shewhomust | Whistle-stop (Reply)

We are home from our visit to London: I keep wanting to type 'our weekend in London': it would make a very long weekend, but a very short week. We did pretty much everything we planned to, but had very little time for anything unplanned. Which makes me all the more pleased about that afternoon in Highgate with GirlBear. But the rest of the time was packed with good things:

On Saturday: we had invited helenraven and the Bears to dinner at our accommodation. We spent the morning at Waitrose buying goodies which we could prepare with the minimal resources of our kitchen (actually a good-sized and well-arranged kitchen, minimally equipped, which was a waste); and the afternoon writing Christmas cards. I had a great evening: it was a relief that a flat for two people could accommodate five to dinner, and everyone got somewhere to sit. The plates weren't all the same size, and I had bought wine glasses, because there were none provided at all, but the wine was good (helenraven brought an English rosé, which was a perfect choice; I had bought La Marée orange because I was curious, and liked the label; it did not disappoint) and the conversation was even better. So that was good.
Sunday was all carols: and deserves a proper post of its own.
We spent Monday in Essex: with durham_rambler's family. In the morning we called on the Younger Niece. Her husband was working from home, with the emphasis on 'working', but there was time to say hello, and then the three of us went out to brunch in Walthamstow Village (very trendy). We were given a small but perfect gift, a miniature of 'The Wiltshire Laddie' from niece's father-in-law's cask of Bruichladdich. Then on to durham_rambler's brother and sister-in-law. Sister-in-Law was engaged in wrangling her phone, at the other end of which was Elder Niece (whom we had hoped to see, but who wasn't feeling well) and the garage (which was supposed to be preparing her car for its MOT but whose order kept bringing in the wrong part). But Brother was just back from a bird-watching holiday in Costa Rica, and had plenty to tell us about that; he had barely started to sort out the many photos he had taken, so we saw only a random few, some of which were spectacular. He had been prevailed upon to buy a pack of coffee, which (as not really a coffee drinker) he passed on to us. Whisky and coffee, what do durham_rambler's family think about us? After all this excitement, we were back in London with just time to say goodnight and farewell to the Bears. Because -
On Tuesday we were homeward bound,: though not by the most direct route. Given the uncertainty about whether valydiarosada would be sufficiently mobile for the traditional New Year's visit, we had invited ourselves to Ely for a couple of days en route. While we were in London we were delighted to learn that we were good for Plan A, so we reduced that to a single night stopover. Of which a highlight was that a notoriously stand-offish cat allowed me to hold her comb while she brushed against it (admittedly, I was sitting in the seat which is designated for this activity, but I have sat there before and she has never deigned to participate.
Wedesday: home again!: And despite some delays on the way (traffic; there being no fast charger at Waitrose in Newark) we were back in time to eat, do a first batch of laundry, and win the last pub quiz of the year. In fact, with the aid of our secret weapon (son of a regular team member, home after his first term at Oxford), we won both the main quiz and the beer round (read the message of the semaphore penguins and then - the hard bit - win the tie-breaker!).