Holidays

Ah, Sundays.  Lazy days for staying in bed till gone 10, drinking tea and reading John Wyndham novels.  Well, that's how my morning went, anyway. 

It's been a very pleasant week, one way and another.  Wednesday was an especially grand day.  To celebrate my lovely Mum's birthday, we had a huge family get-together* where went out at lunchtime for a Chinese meal.    There were ten of us, almost the only customers in the restaurant, and certainly the noisiest.  The food was superb. 

Several of us ordered the special toffee banana for pudding, and the nice lady brought out a platter heaped with large sticky balls of toffee-covered goodness for us.  We watched as she dropped each one into a dish of cold water, making the sticky toffee harden instantly. 

There was a lot of oooh-ing and aaah-ing as the hardened toffee banana balls were piled onto plates, then delighted shrieks** as a second heaped platter appeared and was also given the iced water treatment.  My word they were tasty.  Despite the enormous meal we'd crammed down, we managed to get through pretty nearly all the toffee banana balls. What heroes we are.

Everyone kept saying "It's a bit different from last year," which it was, thankfully.

I was especially amused by my youngest nephew, aged 5, gleefully telling his 12-year-old cousin "Ha, you got pwned by an old Chinese lady!"


He pronounced it "owned" but I knew what he meant.


A slow stroll in the glorious afternoon sunshine back to the car, past an unexpected little grassy area covered in purple crocuses*** and then home for tea and medals.

Mum came back with me to stay for a few days, and we did a lot of not much at all, which was lovely.  The weather was nice, despite many parts of the country getting hammered with more snow.  Mr WithaY came home from work one afternoon and told us there had been blizzards.  We'd had clear skies and bright sun all day, about 5 miles away.  Very odd.  It's cold though.  I expect tomorrow it will snow, in time to make my trip to work even slower and more tiresome than usual.  Bah.

Other news:  The cleaners came on Friday, and did their thing, leaving the house tidier and smelling fainly of Mr Sheen.  One of them asked: "Where did you get that from?" pointing at the bulb of garlic hanging up in the kitchen. 

"Just from Morrison's I think," I said, bemused.  "Why?"

"Oooh, I've been looking for one of those!  It looks so smart with just one garlic there, not lots of them.  I wonder if there are any more in the shop?"

"Um.  When we bought it there were lots of garlic bulbs on it.  We've just used them all up except that one."

She was most disappointed. 

Also, we have booked our holiday.  We're off the US of A in June, and will be progressing through Boston, Cape Cod, New Hampshire and Maine for the best part of a month.  Hurrah.  We didn't really have a holiday last year, other than a few days over in the South of France to see mother-in-law WithaY, and as it was a few days after the SSFH**** broke over our heads, showering us with unmitigated shit for the next 6 months, we weren't really in a holiday mood. 

So, we've booked the flights, the airport parking and the hotel in Boston  for a few days when we arrive.  We need to sort out a hire car and possibly a hotel room for the night before we fly home, and the rest of it we will wing. 

I am so excited.  We will go to the New England Aquarium, which is excellent, we will eat clam chowder, and I want to do a Duck Tour. 

Anyone with suggestions for nice places to go in that area, please stick a comment in and let me know.  Unless you're a mad optician, of course.  Then you can fuck right off. 




*A large number of people, as opposed to a group of enormous giants.  Although, we are pretty huge as well, to be fair. 
**Mostly from me, I seem to recall.
***Croci?
****Shit storm from Hades