Boil In The Bag Christmas

Christmas Day. The day you spend at home with family because everywhere else is shut, apart from the places you could have booked had you done so in February. Only kidding...

Except of course last year we did sort of buck the trend, didn’t cook anything, and went for a long longed for curry on Christmas Day. We had hoped that we’d cooked our last and were hoping for more of the same this year. Then out of the blue, Son tells us that he’s coming over for Christmas along with his fiancée. This is such a rarity and akin to a visit from royalty so clearly it has to be embraced and the red carpet rolled out.

 

Daughter will also be joining us and my parents too, although with my Mum not being very mobile the long held tradition of going down the pub on Christmas Day is shelved. It will be the first time in 33 years that I haven’t been but I’m not as gutted as my father who will have had an even longer run either with my brother or myself.

Of course, L and I could still go but she is giving me that ‘I’m never going to drink again after last night’ look and we also have Son to pick up from his hotel. He’s splashed out after strategically using the vouchers we bought him last Christmas.

Before all that it’s the Christmas Day parkrun at Forest Rec where a staggering 738 runners turn up which is a new record for the East Midlands. I run with the Lad, Daughter runs with MD and L runs with herself.

We had already exchange presents with me adding a tennis bag (for the budding tennis pro) and a laptop (to replace her antique ipad that’s annoying us both) to the two presents she’s already bought herself. There’s also my ongoing offer to fund a personal trainer.

She reciprocates with a new watch (a much longed for Swatch), new trainers for my marathon and pedals for my commuter bike. I always like to add some random bike part to my Christmas List but I do really need new pedals.

Most of my other presents are either alcoholic or chocolate, as they should be.

To almost get out of cooking we have ordered out but not quite through Just Eat. A company called ‘Cook’ delivered to us last week what one of my friends has described as a boil in the bag Christmas.

It’s not quite that easy and requires quite an intricate cooker relay stratagem but the food is ultimately very good. We have a mix of meat and non-meat dishes - Salmon Terrine, Crown of Turkey, Honey Roast Ham Joint, Mushroom Wellington, French Onion Tart and lots of vegetables. Some from Cook, some of our own. It all goes down very well.

My expensive chocolate filled crackers from Hotel Chocolat are less successful (although this just leaves more chocolate for me) but it’s hard to know what kind of crackers would be. Crackers are one of many strange Christmas anomalies that I don’t understand what they are for or where they came from.

Then its another old Christmas tradition, the crash in front of the TV and fall asleep thing. With both kids there it’s just like the old days especially with Son glued to an electronic device. I assume he’s playing a computer game but L assures me he’s being sociable and actually ready an e-book. Ah, ok...

(Tuesday 25^th December)

Breakfast At Breakfast Time

Time to get out the rubber gloves and make full use of them in the bedroom as well as elsewhere of course. They’re brilliant for picking up dog hairs. A rather ridiculously strict 10am checkout means no dallying beneath the sheets today.

We are at least up in time to take breakfast at breakfast time and to eat out. Which we do so in the Maple Tree Cafe in Elterwater. Which we share with the equivalent of Lakeland royalty, namely the chap who organised the Langdale 10ks for donkeys’ years before retiring a few years ago. We’ve not done the races for a while but we’ve done plenty in the past.

We head home via the Hawkshead Brewery in Staveley which is easier said than done. Staveley has been cut in half by the collapse of the bridge in the centre of the village due to Storm Desmond in December 2015. The bridge has since being completely demolished and a replacement is currently being built.

We get there eventually and I get to add Brodie’s Prime to my list. A modern classic to go with the traditional classic that Sneck Lifter is.

(Monday 16^th January)

Glastonbury 2015 - Day 1

After a hearty buffet breakfast in the Ibis, as I said we’re slumming it, it’s off back to Bristol Temple Meads status and a train to Castle Cary. Castle Cary is the local train station for the Glastonbury festival.

The train is packed but not with people. Most of our carriage space is taken up by the thousands of cans of Strongbow and Fosters that most folk seem to be taking with them. It must be a good sign if you can’t buy anything that bad at the Festival and so they’re having to take their own.

We arrive at Castle Cary to face a huge queue for the buses to the festival site.

‘Excuse me are you for Worthy View?’

I think they’re talking to us glampers.

‘Follow me please’  

Cue a massive queue jump. In fact as we are the only customers for Worthy View on our train we get a bus to ourselves. Royalty or what?

We are dropped outside the festival entrance where we are quickly wrist banded, although we have to give up the beautiful tickets with our photos on them.

Then we are directed to our tent, one of many arranged in nice neat rows. Our five star accommodation is called a two person Scout Tent, although it’s certainly more roomy that our own tent or perhaps that’s just the lack of dogs.

Worthy View is impressive in having its own showers, toilets, shops, bar, several eateries and security to keep the riff-raff out (I mean the rest of the 170,000 punters). We have a beer to celebrate our incarceration as well as to toast the Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts which is 45 years old and, well,  here we are. They have Otter Ales in the bar, that’ll do nicely.

Worthy View is at the top of a big hill, which while having the added insurance that we are unlikely to get flooded out also offers a great views of the massive Glastonbury site below which you can watch from the bar with a jar in your hand. 

The hill will also keep us fit even if it isn’t as fearsome as some folk would have you believe. We head down to the festival to have a wander around the site. Most of the stalls seem open already but equally there are many things that are still being constructed.

We decide to catch a film in the Pilton Palais tent where we watch Kingsman with Colin Firth and Michael Caine. No personally you understand, they are in it.

One thing we aren’t going to struggle for is food. There must be hundreds of food outlets. Most are pretty inventive and even healthy. We should be able to eat our way around the world this week and we start with Jamaican Jerk tonight.

We also check out the Stone Circle and then get trapped in it by the lively crowd that has gathered. Now is perhaps a good time to escape, only that security won’t let us back up to Worthy View. Health and Safety you know, they’re about to let off the opening night fireworks.

As the crowd gets bigger and more unruly, eventually they see sense or an impeding riot and let us through. At almost the same second the fireworks start, so that worked well then. At least, once back up the hill, we get a great view.

(Wednesday 24^th June)

(Almost) Great Things

L has suddenly been struck down by some sort of virus. At first I thought it was some adverse reaction to Yorkshire hills but no it appears to be more of a flue sort of thing. So we didn’t get to celebrate our Huddersfield survival yesterday and she’s not looking too good today either. I step in and do dog duty again.

L stays off work which confuses the dogs, who are a bit shocked to have her at home. That is, in case she ruins their restful day by making them go for a walk or something equally strenuous. They're safe. L alternates her time between the computer and collapsing back into bed. Which these days, I believe, is the typical weekday of choice for a lot of the population although L does at least spend her computer time doing some work. This arrangement also suits the dogs just fine, that’s their sort of day, just without the computer bit.

After all that rest I’ll be expecting great things from MD tonight. Finally we have some dog training to go to, it seems ages since we last did any.

A quick peruse of the Oscars awards doesn’t reveal many surprises. As much as I liked ‘The King’s Speech’, it wasn’t, in my opinion, the best film and Colin Firth wasn’t the best actor but that’s Americans and royalty for you. I’m pleased ‘The Fighter’ got a couple of awards and I’m pleased for our Nat, even if that lithe ballet figure is now carrying a bit of extra weight. Apparently it was one of the choreographers on the set of 'Black Swan' that did it. I don’t mean actually ‘on the set’ but, then again, who knows. They were doing 16-17 hour days.

L’s well enough to check the frocks out (that's not work) and gives the award for the best to my mate Mila.



Yeah perhaps, I did look at the photos but didn’t really look at what they were all wearing.

I get home to find our wheelie bin in a right state, rubbish hanging out of it and all over the floor, whilst the bin itself is still a quarter full. I’d like to say this situation is a one off but it isn’t. I snap a few photos and email them to the council.

MD does indeed turn out to be well rested and is manic at class. That’s no bad thing and he (almost) achieves some great things. We’re still working on them. Doggo doesn’t get to train. Instead he gets a brief ten minutes walk. Time enough to wee n sniff, do his number twos and wee n sniff some more. Most of life’s little pleasures.

(Monday 28th February)