Where's Granma and Pop Pop?

So Mum and Dad were supposed to come up to us today by train.  However, it has been raining steadily in the UK for the last couple of days.  The result: this morning the train line was flooded between Exeter and Tiverton and there was signal failure in Plymouth.  Great!

Dressed for all seasons at the museum

I called Mum and Dad to let them know, they called the relevant people and were told that even if they were to drive to Tiverton the likelihood was that they would have to stand all the way to Birmingham New Street.  Now both Mum and Dad have heart problems and Mum has a bad knee - there is no way they could stand for that long.  So, they are coming by car.  They can't do the journey in one day, so they have driven up to Stafford and will be with us tomorrow lunchtime.  They will then have to leave on Boxing Day as mum has to be back for a Friday morning for an appointment at hospital.  So a 5 day stay has now been shortened to 2 days.  I hate the rain and the rail system!  It's such a long way to come for 2 days, such a shame.

It was a revolting day today and now Mum and Dad weren't coming we wondered what to do.  We decided on going to the Dock Museum in Barrow.  It was quite good: it was free and there were plenty of models of boats and things for children to do.  There was also a cinema room - we had trouble with Tom to start with here, but we did manage to get him to sit and watch and ENJOY the film - it was about the railway in Barrow which was a help - anyway it looks like we are beginning to crack the cinema thing.  We then had a very good and cheap lunch (for a museum anyway) before heading back.  We decided to go home via the coastal route - not sure why - we couldn't see anything.  

Tom wasn't very well behaved today - he was saying no to everything we suggested, sulking a lot and generally whingy.  He fell asleep in the car on the way home about 10 minutes after we started of = he's tired.  So he went to bed early today.  Let's hope he's in a better mood tomorrow when Granma and Pop Pop finally make it up here.