Between Xmas and New Year

28th December
Matt decided he needed to get some work done.  I had great ideas of a day out with Tom, however, we have arranged for him to spend a couple of nights with Grannie and Grandpa in the New Year and Tom was demanding that he go by himself by bus.  Great that he wanted to, but I figured that I should do a dry run with him so he knew what to expect.  So, off to Settle we went.  I'm glad that I did go with him as the bus went a very funny route into Settle - ie it went past Settle and then doubled back into it and then went a weird way to the market square.  Tom admitted that he would have got a bit worried if he had done it by himself for the first time.

We then had 2 hours in Settle to kill.  We decided to head to Watershed Mill - as there are model train accessories on sale and we could get lunch there.  We walked down were there about 2 minutes when Grannie and Grandpa walk in - what a surprise.  We spent the rest of our time having lunch with them  and catching up after Christmas.  It was a good use of the 2 hours.

We came back, went home so I could put the massive lump of cheese that was part of my Christmas present (fondue set) into the freezer, before heading straight out again to run some errands in Ingleton.

By the time we got back Matt had finished work for the day so we cosied up and got the mulled wine out.  Matt and Tom did some landrover work whilst I cooked ready for New Year's Eve.  Was a really nice, chilled afternoon.

29th December

Today we had arranged to go for a walk with the Mannings.  John was keen to do a walk with a cafe involved, this is always an awkward time to rely on cafes etc being open, but Matt suggested the Barbondale walk as there is a pub and a cafe in Barbon - both of which said they were open.  It's not a long walk, but a pleasant one and, of course it includes the magic chocolate tree.   We didn't see the kids for the duration of the walk - they basically ran the whole thing.  We didn't even get to see if the magic chocolate tree bore any fruit but apparently it did...there were two chocolates for everyone and then Sierra said and I got an extra one...hum 3x2+1=7.  Surely that is one for each of the kids and adults - oh hum!!!!!

We got to Barbon a little too early for lunch, we did another little circuit walk before arriving again and heading to the pub for lunch.  At the pub we managed to take over a whole cubby hole with roaring fire in the grate.  They had mulled wine on offer too so we settled in, kicked our boots off and enjoyed the company, environment and food.  We were a little reluctant to leave in the end, but leave we did.  We walked back along the route, loads of trees have been felled which give the walk a completely different feel - used to feel we were in a deep dark forest, now it is open air - and therefore not as interesting.  Oh hum.  We got back to the bridge.  The kids, as usual were way in front of us.  They had decided not to use the bridge but to dam the river and get across on stones.  They were very industrious working on the project for a good hour or so.  Then they came across.  Tom first - his boots went under the water line and he got wet - oh well, once you are wet you might as well keep going so he did.  Sierra was next, she got wet feet too.  Jack wasn't one for getting his feet wet, so Tom and Sierra went back to help him across and to be fair they did a good job, he got damp rather than wet.

We returned to the cars and poured the river water out of their boots.  It had been a good afternoon - paddling in December - whatever next?!

30th December
Panto day - yay!!!!!!  This year we were off to Blackpool.  We decided to make a day of it and headed to Barton Grange first as we had been told that they sell the Lemax stuff off cheap after Christmas.  They probably do, but we were far too late, the garden centre had been cleaned out of most of its items, there was hardly anything left on the shelves at all. Oh well, we went to the cafe and had tea and a bun instead - very lovely it was too.

We then headed to Blackpool - had a slight misfunction trying to find a car park - but got there in the end.  Went for a little walk along the prom, lost a £1 each at the amusements, got some sarnies from Boots and then headed to the theatre.  This year Tom Brown (our ex next door neighbour) was staring as Captain Hook in Peter Pan.  We saw him here doing the same about 4 years ago.  Anyway he was brilliant and the show was brilliant.  There were no celebrities (other than Tom and he's a minor celeb these days I think) meaning no egos on stage and everyone could dance and sing.  We got a shout out at the start and then Tom spotted our Tom in the audience when it came to the water cannons and Tom got a soaking - ha ha!

In fact Tom was really engaged, at one point he was clapping, singing and stamping the floor!  Never seen him so involved and lost in the moment before.  He certainly enjoyed it.  We headed straight home at the end of it.  When we got home, Matt saw a message from Tom Brown asking us if we were still around - think we may have got invited back stage.  Oh well, we had a good time without that, so it didn't really matter.  Certainly a great day out.