What a wonderful Christmas I have had this year, despite all the bad weather and bad traffic trying to dampen my enthusiasm. I am soooo glad I went food shopping Sunday afternoon, in between showers. The weather wasn't too bad, but getting a trolley in Tesco's, a different matter. I think all of Shepton Mallet were shopping at the same time. I was on a mission, so I pushed my way through all the crowds. Finally got the shopping done, petrol in the car and off back home again, time for putting my feet up and having a cuppa. Ahhhhh much better :)
A quiet night in Sunday night, bit of final washing and cleaning up before I have to get Cate and Simon tomorrow, the weather is really settling in to be quite a stormy night, wind is howling, rain is teaming down. I think I will try and leave a bit earlier to go into the Bath Spa Train Station in the morning
Monday is a cold blustery day, I decide to wait until I hear from Cate, as I hear on the news that several of the trains from London Paddington Station have been cancelled or postponed due to the very high winds and there apparently is flooding in some low lying area's. I finally texted Cate and they had caught an earlier train, they seemed to be getting through alright, although the trains were going much slower. I drove into Bath, the roads weren't too bad, hate driving into the cente of Bath at anytime as the roads are all over the auction, lots of curves and you have to swap lanes very quickly to access the correct roads, finally made it into Southdown carpark. Run across the road to the train station, in between the shower of rain. Oh no there goes another of my Brolley's, oh well time to throw another one in the bin! I am in luck I see another brolley on the ground, not quite the state of my other one was in, so looks like I have been saved until I get to undercover :) I stand and wait out the front of the station for ages, but I am still early, the weather is getting worse, figure it will be awful for Cate and Simon to get across the traffic with their cases, so I make my way back, get the car and drive to the back of the station, hmmm quite a queue, I play tag with several cars all wanting the closest spot to the door, with motor running to keep the windows from fogging up, I concentrate on making a quick pounce on the next poll position, 1 car closer to the door! I am waiting and waiting, Cate should have come out by now? I decide to text her, still no message, I turn the car off, make a dash for the main entrance and no sign of them :( so dash back to the car, all fogged up, so on goes the motor, demist the windows again, and in about another ten minutes, I get a call from Cate, they had walked out the front of station and crossed over the road to the coffee shop, where we were going to meet originally. They then cam back to the station and finally saw me at the back of the station, cases in the car, we set off for home :) we all had a quiet night at home, as it was a very stormy night, so we went to bed early and listened to the rain smash against our windows and the wind howl, and just wished that it pasted by tomorrow, so we could go exploring :)
Tuesday morning we set off for Bradford on Avon late morning after we were all rested :) our journey was quite a long one, as in parts, the roads were quite flooded, almost to the point where I though will I be safe to drive through that. What seems like only a couple of centimetres is often much more. It seems that it was only to get much worse, as we were bumper to bumper going into Bradford on Avon only to see that the bridge had been closed off. We finally made the roundabout and turned off to go off to the carpark. Then we walked up around the shops towards the bridge and this is what we were met with:
The beautiful park that I have been in twice before was well submerged :(
The park under water :(
Can you pick the edge of the park and the rivers edge?
After seeing The Bridge Tea Rooms under about 3 feet of water, it seemed that our Christmas Lunch that had been booked, was now cancelled :( I coundt even ring them as I didn't have their number. I would say that our deposit may now go towards flood appeal, which seems fair enough. I think many of these business' will be closed for so e time, they won't be happy that they have lost all their Christmas/new year clientele.
After realising we can't get across to the markets or the other cafe's, we decided we would go into Bath as the weather was a bit better today, clear sky's but a little chilly. Cate and Simon hadn't seen bath, so we had a bit of a look around the shops, but our bellies were hungry, so I took them to my favourite place "The Cosy Club" it's a really interesting place, took a couple of pics in here :)
My niece Cate and I
Aww isn't love Grand :)
Cate & Simon
So Cute :)
Wednesday (Christmas Day) we all had a lovely sleep in, I made us a nice cooked Brunch and made them listen to my Christmas cd! whilst I sang away or hummed to the songs! we all enjoyed breakie and then adjourned to the loungeroom, where we had the heater glowing in the background! my candied/spiced candles leaving a gentle aroma. Me being Father Christmas, making sure we all had a present, we all opened our presents, smiles all around :) Cate did model her new Pj's and Simon and I our new scarves and my new Jewellery :) in the afternoon we had a bit of a rest, then went for a drive to Glastonbury and I wanted to show Simon and Cate The Tor. I don't think Cate saw too much of it, she kept nodding off in the car and Simon read his book the whole way :) well they do have the blow up bed after all, so I guess it's a bit like a bouncy castle, not getting to much sleep, it could be other reasons for which I don't want to be reminded lol
Thursday we visited Wells, the main Catheral and had a wander around the City in the morning and later in the day, I took Cate and Simon to The Cheddar Gorge. I thought it wouldn't be very pretty in the middle of winter, but it still proved a great trip :) it was great to see, when there were not many people around as well, didn't have to pay for parking, so that was a plus :) we walked up and down the Main Street, found a great little pub to visit and Simon had a local Cider and Cate and I had a hot chocolate to warm up a little. Unfortunately the cheese factory was closed because the holiday, but it was still fun window shopping!
Friday I had to say goodbye to my gorgeous niece Cate and her fella Simon, it was so nice to have them stay with me. It was just so special to have some family with me. I did manage also to Face chat to my beautiful Helen and Robert late on Christmas Day, so that just topped off my day/week for me :) I also received a lovely online present from both Robert and Helen, I got a wonderful Twinnings box of Tea and biscuits :) more things to make me fatter :
My warm scented orange/cinnamon candles with star anise around base :)
Sunday Frosty morning:
Well my lovelies, it's the last day of my week off, I'm sitting here thinking I don't want to go back to work tomorrow :( but the reality is that I can't holiday without the work, so onward and upward as they say. Even though I might only save a £100/month if I'm lucky, have decided to make it my goal, even if it means not shopping as much, I probably can live out of the fridge and freezer one week out of two :) if it means I can save for a small holiday every few months, I have to do it :) so with that in mind, I am telling myself, Paris and Venice in April :) I also want to go up to Shetland for The Up Helly Aa, which is the last Sat in jan I think, not sure I can manage that many holidays yet though. decisions, decisions lol
Anyway it's time for me to relax now and enjoy my last night before work for the next couple of days, then I will be off to celebrate the New Year. I wish each and every one of my beautiful family and friends a wonderful new year and a very happy and joyful new year. May all your dreams be a reality and love be all that there is. I love you all xxxxxxxxx
A late note here, my apologies for the delay in posting this, ran out of credit on my wifi, had two extra here over Xmas using it, it didn't last the distance :( anyway all fixed after buying my monthly £25 credit again and we're ready for action again :)
Enjoy xxxxxx
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