Sunday Driver

I'm just back from a few days at my parents' house; as they had to curtail their visit to us over New Year (see earlier post), and as Jacob doesn't start at nursery school for a while yet, I thought we'd take ourselves over "the big hill" and pay them a visit.

I really enjoyed the drive back; Sunday morning is an excellent time to drive across the Pennines - there's only light traffic and absolutely no heavy goods vehicles. However, on the way over (a Wednesday morning), I felt that my inexperience as a driver really showed.

From Harrogate, over Blubberhouses moor (ace name!) and down through the Dales to Skipton, the A59 is a snaky, single carriage road. And during the week, it also plays host to a large number of HGVs - most of which I seemed to get stuck behind until the crawler lanes round Skipton and Clitheroe. Despite having a relatively powerful car for new(ish) driver, I just don't feel confident overtaking yet. On a straight road with a good view ahead, I will overtake, but the A59 is so windy that every time an opportunity for overtaking arose, the newspaper headline "Tragedy as Mother and Two Young Sons Killed in Head-on Collision" flashed into my head.

So, I might just stick to driving to and from Rossendale on Sundays for the foreseeable future. That said, I do get a perverse kick from forcing all the drivers behind me to drive at 50mph. But they're all sales reps, so its no more than they deserve.

When in Rome...

In an attempt to make my little Londoners a little more northern, I bought Sam a flat cap:-


I'm thinking about getting him pigeons and whippets for his second birthday.

Not to be outdone, Jacob also had a go at being a Yorkshireman:-



He just needs to get rid of his southern accent. We are already having discussions about the lack of "r" in bath, but he seems unconvinced.

Let it Snow!!

Its been snowing on and off since around 5am this morning and while there's not much, there's more than was forecast, and certainly enough for the boys to enjoy themselves with.



Jacob was rather surprised to find that snow is cold, but soon got into the swing of things! Sam, after the initial shock that snow was a) cold and b) slippy, had a whale of a time and had a massive tantrum when I eventually made him come inside :)


Even better, whilst uploading these photos from the camera, I had a brainwave and sent the photo of Jacob to the BBC News website. A journo rang me back about an hour later asking if I was happy for it to be part of their selection of snowy pics sent in by readers, which it obviously was. Here's the link:- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/7169717.stm - No 7 pic.

Grumpy New Year!!

After a lovely Christmas, a Grumpy New Year. I woke up yesterday with a slight chesty cough which developed with lightning speed into an unpleasant sore chest and fever by lunchtime. So most of New Years Eve was spent in bed and I was fast asleep by the time midnight arrived.

I feel much better today, but my parents (who were due to stay until Saturday) have had to leave early due to complications with Dad's catheter. Although I'm sure the NHS up here would have sorted him out, I appreciate that if you're going to be unwell and uncomfortable, you'd much prefer to do that in your own home. Plus, he's got his operation to (hopefully) sort his waterworks out later in January, so I don't think they want to chance an infection setting in.

So that has put paid to my brother's family's surprise visit for Mum's birthday on Thursday, and with Doug back to work tomorrow the seasonal break has come to a sudden end. I was really looking forward to that little buffer zone where I didn't need to worry about "getting back to normal", not to mention that slightly melancholy business of taking down all the christmas decorations.

Oh well, maybe I'll take a leaf out of Antonia's book and hibernate in January; it seems quite an attractive idea at the moment.