Last weekend before Christmas

Saturday, Tom had a birthday party (Ellis').  This consisted of a train ride from Bentham to Morecambe and watching the latest Star Wars film.  There were 5 boys altogether (all from IPS)  Ellis is at QES in Year 7, but has stayed true to his routes so far and has the same friends now that he had last year.  Sam took them on the train, but then they sat through the film by themselves (she didn't fancy it - don't blame her).  She then took them to Frankie and Benny's for tea - what a treat and although Tom isn't into Star Wars, he said he really enjoyed the film.


Matt and I had the best part of the day to ourselves - yay!  I spent the morning bagging up any spare choccies I had and taking them to Gingerbugs as they were running low.  Then once Tom was on his way, we headed to Elaine's at Feizor for a proper lunch.  We then did a 5 mile circular walk - a different one this time which took us almost to Knights Stainforth.  It was a lovely walk, lots of lumps and bumps, cairns, sheep, cows and donkeys.  It was nice to get out and exercise, enjoy the fresh air and not be preoccupied with work!

We got back, had a shower, relaxed and then went to pick Tom up from Bentham.  We spent the evening lounging on the sofa including 'teas on knees' of beans on toast.

Sunday we spent the morning finishing Christmas chores and then we headed round to the Ellershaws for an afternoon of board games and drinking.  The drinking seemed to take precedence - it was a bit of a session.  The kids, as usual played well together. leaving us adults to drink and eat lots and lots of crisps, dips and other really healthy things.

Nothing much happened but we had a really good afternoon of chatting, drinking, eating - oh and we did play some board games but not that many to be honest!  We staggered home around 8pm and struggled to stay up until 10pm and bed.

Skating and sledging

Saturday we had a quiet day, Tom was displaying signs of being tired, and I was pretty tired too and needed a day of doing not much.  Matt headed to Leeds for the day as he had a translators' Christmas lunch / social to go to.

Look at that blue sky!

It was a nasty nasty day and as a result football training was cancelled which I think was a good thing.  We had a quiet morning in, then mushrooms on toast for lunch, followed by a snuggle on the sofa watching Polar Express - Tom's favourite Christmas film.  We then headed to the village for late night shopping / skating rink / Santa.  This is an event the village has held in various forms since we moved here - one year it was amazing with fake snow machine and lots of stalls selling food etc.  Since then it has sort of died.  This year they hired a skating rink - it was only small, but it got people into the village, and for children that have never been skating before (Tom being one of them) it was great fun.  It only cost £2 for 30 skating, which was very good value.  Tom began to get the hang of it and managed to slide a little bit.

Snowball fight

There was a poorly attended lantern parade and then Santa arrived on his sleigh.  The newly formed village band was in the square playing festive tunes.  There was then supposed to be a ceilidh, but nothing happened.  We hung around for ages, but nothing took place.  Oh hum, Tom did go to see Santa though (we have given up trying to call him Father Christmas as everything now seems to be branded Santa!) the present he was giving out was desirable (squidgy frogspawn stress reliever which lights up).  As the ceilidh didn't take place we headed home for tea.

Herbert was happy!

We were then supposed to pick Matt up from Clapham, but his train got cancelled in Skipton.  He then got another to Ribblehead.  Tom and I headed out to Ribblehead to collect him, however, there had been a big hail shower meaning the roads were loaded with balls of ice.  Hum, I drove up to the end of the one way system.  The car was slipping and sliding all over the place - there was no way I would be able to get it up to Ribblehead, so we headed home.  A couple of phone calls to Katie up in Ribblehead and she arranged for Jon (who was at work at the Hill Inn) to drive back to hers, get the Land Rover, pick Matt up from the pub and drive him down.  Turns out that i did the right thing as one car smashed into a wall just outside the Hill Inn.  There was lots of black ice on the road, Jon struggled in the Land Rover - the Civic wouldn't have made it.  Anyway, it all got sorted and Matt got home!

Happy boy

Sunday we woke up and there was white stuff everywhere.  Not only had it snowed but it was deep.

Dry stone wall and Whernside

Sledge!

Only one thing for it - sledging at the Hill Inn.  Normally the slopes of the Hill Inn are crowded with folk from Ingleton when it snows, so we were expecting to join the crowd.  No, we were the first to get there, so we made our tracks.  Still no-one came.  Very strange.  We carried on but to be honest in the end we got a bit bored, much more fun to sledge with others than by yourselves.  We gave up and decided to head to the pub.  The Hill Inn was closed, so we headed to the Station Inn (the road had been gritted by this point).  There we had a drink and a mince pie each (sledging is hard work - struggling up the hill at the end of every run).  We then decided, that as it was such a lovely day, to do the Ribblehead circular walk - which we did.  We then had a lunchtime dinner at the Station Inn which was remarkably good (this pub used to be awful, but the owners booted the last lot of tenants out and now it is much much better).  We then headed back down into Ingleton - still not many people on the slopes of the Hill Inn - not sure where everyone got to - maybe Christmas shopping again?

Can't remember what we did for the rest of the day - hot baths and a bit of relaxing I'm assuming.

Carol Service

On Wednesday we went to Tom's last Christmas Carol concert - awwwwww.

Getting ready to play

It was lovely - last year we had very bad seats and couldn't hear or see anything (we were there 30 minutes early too!)  This year we got there 45 minutes early and got some great seats (we weren't the first to arrive by any means!) 

It was a lovely evening, lots of traditional carols, some new ones including the Teachers' Twelve Days of Christmas which was such fun '(6)Hand Sanitiser....(5)When's it half past 3?...(4)Don't waste the glitter...(3)Decorate the tree....(2)Learn all the carols....and (1) You still have to do your homework!!!!!

Who told the dirty joke?

Tom did a guitar recital (Shallow) which made Sal Ellershaw who was next to us cry!.  They all did a couple of poems and a song.  The head boys and girls did readings.  It was just lovely.  A really good atmosphere and a lovely evening.  We will miss it next year.

Mum and Dad Visit

Mum and Dad came up for their annual visit.  Of course, as soon as they arrived it clouded over and started to rain.  It got sunny just as they left!  Oh hum!

They came just in time for the school Christmas Fair on Thursday.  This was the first time I wasn't running it - it was such a lovely experience.  We went round all the stalls, spent huge amounts of money and had fun interacting with the teachers and pupils.  All the year 6 pupils were running stalls, Tom was (as usual) doing what Charlie told him which was a rather complicated bowling alley type thing - lots of rules and regulations which kept changing!  Mum won 5 packs of Haribo!!!!!  Think we did every stall going and soaked in the atmosphere  - sat down had tea and a bun and just really enjoyed ourselves, much nicer than running around on PTA stalls, I'm so glad I have taken a back seat.

Tom (driving?) a train

Friday evening we headed to the OPO for drinks and then went for tapas - was a good evening - everyone enjoyed themselves.

Trains!

Saturday the boys headed to York to go to the National Railway Museum and I took Mum on a bit of mystery tour - she knew were were going out but not where or what...







First stop was a garden centre to go hunting for Christmas presents and then I took her to the Midland Hotel in Morecambe for Afternoon Tea.  Mum and I very rarely have any quality time together, this was lovely, so nice to be able to treat her.  We were both very relaxed and enjoyed the view of the bay and the cakes and sandwiches.  On choosing her tea, Mum went straight for Prosecco - go girl - I teased her, but really I was pleased that she was up for mid afternoon booze!

Mum drinking in the afternoon!

Tea for 2!

At work!

Unfortunately the weather was awful - the plan had been to walk along the prom at Morecambe afterwards, but it was driving rain and wind, so we gave it a miss and headed home.  It was a lovely afternoon.

Sunday we had a quiet day as Mum and Dad had been rushing around a bit since arriving up here.  Don't think we left the village.  However, I was still able to put them to work.  Matt and Tom went out to Ireby to pick up a Christmas tree and Tom, Mum and Dad were put to work decorating it - with Christmas music in the background and Christmas hats to wear.  In fact we got all the decorations out - found lots (as usual) that we had forgotten about including 2 new sets of lights.  I spent a while twisting the new lights around the bannisters - up and down each spindle - once done it looked lovely and festive.

The day ended with a proper roast in the evening - don't think Mum and Dad would know what to do if roast wasn't served on Sunday evening?!!!!

Snuggled up together - 3 peas in a pod!

Monday the sun came out and they headed home!  Was a shame the weather was rubbish and also that I was busy with work, so couldn't spend much time with them on the week days,   Oh well, they have promised to come in the summer next time...

Super Sunny Weekend

Stone Jetty

Wow, we had a super sunny weekend - it was cold, but not too cold, the sky blue and not a whisper of a breeze.  We had to make the most of it...

Looking good in the sun!

Saturday after football we headed out and had lunch at Archers Cafe - the place was empty?!  Very strange as it is never empty, you always have to queue!  Must be that people have started Christmas shopping!  Oh well, it was to our advantage. so we decided to eat big - very delicious it was too, always good food there.


We then drove to Morecambe, parked up at the bottom of the prom and went for a walk up to the stone jetty - the light was beautiful so Matt was busy snapping away.  Certainly a glorious day and it lifted all our souls.

Looking down over Morecambe Bay

Sunday we headed to Grange-over-Sands for the day as I wanted to take Matt on a walk Tom and I did with Steph and co a while ago to The Hospice (a stone tower with fire grate etc for lost, weary walkers).  You get great views from up there and I knew Matt would enjoy it.  I was right - once again he was snapping away, because, again it was a wondrous clear day, we could see for miles.  We spent a while up there, before heading back to the village, having lunch in the Hazelmere cafe.

Arneside Viaduct

We were all in need of something sweet - so I had a crumble, Tom had a huge mince pie and Matt had 2, yes 2 cakes!  We then went for a stroll along the prom so the boys could see some trains before heading home.

Hills

Next on the agenda was to go to Kingsdale at 6pm to see the ISS pass over us.  Matt wanted to take an arty photo of it.  Tom and I went for the ride.  We saw it and Matt got a decent photo of it.  However, it was cold, so we were all very happy to return home to a good hearty stew.

ISS from Kingsdale

Quiet Weekend

So we didn't have the most exciting weekend - but they can't all be can they?

Saturday we watched Tom during a football match at home (at last).  He did ok and the team as a whole did brilliantly.  They are struggling for players this year, meaning that quite often they have to borrow players from years below - not great when the offside rule applies this year for the first time - younger players have no idea.   Anyway, they went from being behind to winning - with one player 2 years younger than the others.  Can't say Tom was instrumental in the win, but every now and again we saw flashes of brilliance.

Pendolino

Huge drink

I disappeared after half time as I had an afternoon of pickle ball training booked in with Anne.  She picked me up early, we had brunch at Ireby, went for a quick look around Kirkby and then had a 4 hour training session of pickle ball which was good.  I now have a much better idea of the different facets of it and know where my weak points are (dinting at the kitchen - I'm very poor at that!).  It was good to have 4 hours exercise and I really was quite tired after it.

Matt and Tom went to Carlisle on the train, had lunch out (posh mocktail for Tom) a look around a model railway shop and came home again.  The night was spent collapsed on the sofa - oh and Janine B came round for a natter - always nice.

Aysgill Waterfall

Sunday we went to the village craft show first thing (felt I should show my face as a few village people were disappointed that I said no to having a table at it - last time I did something like that I ended up massively out of pocket!).  It was slightly better than when I did it, but still don't think I would get many sales if I was to have a stall.  We then went to Hawes for a walk - a new one this time, up to Aysgill Force.  Very lovely little walk, even though it was in the gloom.  Then beans on toast at Penny Garth cafe, back home for a major tidy up of the house: me on kitchen, Matt on lounge and Tom on his room - house was looking a load better afterwards.

Pat and Bob came round for a roast dinner, I seemed to do a good job - Pat came with very little appetite and left having ate a plate full - I took that as a compliment.  It was a lovely evening. Back to work and school tomorrow.  So far we have escaped the sick bug and flu that has been going round - hoping it stays that way.  We've all had our flu jabs now...

Open House and Night Hike

So we came back from London and I was straight into preparing for my Christmas Open House.  It always takes way longer to prepare for this than I think.  Basically I spend from September to November trying to think up new products and then trying to get them to work.  Then, of course I have to make at least one of everything, work out the best packing for them and source that packaging, then work out labelling etc.  It always takes an age.  If I could outsource someone to do my packaging and labels I would - I hate it!

Then I have to bake and ice 4 cakes, source a non-alcoholic mulled punch drink (my usual has stopped being made!) and then there is set up.  It takes a good 4 hours to set the kitchen up, from clearing it, cleaning it and then working out display so all products can be seen.  There is definitely an art to display, and as I only do it once a year, I'm not all that skilled in it.  I did an experiment though I had men's chocolates (tool kit, nuts and bolts etc) on the right hand side and tiffins chocolate boxes on the left hand side on Friday and Saturday and swapped them round for Monday.  Seems to be whatever is on the right hand side sells better.  Hummm, something to think about for next time (ie work out the items with the best return and put them there!)

Anyway, on Friday morning I got up at 6am thinking I only had a little left to do (I set up a lot whilst Tom and Matt were at cricket practise on Thursday night) but still it took me to 9am to get everything ready.  I got it done just on time and then waited for everyone to arrive.  No-one arrived.  Where was everyone?  It was in fact really bad timing - there is a really horrible bug going round the school at the moment - a flu type virus, so bad that one pupil was hospitalised!  It was at its height on Friday - 9 children were missing from Tom's class alone!  So, lots of mums were stuck at home nursing sick children.  Luckily John Manning arrived at 11am and after that I had a steady stream of visitors - phew!

Some B&B owners came this time which was new - they wanted to see what I did in the way of cakes so they could let their guests know about me.  Another wanted to know if they could get sheep choccies from me to give to their guests etc, so they might generate new business next year - all very useful.

By the end of the day though I was disappointed - felt as if I was way down from last year.  Saturday morning was even worse - I only got 2 visitors the whole morning and I missed a really good game of football for it!  Then when 12 came I had to clear away everything from the island unit and disinfect it ready for a birthday cake workshop with an 11 year old coeliac!  I had been so busy that I hadn't really had time to worry about it or even plan it.  Luckily the birthday girl was very excited to be spending the afternoon with me and was capable in the kitchen, very chatty and just lovely really.  Her mum had sent through a drawing of the birthday cake she wanted (a guinea pig wearing a top hat).  I had made a cake ready for her and iced it in plain white fondant.  We then decorated it together.  She was great - except she was very particular about the colour of the guinea pig and it took ages to get it right and then the fondant was over worked - but we got there - just - we were taking photos of it just as her mum arrived back.  Time went very quickly but it was enjoyable.  I wouldn't mind doing it again - but only if the child was keen and capable.

Then a quick tea before getting Tom ready for an all night hike with scouts.  We dressed him in layers, borrowed some seriously good hiking boots from someone who runs an outdoors company and loaded him up with snacks.  It was raining when we dropped him off.  It rained the whole night.  We were a little worried about him doing it - he was 1 of 2 his age who went for it, however, it was his decision to do it and we didn't want to dissuade him, quite proud of him really, although we had no idea what missing a whole night's sleep would do to him?!

Fast asleep!

We were told to keep our phones on all night in case there was a problem, otherwise to collect him at 9am.  At 5am the phone went.  Everything was good, but all the children were wet so they thought it best that they were collected earlier - they told us to head down at 6am.  We did so, to find a hut full of people.  In the middle were sleeping bags and in one of them was our Tom.  The lights were on, it was noisy but he was spark out and we had a job waking him!  He was a little dazed and confused, Matt carried him to the car and we took him home.  When we got him inside he sat on me and cried.  He was completely overwhelmed with what he had done: walked 8.5 miles in the dead of night in the rain and then we had woken him up from a dead sleep.  We tried to get some food into him (he missed breakfast at the scout hut as they didn't want to wake him up) and then he went to bed.  Think we was asleep in seconds.   Matt and I were of course awake for good now, so we retired to the lounge to do some computer work whilst we let him sleep.  He woke up again at 10am for the day.  He had a bath and then we went to Ireby Farm for lunch (his request).  The afternoon was spent watching telly and playing games.  Matt and I played tag team parents and headed round the village by ourselves to get some fresh air - couldn't really expect Tom to come with us.

We all went to bed very early.

Monday, I had another open morning.  It was a little more successful, once again no-one came directly from school, but at one point I had a good 6 people in and was struggling to speak to everyone.  I got a couple of decent orders, and finished up satisfied.  I think with orders that will come in afterwards from those unable to attend, I'll do ok.  Raised just under £100 for Cancer Research as well.

South Lakes Cricketeer

The rest of the week was spent getting the kitchen back to its usual chaos and then confirming orders and making lots and lots of lists to make sure I have everything recorded and work schedules sorted to make sure I don't miss anything.

Tom got his South Lakes cricket kit this week - here's a pic of him, looks smart doesn't he?  He had a really good session on Thursday - his batting was amazing.  Certainly growing in confidence with every session.

Harry Potter

So this weekend, a mere 9 months after his birthday we finally got ourselves to Harry Potter.  Vera very kindly put us up for the weekend.  We headed straight to Lancaster from school (after a very rapidly put together assembly about Edinburgh).  First stop was Nami Sushi for tea (becoming a bit of a tradition...) before getting the train down to London.  Then a hasty turn around to get the train back out again to Bushey, where Vera lives.  Vera wasn't actually at home as she was singing at a gig, she gave us instructions to find her hidden keys, which we did and we made ourselves at home.  Tom went straight to bed (he was tired as he had had two long nights in a row - with Sierra and Jack having had a sleepover at ours on Thursday night due to Steph and John going to an awards ceremony in Manchester)

Vera got home about 11pm, so we had a chat and then went to bed.  Think we were all shattered.

Saturday morning we had to be up early.  I had to wake Tom up! Our tickets were for 9am, so we got up and went straight out of the house for the studios.  Vera very kindly took us.  We were greeted with freezing fog, not nice, a good day to be inside I think.  We got there for 8.30 and thought we would be the first ones there, oh no, there were plenty already waiting.  This place was big, very big.  We got our tickets and then headed to the food hall where we got some breakfast (rather nice sausage baguette.  They did a breakfast yorkie - now there's an idea - have never seen one up here - but a great idea - saw plenty going out!)  We then headed in.  First of all we saw a couple of films with Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson etc welcoming us and telling us what a wonderful time we were going to have.  Then the screen rolled up revealing a big door.  Those people who had birthdays were asked to the front.  We had been warned about this and as this was a birthday treat we told Tom he was perfectly within his right to go to the front.  He did and he got to open the grand doors to the Big Hall.  It was huge, and was decorated for Halloween, so pumpkins were floating and bobbing up and down and there was a Halloween feast on the tables - lots of sweets etc.   There were also mannequins of the teachers exhibiting their costumes from the film.

Bath taps from the prefects' bathroom

 We then walked into a huge room where there were loads of sets and models from the films, including the wonderful tap from the prefects bathroom, the Gryffindor Common Room, the boys' dorm, Dumbledoors office, the potions classroom complete with self stirring cauldrons and Hagrid's house.  All the cups and trophies from the various films were there too, including the golden eggs from the Triwizard tournament.  There was even a table with a 'chocolate feast' on it, which of course I tried to scrutinise.

Dodgy Wizards

We then hit the green screens area where you could have your photo taken as a wizard.  We got our robes: Tom went for Gryffindor, Matt Slytherin and I went Hufflepuff.  We then had a 'wanted' poster taken.  Tom then got to mount a broomstick, had his photo taken in various poses and then had a video taken with him flying through the skies of the UK: over Scotland, London etc etc.  We bought 2 photos.  

Tom playing Quidditch

Then we learnt about how they filmed quidditch - looked great fun!  We very much got the impression that these were great, fun films to work on.  Either as an actor or production member.  The amount of effort they went to to make sure that every little detail was perfect was tremendous.  Next we saw the whomping willow thumping the Ford Anglia from the second film.

As it was Halloween, the studio tour had a 'Dark Arts' bent, and when we headed into the Dark Arts area there was a participatory show where children got to learn how to hold and swish a wand and then some Death Eaters appeared through some glass and they had to have duel.  Luckily the children had been well trained and defeated them - phew!

Before tasting it!

Next stop was the Forbidden Forest where we came across Aragog the MASSIVE spider and all his friends (and there were many of them!) they all suddenly came to life as we walked past.  We also were introduced to Buckbeak who was gorgeous and very proud looking.  We all respectively bowed to him and he bowed back.  By now were were beginning to get tired and thirsty.  The next bit was Kings Cross Station and the Hogwart's Express, but we skipped through it to the cafe next door so we could get refreshed.  As it was almost lunchtime, we decided to get some lunch as well.  There was also a bar selling Butterbeer.  Well this is the only place we would ever be able to get it, so we got 3 glasses.  The food was average, but the butterbeer wasn't...it was truly awful.  Not sure what it was, but my take on it was that it was tasteless fizzy sweet juice topped with aerated cream.  It was truly disgusting which all of us were in agreement with.  However, it cost over £12 for 3 glasses, so we drank it (when I say we, Tom refused, so I drank his!)  

We then headed back to the Kings Cross Station area and enjoyed the Hogwarts Express, we went on board and managed to push the station trolley half way through the wall to platform 9¾.  We then went in the station shop - lots of lovely memorabilia but the prices were astronomical?!  Over £50 for a hoodie, £8 for a patch, £100 for a pair of Hogwarts Express book ends.  We were shocked and stunned and left without purchasing anything!

Triple decker bus and threatening sky!

We then passed through the cafe and headed to an outdoors courtyard, within which was the triple decker bus and 4 Privet Drive.  Funny fact: the producers looked everywhere for the most mundane street in the country for the setting of the Dursley's house.  They ended up in Bracknell - didn't surprise me - just confirms that that part of the country truly is dull!!!!!  Loved the attention to detail - there were Dudley's certificates framed in the hall way of the house 'Head Teachers Award' for 'Finishing his lunch' and a swimming distance award of 5 meters.  The triple decker bus was actually made from 3 double decker buses.  They made two, one of which does actually works!

We then headed into the second part of the tour which started with demonstrations of how they did the head make up of the goblins, how they used digital technology for Dobbie.  All really interesting.  We then headed into Gringotts - wow, wow, wow.  It was amazing!  They had the full sized set there and it looked very very decadent.  

Gringotts Bank

The next area took us through how they made it - so interesting, and so much attention to detail.  If I was 20 years younger, I might look into becoming a set designer - looked so much fun, and you got the impression that no expense was spared.

The next set was Gringotts during and after it got destroyed by a dragon which was very realistic.  See here: https://youtu.be/G5NfDVQpoao

Diagon Ally

From there we were channelled into Diagon Alley which looked amazing.  Here Tom got chosen to blow up a shop sign - which he did - just as well he was taught how to swish his wand earlier on.  Then a Death Eater came out so he had to fight again - he did well!  The Weasley's shop was open which meant we could see their pucking pastilles in action - cool and revolting in one!

Next stop was a huge scale model of Hogwarts Castle.  This was massive and very impressive.  They had a time lapse film showing how they put it together - it took 40 days.  Not sure what they made it from, but it looked amazing.
And that folks, was the end of the tour.  Phew!  Of course the tour ended in a gift shop and it was a VERY BIG gift shop, but mainly it was a VERY EXPENSIVE gift shop.  Prices were insane, so neither me nor Matt bought anything.  We gave Tom £10 and he managed to find 2 £5 items (a poster and a keyring with Buckbeak on it) - must have been the two cheapest items in the shop.

We then had a refreshment break before heading out into the rain.  We got a bus to Watford Junction and then a local train to Bushey.  Matt and Tom then did a spot of trainspotting whilst I headed back to Vera's as I knew she was cooking for us and I wanted to help her.  I was right, so I jumped in and helped by making pudding and gravy.  We had a very pleasant roast dinner for tea.

Sunday we all had a lie in and then Vera took us to the Doll's House on Harrow-on-the-Hill for breakfast.  We saw Gaucho's which is now a rather nice looking bar.  The restaurant had a good view over the rooftops of outer London and as it was a clear, sunny day we got a good view.  After breakfast we went to see Treetops - it looks just how I remember it.

Vera then took us to Harrow and Wealdstone Station where we got on board a train to Euston.  We then went for a ride on a route master bus into the centre of the city, had tea and a bun and then returned in time for our train back.  We got home on time, tired but happy.

Thank you to Bob, Pat, Jude & Craig for the tickets - we had a fab day and special thanks to Vera for looking after us so well and acting as our personal chauffeur for the weekend.  Much appreciated.

Fireworks

This year we managed to get ourselves to Kirkby Lonsdale for their fireworks on 5th November.  For a small town, they put on a good show and we enjoyed a good 15 minutes of big bangs over the rugby club.  We managed to go and not buy any food, drink, sweets, or fair ground rides - pretty good if you ask me.

Matt got himself a good place to take some photos - they came out pretty good - have a look...

Cardiff

We realised not so long ago, that we hadn't seen my Mum and Dad since Christmas!  We booked in to see them for October half term.  They suggested we meet up somewhere rather than us go to them.  I thought Cardiff would be a good idea, I haven't been since we lived in Backwell, and of course Mum is from Newport so plenty of interest for her and it wouldn't be too far for them to drive.

We didn't book anywhere till quite late for one reason or another, meaning that we didn't have a huge amount of choice - but we found somewhere not too far from the centre of town and at a reasonable price.  When we arrived we found out why it was a reasonable price - it was an ex student house and the people who own it hadn't really done much to change it.  However, the sheets were clean, the boiler worked and we didn't really spend that much time there anyway.

We decided to go down the scenic route so got the motorway as far as Shropshire and then headed on down via the A roads. We were quite surprised to see a huge amount of flooding everywhere - the Severn had burst its banks so it was looking very very wet and soggy everywhere.  We stopped off at Ludlow Food Centre for lunch which was very reasonable and very tasty.  We then headed on down to Cardiff.  We did good until we entered Wales, then roads got congested, and we came to a halt!  Oh hum.  Took what felt like an age to get to our Air BnB but we got there eventually, to be greeted by Mum and Dad who had come up the day before and had been doing some memory lane and National Trust visiting before meeting up with us.

A bit chilly!

First night saw us at an Indian, where we met up with Jude and Craig (complete coincidence meant that they were in the city too - but going home the following day).  Had a really lovely meal, we all seemed to get on fine and Tom had his favourite person to play with.

Enormous Crocodile

Tom and a 37.

The following morning, we decided we would spend the day walking the bay.  We got a bus down to the bay area and had a look round.  First was the Wales Millennium Centre which is very good looking.  Then we decided to walk the quick way to Penarth.  It was a little cold, but dry so can't really complain.  It was a nice walk past many points of interest: children's playing areas, across the barrage, a Norwegian church, we even found the enormous crocodile from Roald Dhal (he was born in Cardiff).  Having got to Penarth, we got a boat back to the bay and found ourselves some lunch in an ice cream parlour and then freshly cooked Welsh Cakes from  a Welsh Cake shop.  We then headed back into town, warmed up in John Lewis (where I did quite a bit of market research in their Christmas shop - coming home with lots of ideas).  Mum, Dad and I then went back to the house on a bus, whilst Tom and Matt went for a ride on a train - something about wanting to ride a 37, I'm sure it makes sense to them?!  We got home, warmed up with some mulled wine and then I cooked tea in time for the boys on their arrival home.  We then had a cosy night in.

Dragons

Wednesday, we headed to Cardiff Castle for the day.  It is a good looking castle right in the middle of the city.  First thing you see is a very good looking red welsh dragon in the courtyard.  WE had a good look round.  Mum impressed us by getting up to the keep which was pretty steep.  Was a good view from the top.

We had a look inside.  The rooms were amazing - no expense spared, every decadence they could think of included.  We saw something called the Arab room, which was just a spare room, but had the most amazing ceiling I have ever seen - it wouldn't have looked out of place at the Al Hambra in Granada.

We also took a walk down the second world war air raid shelters in the walls of the castle.  Including a cafe with minimal equipment which took Granma back to her days as a new teacher in a bed sit in Bristol.  We called Tom back to try to explain to him how Granma used to live, not sure any of it sunk in - but we tried.

We then had lunch to warm up before heading to the castle museum where Tom got to try on lots of soldiers' helmets and learn a bit about the history of them.

The Arab Room

Once we were done, we headed to the nearby Brew Dog bar so Matt could check in and try out some new brews.  Then a rather long wait to get a bus that went the wrong way before getting the right bus back to the house. Matt and Tom then went for hair cuts whilst we headed back to the house for mulled wine to warm up again.

The best meal ever!

We didn't have any food in for tea, it was cold and raining and we didn't really want to go out looking for food.  We first thought to get a take away, but I thought to look at reviews for restaurants nearby and found a place that had won lots of awards.  It was next door to the barbers where Matt was getting his hair cut, so I sent him along to have a look.  He came back saying it was a goer, so we decided to head there as it was only 3 minutes walk away!  Wowzers -  this was the best meal we have had out for a very very long time.  EVERYTHING about the restaurant Oz Urfa was wonderful, the service was very friendly and the food was AMAZING.  I wouldn't have changed a thing about it.  We managed to get a freebie plate of prawns for a starter as they brought it to us by accident with our calamari and told us to have it.  It was very tasty.  We then had a mix of main courses - all of which were very very tasty and came with the most amazing rice - it was Baldo rice cooked with butter: glossy, sticky and delicious.  All the while we were watching their TV which showed films of them cooking things.  They made everything from scratch - that means bread, mozzarella, baclava and everything else.  Basically it was food porn, being a foodie family, it was right down our street and we all agreed that it was the best meal any of us had had for a while - very reasonably priced too, including the 2 bottles of wine we demolished.  It was a very good ending to our trip to Cardiff.  I would happily go back to Cardiff just to eat there again!

Thursday we had breakfast, packed and went our separate ways.  We went the more direct way up the motorway, stopping off at Ikea in Birmingham on the way to look at furniture for Tom - he will need a desk for next year and meatballs (of course!).  Then back home, a quick change for the boys.  Tom in his halloween gear so he could go trick and treating with Matthew in Bentham and Matt into his sports gear so he could play in a badminton match.

Friday we had a relatively quiet day, Tom made some flapjacks and then we spent most of the day round the Mannings playing monopoly.

'I like ironing Mummy'

Sewing the velcro on - took about 1.5 hours to do one side!

The finished cushion.

Saturday we didn't do huge amounts.  Matt was hungover from a night out and I had a hangover headache even though I hadn't touched a drop!  We decided we would have a quiet day, perfect for Tom to finish his cushion for school (long story!).  We went to the new yarn shop to pick up supplies and get some tuition on what to do.  I was determined that Tom would make the cushion himself, so I directed, but Tom did it.  It took 3 hours to iron on his stripes and to then sew on one length of velcro.  I think I had to undo about 12 knots and re-thread his needle about 10 times, but to be fair Tom perservered and it got finished.  I think he is probably the only person in his class to actually make it himself!  Here is the finished product - can you guess what it is supposed to be and see the huge mistake?!  Luckily it is going to live at school - so I won't see it.  If it was to live here, I think I would have to fix it!

Sunday we got out of the house and headed to a lovely new cinema in Clitheroe to see Abominable about a yeti's journey back home to Nepal after being kidnapped by a scientist.  Was a lovely film and so good to know we have a lovely new cinema near (ish) us now.  It is one of those cinemas where you can have food delivered to your seat, we did this, but not sure about it, realised just how much you need to see your food to enjoy it properly!