Friday 14th March.
We weren’t ships passing in the night, Dad & I, he drove
down from Lancaster (where he works) and we drove up the east side of the
country on the M1, A1 and A66. I love the A66 from Scotch Corner it is one of
the nicest routes I have driven in the UK.
We got to Dad’s about 4pm and walked the dogs at once. It
was a surprising mild day for Cumbria but not as warm as it had been in
Sheffield when we left. Dad called at about 5 o’clock to let me know he had
arrived safely but that my house had been burgled and all the contents sold for
charity. He does this a lot. If he’d not put the sold for charity bit I might
have been taken in.
Part of our swapsie’s deal was I was going (with Loll) to
the pub grand refurbishment tonight and he was going to see the Halle tomorrow
at the City Hall. He wanted to put his nose in at the pub so he has an
alternative to the Bush but won’t be there, so I have to make myself known as
his proxy. Why do I agree to such stuff?
Mum phoned to say Gran will be down to hers tomorrow and
they are waiting to visit Sophie until Monday when Dad has returned to Cumbria.
That way there won’t be world war three when my Gran meets Dad. Gran is getting
a train down instead of driving herself. I am so pleased. She is a bit old to
be driving all that way by herself, pottering around Hawick and the border
towns is one thing but over 200 miles down busy motorways is another
altogether.
Mum has persuaded her to stay for a week and a bit so we
will have some time together at my place next weekend. I have invited her to
stay at my house but whether she does is another matter entirely.
Grannies have
their own agenda.
According to Laura I snogged everyone in the pub last night.
I am sure I didn’t. I did make myself known as John’s Daughter and the woman
behind the bar seemed to know what I was talking about.
Unluckily, Laura’s
oldest sister and husband were at the pub too and they announced to all and
sundry that it was my birthday (it is on Monday, but not Friday) this resulted
in masses of drinks arriving at our table for me. Luckily, I was drinking those
mini bottle of wine (with a screw cap) so my drinks arrived ready packed to
take with me if I didn’t drink them at the pub.
The last thing I can remember clearly is getting into an
argument with some idiot about immigration and how the Tories were distorting
and misrepresenting the figures to make immigrants the scapegoats for the
country’s ills rather than their stupid policies and the recklessness of the
wanker bankers! I did get birthday kisses from a couple of people but I don’t
believe I snogged the whole pub! [Now as an undergraduate, that would not only
have been most probably true but I would almost certainly have slept with at
least one of them too! I am so pleased that Laura doesn’t know about my grubby
past…]
When I woke up this morning (it is now Saturday early
o’clock) I had eleven unopened bottles on the kitchen table, so god knows how
many I drank. I am quite fortunate as wine doesn’t give me too much of a hangover,
whisky does but not wine. I am a seasoned sozzler when it comes to the grape.
Saturday 15th March.
We decided, after a brilliant breakfast of bacon and egg
baps smothered in red sauce, to go to Crummockwater. The cloud was looking a
bit gloomy but I thought I could detect breaks here and there. So at about
10.30 we parked up at Lanthwaite Wood car park and climbed up my fell. There
were a few buzzards about but we didn’t spot any Red Squirrels. The clouds did
begin to break a bit as we descended to the boat house on the east shore of
the lake so we decided to walk round to the other shore and buy ourselves lunch
at the Kirkstile Inn.
On the opposite shore from the boathouse we could see the
newly installed ‘waterdoor’ quite clearly. It looks exactly like an up and over
garage door from that distance. I wonder who could have had it put on and more
importantly, why?
The best bit of the day was the pond which is situated right
by the path at the side of the limnological tower (assuming it is a
limnological tower and not just a water draw-off point for the lake). This is a
small affair only a few yards across and in the spring it is brimming with
frogspawn and later on tadpoles, I decided to have a peek in to its depths to
see if I could spot a frog or two. I did! Between us Laura and I counted 16 of
the creatures swimming about, hiding in the debris at the bottom of the pond
and a few actually bonking! It was brilliant! Back in Sheffield I only get to
see the remnants of frogs after they have been squashed by passing cars here we
were able to squat down at the water’s edge and watch them in their natural
environment. It was truly amazing. I wonder how many of the people who walk
along this lake side path ever spend the time to look into the pond and see the
life teeming there?
We strolled round to the pub where I had my usual beef and
caramelised red onion baguette and chips with a glass of white wine (I know I
shouldn’t with beef but what the heck). Laura had a ham salad baguette and
chips and wine too. Callie sprawled out in front of the roaring fire and after
lunch, I must admit, I felt like joining her on the carpet. As usual there was
nothing chocolaty as a dessert on the menu (when will they learn) so we made
our way back to the car park armed with a mars bar each instead.
The frog pond was equally as unnoticed as we walked by but
even a casual glance, without bending over revealed five frogs almost
immediately but then Mrs Clodhopper decided to step into the pond and cloudied
up all the water. Sometimes my dog is a real pain!
We drove back to Dad’s avoiding the mess that is the
Cockermouth Main Street utility replacement programme by turning off by Hundith
Hall Hotel and heading for Eaglesfield School instead. We felt a little
overcome by the effort, the food and the alcohol when we got back to Dad’s,
plus the three woffies who’d been cooped up in their kennel were a bit
overpowering in their welcome on our return, so we had a longish snooze in the
lounge. One sofa each. (That’s me and Laura, not the dogs.)
Laura woke me up at about 6.30 with a glass of pink wine and
a promise of a homemade burger for tea to follow. The little star, eh? We spent
the rest of the night steadily drinking our way through the 10 remaining mini
bottle of wine from the pub. We also watched the final two episodes of
Salamander which I thought ended surprising well, although that may have been
the alcohol clouding my judgement.
I wobbled my way up Tallentire Hill with Dad’s
three dogs and Callie while Laura went to get the bed warm for my return. I
confess I only sat on the bench at the corner where the road bends down to
Gilcrux for a moment but my phone revealed I must have been asleep on there for
at least thirty-five minutes! I had got a bit chilly out in the open like that
but the dogs had either spread themselves at my feet: Callie and Dad’s silly
spaniel; or were snuffling about in the hedgerow without a care in the world. I
wobbled back down to our old holiday home and found Miss Thomas pushing the
zeds with a soft snore that seemed to indicate she’d been out for a while. I
snuggled up next to her and she muttered, “I love you, you know…” and was off
again.
Sunday 16th March.
One day to my birthday. I will be 27. It is frightening how
quickly it seems since I was seventeen although to be honest I don’t feel any
different now to what I did then, except I know a hell of a lot more things!
When I was seventeen Dad and Mum hadn’t officially split up although he had
moved to his job in Sheffield leaving Mum and me in Norwich. This was the
beginning of the end really, I can see that in retrospect. Mum got her job in
Sheffield at the end of my first term in the upper sixth and moved to Sheffield
too. I spent the next part of my life commuting during school holidays to
Sheffield from Norwich and spending term time with Kaybers (Charlotte) and her
Mum. My 18th birthday was spent getting pissed with Kaybers in the
town centre and trying to get a couple of guys to drive us to Cromer in their
car. They didn’t.
What ever happened to that girl?
Back to reality. Dad phoned to say the Halle were excellent
and the Scottish Symphony the best performance of it he’d seen. Drat and double
drat! They were not setting off back until after tea time so we would probably
be ships passing in the night again. He would leave my card and pressie on the
kitchen table for me. I wondered what he could have bought. He did hint it was
useful but I would get great pleasure out of using it. Mmmm….
Laura isn’t quite as used to the fermented grape as YT so
she was a bit on the delicate side this morning. A couple of the same style
eggy bacon baps from yesterday seemed to revive her a bit and lunch at her Mum
& Dad’s brought her up to speed, if she wasn’t before.
Molly gave me a birthday card from her and Eric and even
Steven had a card for me which was a surprise. Still, he is quite a nice lad
despite being fourteen now! There is time for him to change and become like his
father though! I asked if they’d be offended if I didn’t open them now as it is
our family tradition to open cards etc on the day of the birthday. They were
quite happy for me to do that.
We pottered back to Dad’s mid arvo. I had a swift clean
round everywhere we had been, and places we hadn’t, and we left Dad’s at about
3.45pm.
We may have been ships passing in the night as I drove back
the M6 way this afternoon but, even if we were, I didn’t see Dad’s Citroen on
the other side of the motorway. Back at chez nous there was a pile of cards on
the kitchen table and an envelope marked “Present. Not to be opened until
Monday”. This was dad’s offering. I was very intrigued as to what it could be
that would be so useful and give me great pleasure in an envelope. Being the
good girl that I am I resisted temptation and left it with the card pile to be
opened on Monday morning.
An early night was required by all, so at just past 10pm
Callie and I went for the last walk of my Unbirthday. Laura wasn’t asleep when
we got back so we made like some of those naughty frogs in the pond for a
while. Ohh la la!
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