The longest school term ever (or so it seemed) finally finished a few days before christmas, allowing Gez and I a few days to madly assemble the christmas paraphernalia needed for the festive season and for my parents' impending visit. A christmas tree was hastily purchased, we withstood many trips to ikea for kitchen essentials (though as soon as you go to ikea everything seems essential) and a tub of goose fat for the roast chickens was found (jamie o swears by it).
Mum and dad arrived two days before christmas, looking suntanned and relaxed after breaking their journey in Japan. Christmas was a nice, quiet affair at home eating lots of roast chicken (roasted in the aforesaid goose fat- very rich but very nice) and watching Eastenders and the Doctor Who christmas special. Unfortunately we missed the Queen's message but according to the locals, we didn't miss much. Mind you, Eastenders and Doctor Who were much more riveting than ol' lizzie could be, (for those that may know, tanya found out on christmas day that her husband max had had his way with her daughter-in-law-talk about fireworks!).
A few days after the chicken had settled and the impact of Eastenders had been digested, we picked up our hire car and drove up to the Lakes District. Unbeknown to us, everybody else was in a car either going back home from London or coming back to London after the excesses and stresses of christmas. Which meant every motorway (and there aren't that many in and out of London) were chockas. So it took us NINE BLOODY HOURS to get to Wast Water in the Lakes District. I was nearly hysterical, Gez was comatose whilst Mum and Dad thought it was all a lovely adventure. Ha!
Waking up the next morning in our cosy b&b (it was actually a farm with a whitewashed cottage for accomodation, right at the foot of Scafell Pike- a big pommie hill) made the nightmarish trip seem worth it. It was overcast and wet for the first few days, but even that couldn't diminish the scenery- which incidentally, was voted the 'best view' in Britain on a tv poll-(which means it MUST be true).
Whilst alot of over-dressed 'ramblers' (british walkers) strode past the farm each day with backpacks, steel poles, survival kits, thermal jackets, waterproof boots, ice picks and emergency rations, we wandered down the road alongside lovely Wast water lake in jeans and sneakers. The brits sure love to get the right gear for walking. One bloke who became a regular fixture in the b&b's loungeroom while we were there,-Robert- a very tall, slightly strange optician- would corner us with tales of his walks up Scafell Pike and other ranges. According to him, an ice pick and survival bag were needed if you wanted to walk up the nearby hills. I guess we were at least 10 minutes walk to the nearest pub, which obviously necessitates a survival bag of crisps and scotch eggs (or whatever the brits need to keep going in the wilderness). The motorway did not even stop near Wast water. Get me that survival bag, quick!
We did a few trips in the hire car (a big people mover thingy- felt a bit like a school trip gone wrong) to Windermere (too big after the quiet of Wast water) and Coniston- which was lovely, great big rocky hills, rushing streams and white cottages. On the last day the weather cleared up and we got to see Wast Water at its best- glistening still water, blue, intense hills and gorgeous steep rocky cliff-faces.
We broke the trip up on the way home so as not to spend 9 hours in the people mover. We stopped overnight at a highly decorated old people's home masquerading as a b&b in a sleepy village near Bradford called Dunstan-under-bottom, or something similiar. The rooms were decorated to within an inch of their lives, even the bin in our room was covered with satin, ribbons and lace. Our two elderly hosts- smiling Kate and the almost horizontal husband (very bad back) served up kippers in the morning with a smile and the sounds of Glen Campbell.
The last day we journeyed to Oxford and Rugby en route to London. Most of Rugby was closed, but we still managed to pose for some rugby-style photos near appropriate objects. Oxford fared a little better, with a few parts of the university open to wander around. Christ church college was lovely, historic, all that- though the best part was seeing the dining room complete with long wooden table and candles which provided the backdrop for the Harry Potter movies ! Always nice to see a bit of history...
We finally came home, dropped off the people mover, in time for New years Eve.
Bring on 2008!
