Getting lost.

My quest for fitness resulted in me getting lost during an afternoon walk. At the moment Reading is like a giant building site so I have a reasonable excuse. Brian and Lynne rescued me by car following a "help" phone call.

Since then life has been a whirlwind.

Xmas day meal...........

I'm convinced the usual Xmas dinner of turkey is is overrated so  "our" choice this year of rib of beef went down well,especially as Brian excelled himself cooking it.

Relaxation and wreaths,,,

.Xmas day was quiet,with the usual  heavy doses of food and wine ( shared with Marlene and Brian ). The afternoon was spent listening to Radio 5 and relaxing while the girls visited parents and younger brother graves,as Lynne and I had done the day before,combined with an hour or two with Margaret and Bob.

Immediately after Xmas I was once again retained in yet another psychiatric ward of Leicester hospital,but at least this time it was more modern than the previous ones and had individual,lockable rooms and showers. The downside was we were "observed" every 15 minutes during the night and expected to remain in the "rectivation" room every day,although rectivation was limited to dominoes and other family board games (yawn/yawn) plus billiards on a table that leaned to one side,despite many failed attempts to level it using beer mats apparently donated by local pubs as required . 

As they were short of beds I was unexpectantly sent home after my consultants and medical team agreed it was safe to do so..and there I stayed until mid May, when it finally stopped raining. The area surrounding our village was flooded

Winter wonderland

After days of intense snow storms we managed to get home through a Disney landscape thanks to 4wd  and determination.

The family Xmas meal ( with only the Chester mafia section missing ) was a great success .

We broke our journey at Reading for a couple of days with Marlene and Brian and then a thaw slowly set in.

Freezing sunshine

We have had a strange mixture of weather over the past few days ranging from glorious sunshine to freezing temperatures, often at the same time !  Heavy snow is forecast tonight, just for a change. Joel and Sophie announced rather late in the day they were staying overnight (saving heating costs, perhaps? ) It will be good to see them.

The pre - Christmas period promises to be somewhat hective,with us staying at Marlene and Brian's for a couple of days. Brian has opted to cook Christmas dinner for our family, brave man. Hopefully all our shopping is complete and Lynne has spent umpteen hours producing personal Xmas cards for friends,family and aquatencies.