21 hours, 13 of them spent driving, 587 miles and some horrendous gales later we finally made it home this morning in the wee small hours.
Yesterday's journey south to visit my sister and nieces was an eventful one to say the least. As luck would (n't) have it we woke to what the met. office referred to as 'severe gales' and lashing rain, the thought that perhaps we shouldn't be driving so far in such inclement conditions crossed our minds but with two small children to disappoint at the other end and no other day to make the journey we set off undaunted.
Never have I driven in such a wind, for a large part until the route brings one into Newcastle city the road is unsheltered from the sea and we took a sustained battering from heavy sidewinds. Having made it to the 'real world' things didn't improve....... there were sections of trees dismembered by the force of the gale, overturned lorries and long, long hold up's to be circumnavigated and tolerated. The miles dragged on slowly and tiringly, I don't recall ever having to hang onto a car to such a degree that my arms ached and my hands went 'dead'.
Having finally made it to a service station to partake of some much needed coffee and to avail ourselves of the 'facilities' we were, to add to our aggravation, confronted with a 'roving reporter', satellite truck a-glow with technology, endeavouring to interview for 'Radio 5 live' on how the days intrepid travellers might make the roads better! No chance, we were not in the mood, I doubt anything we had to say at that moment would have been fit for broadcast anyways..... he didn't miss in us his best interview of the day, he can be rest assured!
Horror of horrors, once inside this delightful 'service'(not) station we discover they have the audacity to only serve instant coffee, out of desperation for caffeine in any form, we suffered that along with a rigid Danish pastry that I doubt had ever even heard of Denmark, paid the outrageous price that is as ever inherent for such obnoxious fare in these nasty ports of call and set off on our way again, with PG firmly behind the wheel for the second stage.
Eventually we made it to our destination and unbelievably only an hour or so later than our ETA, fell through the door to a caffetiere of heavenly coffee and two children full of glee...... who required peeling off the ceiling intermittently as a result of excitement at the forthcoming occasion. It was all worth it!
We played, we chatted, we laughed and we snuck bags of gifts from the car to hiding places in the house with some difficulty, whilst maintaining secrecy from two small excited children, who are still young enough to believe in Father Christmas.
My parents arrived mid afternoon and the group was complete, at last it felt like Christmas. It felt good to all be together, we rarely are nowadays and the conversation, food and fun flowed freely.....a nice, warm feeling pervaded, along with much hilarity at the antics of the offspring......and then it was time for us to go. How is it that things one looks forward to for so long are over so quickly?
Off we set again into the night and the gales, small children, as anticipated hanging onto us begging us to remain.....like we needed to be persuaded!! Somehow the fact of earning a living and the necessity of going to work on Christmas day is lost and inconceivable to 7 and 10 year olds.....and so it should be..... but it was no help to us! :o) We departed amid promises of phone calls on Christmas morning and emailed photographs of the children 'unwrapping' almost as it happens.
My brother in law's parting shot, over the sound of wind and children's excitement was that my exhaust sounds like it's 'blowing'....oh happiness!
The return journey was no improvement on the outbound one, though one small and unexpected pleasure was gleaned when we stopped at services to inflict on ourselves once again, the insipid and noxious instant coffee. PG's lighter ran out (yes we both smoke!), in desperation he asked another intrepid traveller for a light, the guy he asked turned round to respond and with laughter and much amazement the pair of them realised they where friends from long ago who have since lost contact! Some rapid catching up followed to the accompaniment of the roof still rattling in the wind and off we all set again. The guy in question, even more coincidentally was travelling to and from exactly the same destinations as us, just in the opposite direction...... Small world!!
And so we finally arrived home, fed two cats, opened the days mail and fell into bed without further ado.
This morning the gale seems to have subsided and we have snow forecast. PG is on the road again headed for Edinburgh with a friend. The pair of them leave their Christmas shopping always until Christmas eve and go together, I think it's a male bonding thing! I seem to have a mountain of last minute chores to do.....how do they grow when one dares to take one day away?.........oh, and having been absent for 22 hours and asleep for 6, courtesy of Ditto I have a Christmas tree in dire need of some repair and re-arrangement!!!
Friday, 24 December 2004
Thursday, 23 December 2004
Sleeping bag!
A rapid offering before we hit the road....Ditto's take on helping with the shopping yesterday!
Sleeping bag
Check out the timestamp...ugh!
Sleeping bag
Check out the timestamp...ugh!
Wednesday, 22 December 2004
That's it....
... I'm done at last, everything organised and sorted for Christmas, shopping done, food bought and planned, gifts wrapped and cards written and surprisingly posted within the limits of last posting dates!
All that remains now is to get my self out of bed at 5am tomorrow morning, drag PG with me and get our butts on the A1 with some degree of consciousness. We are headed for my sisters home in Leicester for the day. The drive does not fill me with glee, I have done worse but Scotland to Leicester and back in a day is not really my idea of fun......thankfully we both drive so it's only something in the region of 300 miles each and the few hours between journeys with my sister and my nieces will be worth it.
As we leave tomorrow evening for our return the rest of the family will be converging for Christmas, with luck we might see my parents for a few minutes and then it's back on the road. The temptation to stay will be strong. No doubt my eldest niece will hang around my waist, as is her way, in her sweet endeavour to keep us there. Not helpful!
Somehow this plan seemed a good idea weeks ago when it was made! Sitting here listening to a gale blowing outside and with the reminder of my man-flu still refusing to depart my body it seems something less than the best idea I have had!!
And so, this tiny corner of the blogosphere will be unusually quiet tomorrow (did I hear a sigh of relief there?), but normal service will be resumed on Christmas eve.....though perhaps not at my usual 7-8 am time slot!
All that remains now is to get my self out of bed at 5am tomorrow morning, drag PG with me and get our butts on the A1 with some degree of consciousness. We are headed for my sisters home in Leicester for the day. The drive does not fill me with glee, I have done worse but Scotland to Leicester and back in a day is not really my idea of fun......thankfully we both drive so it's only something in the region of 300 miles each and the few hours between journeys with my sister and my nieces will be worth it.
As we leave tomorrow evening for our return the rest of the family will be converging for Christmas, with luck we might see my parents for a few minutes and then it's back on the road. The temptation to stay will be strong. No doubt my eldest niece will hang around my waist, as is her way, in her sweet endeavour to keep us there. Not helpful!
Somehow this plan seemed a good idea weeks ago when it was made! Sitting here listening to a gale blowing outside and with the reminder of my man-flu still refusing to depart my body it seems something less than the best idea I have had!!
And so, this tiny corner of the blogosphere will be unusually quiet tomorrow (did I hear a sigh of relief there?), but normal service will be resumed on Christmas eve.....though perhaps not at my usual 7-8 am time slot!
More 'On this day'
The BBC's 'on this day pages' are one of my regular haunts, like that isn't apparent without my pointing it out! It must be an age thing, let's face it, if I where only say 16 years of age, I would have memories of far fewer of the items featured!
Today again there is an item contained in the aforementioned that stands out starkly in my mind, another air disaster but one very different from the Lockerbie tragedy I recalled yesterday.
32 years ago today this was reported, I was a child at the time and I can still recall being both horrified and fascinated. my understanding was limited of course, not assisted by the fact that my father always read The Times and consequently it was my only source of information.......it's vocabulary and style were a little 'advanced' for the intellect of an 11 year old!
At the time, my fascination was of the cannibalism aspect of the story, in that horribly morbid and honest way children have I was far more interested in the fact that these individuals had turned to eating one another, something that I had never even imagined beforehand, than I was in the survival of those involved.
Today of course I read it very differently, I am astounded now at the physical and mental strength of those men to survive in such conditions by any means available to them, I marvel at their fortitude, strength of character and courage.
That these individuals survived at all in such conditions is an outstanding testament to the human spirit and it's ultimate fight for survival when faced with a life threatening challenge of such extreme magnitude.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And yes, I am aware that this is the season of joy and goodwill and that I appear to be posting items of late that do not fall even remotely into that category.... I will endeavour for the next few days at least, to find items of a more light hearted nature!
Today again there is an item contained in the aforementioned that stands out starkly in my mind, another air disaster but one very different from the Lockerbie tragedy I recalled yesterday.
32 years ago today this was reported, I was a child at the time and I can still recall being both horrified and fascinated. my understanding was limited of course, not assisted by the fact that my father always read The Times and consequently it was my only source of information.......it's vocabulary and style were a little 'advanced' for the intellect of an 11 year old!
At the time, my fascination was of the cannibalism aspect of the story, in that horribly morbid and honest way children have I was far more interested in the fact that these individuals had turned to eating one another, something that I had never even imagined beforehand, than I was in the survival of those involved.
Today of course I read it very differently, I am astounded now at the physical and mental strength of those men to survive in such conditions by any means available to them, I marvel at their fortitude, strength of character and courage.
That these individuals survived at all in such conditions is an outstanding testament to the human spirit and it's ultimate fight for survival when faced with a life threatening challenge of such extreme magnitude.
And yes, I am aware that this is the season of joy and goodwill and that I appear to be posting items of late that do not fall even remotely into that category.... I will endeavour for the next few days at least, to find items of a more light hearted nature!
Tuesday, 21 December 2004
Cat-astroph-tree!
This picture speaks for itself!
(click to enlarge)
Ditto.
Apologies for the somewhat evident lack of focus, I was trying to decide whether I should take the pic or disentangle the cat from the tree......I did neither successfully!
(click to enlarge)
Ditto.
Apologies for the somewhat evident lack of focus, I was trying to decide whether I should take the pic or disentangle the cat from the tree......I did neither successfully!
The shortest day
So from here on in the days get longer, evidence will be scant no doubt for the near future but long dark nights officially decrease from now!
(Click to enlarge)
Sunrise, 21.12.2004. 08.29 hrs
(Click to enlarge)
Sunrise, 21.12.2004. 08.29 hrs
Lockerbie 16 years on
It is 16 years today since the tragedy that was the Lockerbie air disaster, an incident of terrorism that has since been the subject of much debate and legal wranglings.
Shortly after 19.00 hrs the Boeing 747, on it's route from London Heathrow to New York JFK crashed onto the small village of Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 259 passengers on board and 11 individuals on the ground,the result as we now know of a bomb placed on the aircraft.
Lockerbie.
It took until January 2001 to get Lybian Abdelbaset ali Mohmed al-Megrahi into court and convicted of the crime, the man accused of being his accomplice was found not guilty.
Lockerbie is a small town in the South West of Scotland, at the time of the disaster it was for me, like so many, a terrible tragedy reported in the news. An incident of magnitude and another act of terrorism inflicted on Britain but somehow removed from my own life. I was of course horrified, it was a sadness for those involved on both sides of the Atlantic that was for most without precedent but in that strange way, I suppose like many items reported on the news it seemed somewhat removed from my own life.
Sixteen years on and Lockerbie is now not far from home. For me, that alone has bought the horror of that night into stark reality. I have met people who in one way or another were involved, smaller items concerning the incident and the village are reported on local news here and knowing the area in reality makes the mental images much sharper.
I have never visited Lockerbie itself, I have had no cause too thus far and to do so would seem only to be morbid curiosity. The town has rallied, a memorial to those that died that winters night sixteen years ago, has been erected, the residents have pulled themselves up by the boot straps and rebuilt their lives and the perpetrator has been finally been incarcerated, but as I sit here, surrounded by the same countryside and terrain I can't begin to imagine the terror just a few miles away, suffered by those on board bound homeward for Christmas, or that of those who watched a 747 fall out of the Christmas night sky onto their village.
My thoughts today are with those who lost a loved one in this act of terrorism.
Shortly after 19.00 hrs the Boeing 747, on it's route from London Heathrow to New York JFK crashed onto the small village of Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 259 passengers on board and 11 individuals on the ground,the result as we now know of a bomb placed on the aircraft.
Lockerbie.
It took until January 2001 to get Lybian Abdelbaset ali Mohmed al-Megrahi into court and convicted of the crime, the man accused of being his accomplice was found not guilty.
Lockerbie is a small town in the South West of Scotland, at the time of the disaster it was for me, like so many, a terrible tragedy reported in the news. An incident of magnitude and another act of terrorism inflicted on Britain but somehow removed from my own life. I was of course horrified, it was a sadness for those involved on both sides of the Atlantic that was for most without precedent but in that strange way, I suppose like many items reported on the news it seemed somewhat removed from my own life.
Sixteen years on and Lockerbie is now not far from home. For me, that alone has bought the horror of that night into stark reality. I have met people who in one way or another were involved, smaller items concerning the incident and the village are reported on local news here and knowing the area in reality makes the mental images much sharper.
I have never visited Lockerbie itself, I have had no cause too thus far and to do so would seem only to be morbid curiosity. The town has rallied, a memorial to those that died that winters night sixteen years ago, has been erected, the residents have pulled themselves up by the boot straps and rebuilt their lives and the perpetrator has been finally been incarcerated, but as I sit here, surrounded by the same countryside and terrain I can't begin to imagine the terror just a few miles away, suffered by those on board bound homeward for Christmas, or that of those who watched a 747 fall out of the Christmas night sky onto their village.
My thoughts today are with those who lost a loved one in this act of terrorism.
Monday, 20 December 2004
I have a friend......
........ or at least I hope I do, someone I didn't expect to become a friend and someone who has appeared in my life from out of nowhere.
This person, I will call them 'T' for now, is at an important crossroads in their life, one where big decisions having to be made will have repercussions for the remainder of their life.
I feel for 'T', the decisions and subsequent actions that need to be taken have been harshly bestowed upon young shoulders and are some of the most difficult in life so far, a life that has of late not been much fun and has been a hard learning curve.
It is difficult from my perspective, I am older, I know the pitfalls, I have that blessed thing called 'experience', I can see the route to success but I can't force actions upon my friend.....those have to be individual choice, if they are not then the executing of them will not be from the heart and without conviction will be so much harder to face, to carry through.
I want to shake 'T', to shout, to be able to look hard into their face and challenge them not to fail but I can't.....it is not for me to take that responsibility, it is 'T's own responsibility not to take the wrong road.
When I was younger I remember vividly thinking that all advice offered to me by someone with 'experience' and 'over 30' was crap, what did someone 'old' know about my problems? How did they know how I felt? they where after all 'old', they had no idea!.....Oh, the naivete and arrogance of youth.
'T' may well view me with such skepticism, disregard my thoughts as ramblings of an old git..... and that is my fear. Watching 'T' struggling with the choices on offer is hard, it's frustrating, the wise option is obvious to an old git such as me, one route is wrong and one right, life is very rarely black and white but in this instance it is! There is only choice. it is a hard choice but it is an important and life changing one.
I am not often moved to try and influence another's life, I am as a rule given to the belief that another's life is their own responsibility but on this occasion something has got to me about 'T' and where they go from here on in is critical.
'T', I think you know who you are, this 'old git' is looking you hard in the eye and challenging you to make the right decision. You know in your heart which route to take.
Good luck my friend.
This person, I will call them 'T' for now, is at an important crossroads in their life, one where big decisions having to be made will have repercussions for the remainder of their life.
I feel for 'T', the decisions and subsequent actions that need to be taken have been harshly bestowed upon young shoulders and are some of the most difficult in life so far, a life that has of late not been much fun and has been a hard learning curve.
It is difficult from my perspective, I am older, I know the pitfalls, I have that blessed thing called 'experience', I can see the route to success but I can't force actions upon my friend.....those have to be individual choice, if they are not then the executing of them will not be from the heart and without conviction will be so much harder to face, to carry through.
I want to shake 'T', to shout, to be able to look hard into their face and challenge them not to fail but I can't.....it is not for me to take that responsibility, it is 'T's own responsibility not to take the wrong road.
When I was younger I remember vividly thinking that all advice offered to me by someone with 'experience' and 'over 30' was crap, what did someone 'old' know about my problems? How did they know how I felt? they where after all 'old', they had no idea!.....Oh, the naivete and arrogance of youth.
'T' may well view me with such skepticism, disregard my thoughts as ramblings of an old git..... and that is my fear. Watching 'T' struggling with the choices on offer is hard, it's frustrating, the wise option is obvious to an old git such as me, one route is wrong and one right, life is very rarely black and white but in this instance it is! There is only choice. it is a hard choice but it is an important and life changing one.
I am not often moved to try and influence another's life, I am as a rule given to the belief that another's life is their own responsibility but on this occasion something has got to me about 'T' and where they go from here on in is critical.
'T', I think you know who you are, this 'old git' is looking you hard in the eye and challenging you to make the right decision. You know in your heart which route to take.
Good luck my friend.
Just call me Rudolph
Yesterday morning at last I woke gleefully to snow!!!!, granted it was only the lightest dusting but it was snow all the same, the temperature has remained sub zero ever since and consequently my tiny whiteness has remained along with it. I ventured into work early in the morning enjoying the sight of the white against the black of the dawn, though it was a somewhat slow journey, the snow having by then frozen onto the roads as ice.
Work was uneventful in itself though it was my last day until 'post Christmas'. Yayyyy, I have a whole week off, an extremely rare occurrence in retail and a treat only afforded me in error......I won't bore you with the details but it was no one's intention that I should get such a long period of holiday..... you won't find me complaining anywhere though!
Of course the day could not be good in it's entirety, the morning saw me decline rapidly into a state of unpleasantness as a rather hienous bout of flu descended upon me. Well, to be more specific and less melodramatic, flu I doubt is what it is, rather, to be more accurate a heavy cold but if the guys can have flu then so can I!
I have the usual plethora of delightful symptoms, a nose bearing impressive resemblance to Rudolph's and behaving like a tap with a dodgy washer, a throat full of cut glass and some bastard little guy in my head 'going for gold' with a Kango hammer each time I dare to move! it could be worse, I don't have to struggle into work and I have nothing pressing today to get done, the perfect excuse to stay rooted here and play, for as long as the guy in my head with the hammer allows.
Christmas itself is looking improved, Thursday I get to visit my sister and nieces, ok, so I have a 600 mile drive in a day but it will be worth it just to share their excitement at the impending visit from 'Father Christmas', Christmas day itself still leaves a little to be desired but I have a couple of DVD's at the ready to entertain myself and on Boxing day I have been invited to a friends to spend the day with her and her family.
So things are most definitely looking up, the 'ailing' should be all but gone by then and I have some kind of Christmas planned, it won't be quite like spending it with my family and PG but I can't complain, at least I don't have to spend it working as he does, poor guy.
Work was uneventful in itself though it was my last day until 'post Christmas'. Yayyyy, I have a whole week off, an extremely rare occurrence in retail and a treat only afforded me in error......I won't bore you with the details but it was no one's intention that I should get such a long period of holiday..... you won't find me complaining anywhere though!
Of course the day could not be good in it's entirety, the morning saw me decline rapidly into a state of unpleasantness as a rather hienous bout of flu descended upon me. Well, to be more specific and less melodramatic, flu I doubt is what it is, rather, to be more accurate a heavy cold but if the guys can have flu then so can I!
I have the usual plethora of delightful symptoms, a nose bearing impressive resemblance to Rudolph's and behaving like a tap with a dodgy washer, a throat full of cut glass and some bastard little guy in my head 'going for gold' with a Kango hammer each time I dare to move! it could be worse, I don't have to struggle into work and I have nothing pressing today to get done, the perfect excuse to stay rooted here and play, for as long as the guy in my head with the hammer allows.
Christmas itself is looking improved, Thursday I get to visit my sister and nieces, ok, so I have a 600 mile drive in a day but it will be worth it just to share their excitement at the impending visit from 'Father Christmas', Christmas day itself still leaves a little to be desired but I have a couple of DVD's at the ready to entertain myself and on Boxing day I have been invited to a friends to spend the day with her and her family.
So things are most definitely looking up, the 'ailing' should be all but gone by then and I have some kind of Christmas planned, it won't be quite like spending it with my family and PG but I can't complain, at least I don't have to spend it working as he does, poor guy.
Sunday, 19 December 2004
Saturday, 18 December 2004
Have you ever noticed.....
.....just how quiet and uninhabited the blogosphere becomes on the weekend? It has long been thus, a pin can be heard dropping in almost any blog Saturday to Sunday and the onset of the festive season has only proved to make the situation more pronounced.
I have a theory or two on this. The first is that many of you actually have life at the weekend and go out of the house to do stuff that doesn't involve a hard drive and a mouse. I myself am not in much evidence, work forces me from this spot on the two days of the week when everyone else seems to be out playing, I arrive home from work expecting everything to be as normal and invariably find just a few of us in residence.
My second theory should be of concern to the average CEO......just how many bloggers blog only from work, as a Monday to Friday distraction from the mundanities of the office ?.......oh the chance would be a fine thing. We hear much about the amount of corporate time spent in the workplace emailing friends with jokes etc.....email my foot.....there is a whole world of corporate bloggers out there somewhere who go into hiding as soon as the weekend arrives.......... As if! :o)
I have a theory or two on this. The first is that many of you actually have life at the weekend and go out of the house to do stuff that doesn't involve a hard drive and a mouse. I myself am not in much evidence, work forces me from this spot on the two days of the week when everyone else seems to be out playing, I arrive home from work expecting everything to be as normal and invariably find just a few of us in residence.
My second theory should be of concern to the average CEO......just how many bloggers blog only from work, as a Monday to Friday distraction from the mundanities of the office ?.......oh the chance would be a fine thing. We hear much about the amount of corporate time spent in the workplace emailing friends with jokes etc.....email my foot.....there is a whole world of corporate bloggers out there somewhere who go into hiding as soon as the weekend arrives.......... As if! :o)
Winter wedding
Here's wishing them both a wonderful day, a long and happy life together and lots of snow!
Have a great day Snowbabies.
Friday, 17 December 2004
The Christmas visiting begins
We are off today to visit the 'outlaws', PG's parents. I think one has to be married for them to become 'inlaws' and so for now they are my outlaws! There is a pun there somewhere but I am currently functioning on 3 hours sleep and I can't work it out, ugh!
We beetled off last night to fix a friends pc deciding en route to partake of dinner, if it can be called that at the cafe in a local supermarket. I am not usually given to frequenting these places for more than a cup of insipid coffee but this one, contrary to the norm used to be good. I say used to be because the company has recently suffered a take over by another and suffered appears to be the correct term! The service was hopeless, an ill mannered, disinterested teenager almost launched our food at us, forgot our drinks and grumbled that we dared to request cutlery. Had we not been in a hurry I was strongly tempted to seek out her manager and remind him of his staff's obligation of service but pressure of time and a distinct feeling that I would be beating my head against a wall caused me to abandon that idea.
The remainder of the evening was a scream, the pc was fixed in the first half hour and the remainder was spent in hilarious and alcohol fuelled conversation. We got home, against our better intentions, at stupid o'clock and are consequently going to suffer today!
So as I was saying, it's off to the 'outlaws' today, Christmas parcels in hand and with some interest in the prevailing weather forecast......the route we are travelling, all 180 miles of it, is promised 'very heavy snow' for most of the day and into the evening.......bring it on!
We beetled off last night to fix a friends pc deciding en route to partake of dinner, if it can be called that at the cafe in a local supermarket. I am not usually given to frequenting these places for more than a cup of insipid coffee but this one, contrary to the norm used to be good. I say used to be because the company has recently suffered a take over by another and suffered appears to be the correct term! The service was hopeless, an ill mannered, disinterested teenager almost launched our food at us, forgot our drinks and grumbled that we dared to request cutlery. Had we not been in a hurry I was strongly tempted to seek out her manager and remind him of his staff's obligation of service but pressure of time and a distinct feeling that I would be beating my head against a wall caused me to abandon that idea.
The remainder of the evening was a scream, the pc was fixed in the first half hour and the remainder was spent in hilarious and alcohol fuelled conversation. We got home, against our better intentions, at stupid o'clock and are consequently going to suffer today!
So as I was saying, it's off to the 'outlaws' today, Christmas parcels in hand and with some interest in the prevailing weather forecast......the route we are travelling, all 180 miles of it, is promised 'very heavy snow' for most of the day and into the evening.......bring it on!
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