Christmas

Aaaahh.

Cards are all sent. Preparations made. Presents wrapped. Time for us to subside....into our handkerchiefs & hot Lemsips & Night Nurse, to cough & splutter through the night! probably the worst colds we've ever had! (Di says, even for her, "It's Man-flu!")

However, Christmas Day arrives. We've arranged to meet James & Sue, friends from Clapham Village at their house, for a walk & in spite of the rain, off we go, heading for Norber Erratics.

Fortunately, the rain is at our backs, all the way out. We perch behind a wall to eat our sandwiches, slurp damson gin, nibble mince pies & drink soup, then stand...and wow!, the rain has stopped!

It's still blowing a gale, mind.

We drop off the high ground at Sulber Gate & head towards Austwick, then cut across a corner for a quicker way back to Clapham. By now its dark. We've been out for nearly 5 hours. Home to a hot bath & soak, clean up.

Get the meat in the oven. Lay the table. Soon enough, James & Sue arrive with the veg & the brandy butter & we are sitting down to gloriously tasty, locally farmed, roast pork with crisp crackling & all the works, followed by flaming Christmas pud & that brandy butter! And chatter is continuous too.

So, thank you James & Sue, for joining us, leading the walk (new ground for us) and making our Christmas Day really special.