Things What I Have Done Part 2
It's been at least another month since I last posted but I am still here and still reading. In the spirit of accentuating the positive (because the sale of my mother's house is still hanging over us like a lead balloon) I am trying to think of fun things that I have done in the past few weeks.
Unfortunately all the good things have been a bit overlain by more family members dying. We had to go to Wales for the funeral of J's 96-year-old uncle and we also heard that one of my American cousins had died. We weren't close to either of them but it was still very sad. The good part of going to Wales was that we were able to meet J's three cousins again. They aren't the daughters of the uncle who died so we all took the view that the funeral should be treated positively as a chance to meet family members. We stayed with J's cousin Wendy and her husband who are both very active at 70. Wendy's husband still manages his own factory and gave us a tour so I now know a lot more about making cardboard boxes than I did, which is more interesting than I had supposed as the whole process uses 90% recycled material. I will no longer feel guilty when I use a cardboard box.
This Christmas is going to be very strange without my mum but J and I are rather guiltily looking forward to spending Christmas Day on our own. We've been married for 34 years and this will be the first time we haven't had to fit in with other people. We are going to my brother's for Boxing Day where there will be 15 of us, which will probably be quite enough socialising to last us until well into the New Year!
Off to consider writing some Christmas cards...possibly.
- Had afternoon tea in the crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral. The restaurant there is not as swish as some but the tea was very pleasant and just the right size to not leave you feeling completely bloated.
- Went on a Street Food tour of the East End (basically Spitalfields) and ate rather too much but learnt some fascinating things like the origin of Fish and Chips and the fact that it could be described as Portuguese/Irish fusion food.
- Had a lovely couple of days in Hythe in Kent where again we ate too much, which seems to be a theme to this post, but it was very relaxing to be by the sea, even for a short time.
- Been to see both Murder on the Orient Express and Paddington 2. We probably weren't the right audience for Murder on the Orient Express as both of us remember the original film starring Albert Finney a bit too well but Paddington 2 was an utter delight. If anything it was even better than the first film and Hugh Grant was simply wonderful as a slimy baddie. If you go and see it don't leave before the credits :)
Unfortunately all the good things have been a bit overlain by more family members dying. We had to go to Wales for the funeral of J's 96-year-old uncle and we also heard that one of my American cousins had died. We weren't close to either of them but it was still very sad. The good part of going to Wales was that we were able to meet J's three cousins again. They aren't the daughters of the uncle who died so we all took the view that the funeral should be treated positively as a chance to meet family members. We stayed with J's cousin Wendy and her husband who are both very active at 70. Wendy's husband still manages his own factory and gave us a tour so I now know a lot more about making cardboard boxes than I did, which is more interesting than I had supposed as the whole process uses 90% recycled material. I will no longer feel guilty when I use a cardboard box.
This Christmas is going to be very strange without my mum but J and I are rather guiltily looking forward to spending Christmas Day on our own. We've been married for 34 years and this will be the first time we haven't had to fit in with other people. We are going to my brother's for Boxing Day where there will be 15 of us, which will probably be quite enough socialising to last us until well into the New Year!
Off to consider writing some Christmas cards...possibly.