Day of Dire Driving

Drove back today. Well, I say drove. More like crawled. The roads were packed. The roads were wet. The roads were slippery. It took us a shade under 8 hours to get back, which is a long time to spend in a tin box, however shiny. We did stop off to see family, and take on provisions, but even so it was not a fun trip. By the end the weather was throwing everything it could in our direction, as was a passing gritting lorry (I hope that part of the car is still shiny).

We stopped for a bite to eat and got another nice sunset.



Literally five minutes after this shot was taken you couldn't see in that direction at all for a snowstorm. But while it lasted the sunset did provide a nice light:



Finally we made it back to our little house and collapsed into bed.

Off the Map and into the groove

On Boxing Day it was back into the shiny car (now considerably muckier) and off to visit Bridget and Lassa (who've I've probably just mortally offended by spelling their names wrong). I've known Bridget since I was three (although I've no actual memory of that meeting) but not seen her and family for about 20 years. They now live a stones throw from Cheddar Gorge in a splendid, 500 year old house. Actually, their place is very easy to find. Just drive towards Cheddar until your GPS goes bonkers, then turn left and stop.

Margot took us all out for a meal in the evening, which was splendid. Everyone had cameras and picture phone and was snapping away. I took pictures of the food.



At the meal Lassa and I had a discussion about our "proper" ages. We both agreed that physical age is one thing, but actually you have a proper age, which is the age you really are. I decided that I am really 12 years old, obsessed with toys and essentially a big kid. Lassa reckoned that he was around 18, which makes him broadly similar but with a slightly different outlook, hem hem. We asked number one wife and she said she was 21. I've been going out with an older woman for all these years. Gosh.

Then it was back to the house for some Playstation Songstar stuff, where you sing along with a tune and the clever software marks your singing out of ten. I am not a great singer (unless you spell it grate) but I did managed to out sing my father, which cheered me up no end. Then number one wife out sang me. Great fun. And so to bed.

Ho Ho Ho for Christmas

Got up at a very pleasant 8:00 am. I think the kids are a bit less excited about christmas than in their younger years, where 3:00 am was more the norm. Cup of tea and then presents. This year we all had stockings:



Then it was on to the bigger stuff. I got PDA watch which is rather cool. If only I could read the screen. And a calendar which will make for 12 happy months (especially if I leave it on January all year)



Then it was time for lunch.



Do you feel lucky?

Rodney got this in his cracker. The jury is still out on what it is.



Then we went out for a post prandial perambulation.



Pity it was shut.

Christmas Eve Driving

And so to the motorway. We all managed to fit into the shiny new car without to much difficulty, which was a relief. I'd hate to have had to leave one of the kids behind if there wasn't enough room for the gadgets.

The motorway was fairly quiet. Driving the family is much more fun now. No more arguments over what music to play. Everyone just puts on their headphones, plugs themselves in and leaves me to get on with it. Got to our destination in time for a nice sunset:

"Working From Home"

Working from home today. This means that I get to provide the heating, computers, electricity and networking bandwidth that I normally get in the office for free. And the tea too. The good news is that I can take breaks when I want and play really load music (although the kids do tend to complain a bit).

I've taken a little time off working to pack up for our trip away. We are spending Christmas away with the inlaws so I have to prepare properly. Around an hour or so selecting gadgets, finding power supplies, packing leads and so on. Plus five minutes for clothes and everything else. We are taking all our christmas presents as well. I just hope that the shiny new car is big enough.