon and I even managed to make dinner in the kitchen.

Friday: as we had made such good progress with the house we decided to go out in the morning.  We took Bob to Ingleton to show him round, then Settle for lunch at the Naked Man.  More clearing out and then Bob treated us to dinner in Kirkby Lonsdale.  We chose a nice looking Italian and it was absolutely wonderful – homemade pasta, proper Italian meals – not just pizza and pasta – although Matt had a pizza and it was delicious.

Just hanging around

Saturday: Bob went home in the morning – the house is looking much better for his hard work – thank you very much Bob.  We decided to go playing for the day.  First stop however was Kendal and Argos to get a bike tent for our bikes (no shed here) and storage for the bathroom and for me to change mobile providers – luckily both Orange and O2 have stores in Kendal (next door to each other) which made it easy.  We then headed off into the Lake District to a National Trust area, Fell Foot Park, at the bottom of Windermere.  It was a lovely area – Tom was on his bike so cycled around.  Then we had a picnic by the lake (Tom bravely put his toes in the water – not for long though) then went off to explore the adventure play area where Tom discovered the zip wire.  Did he like it – wow – we were completely blown away – he monopolized it – must have had 30 plus goes – each time telling us he wanted to go ‘really, really, really, really, really, really, REALLY fast’.  We kept pushing him harder and harder and he loved it.

We finally managed to drag him away and headed for the café where we had a drink in the rain – typical Lake District day – blue sky and rain (where does it come from?)  Spent ages talking to the manager – she was after views and comments – ended up doing a survey for her and I almost clicked back into BDM mode thinking up new ideas for the catering for her (brain was a little slow though – it’s been a while!)  Came home eventually – Tom slept whilst we did some more unpacking.

Cool biker boy!

On Sunday it was raining, so we headed off to Ingleton and the White Scar Caves.  We weren’t too sure how Tom would react to it – he LOVED it – giggling, goose stepping and generally having a fab time.  It was a good walk too a good mile and a half, but a mile and a half is easy when you are having fun.  It was still raining when we came out so we headed off to the Ribblehead Viaduct and the pub there for lunch – whitebait for me and a giant Yorkshire pudding with roast beef for Matt and Tom (greedy things!)

It had cleared up after lunch so we did a quick walk to the viaduct and back and then back to the house for more sorting.