Days 234 to 238

I am typing this in North Wales during a very pleasant stay where we are relaxed and enjoying ourselves. Yet it almost didn't happen. On Day 234 it had been raining. There is of course nothing wrong with that except that the temperature waselow freezing. On my way to get the Turkey my normal route was blocked by a bus that had skidded on black ice. Fortunately I found another route and was able to do the business. When I got back I was filled with too much confidence and set about walking to the paper shop. This seemed a good idea at the time because a number of cars had skidded on the ice. Sadly I slipped and fell heavily landing on my hip. The only things I got were an internal bruise and hurt pride but not necessarily in that order.

We also discovered a downside of living on an Island with no fixed link. The news was filled with bulletins of roads closed due to ice and snow. We might well have put off our travel for 24 hours but we had already booked on the ferry leaving at 10 and there was no guarantee we could get another booking in time for us to make it for Christmas. In the event we missed the road closures. What we hadn't bargained for though was that a lot of people had put off their journeys because of poor weather earlier in the week and the whole world seemed to be on the move. It took us 6 and a half hours from Portsmouth to do a trip that normally takes 4.

We did however benefit from being at our destination at the start of Christmas Eve. The weather in Scotland was much worse than in England which meant that Gillian's parents Ian and Lorna had had to put off their travel until 24 December. They arrived shortly after 4.00PM. We were able to carry on one tradition in the Nove household namely listening to the Festival of nine lessons and carols from King's College Cambridge. This starts at 3.00 and for Ev and I Christmas starts with the sound of the Chorister singing the first verse of Once in Royal David's City.

Harry is 2 years old and of course Christmas Day saw some great presents for him. At that age he hasn't quite grasped the fact that some presents were not for him but despite that he has had a great time. His speech is coming along very well.

Given what has happened to me in 2009 this Christmas was something really special. We drank a toast amongst others to Mr. Byrne who not only operated on me in August but who did the dilatation which enabled me to have some Christmas Dinner. Thanks to Skype we could see as well as talk to Andrea and the Boyce Family. It was a great day.

St. Stephen's or Boxing Day was another good time for one and all. As I am off alcahol at the moment(I have enough acid problems as it is thank you) I offered to drive Christopher and Ian to a local pub to watch Newcsatle United play very badly and get away with a draw. Unlike some Football Fans for whom the game is a matter of life and death we just came back, had a wonderful Eveving meal and played a very clever card game.

As I type this we are waiting for some visitors to come and the weather is starting to improve. As far as sleeping is concerned, so far I have had 2 good nights and 2 not so good ones. I have however got to the point where I just take each night as it comes. Morale is high right now. It's also nice to see Ev able to relax though as those of you who know her can testify she never sits still for long.

Thanks to Christopher and Gillian for allowing us to spend Christmas with them.