Jetting off to Lincolnshire

Rosemary and I shall be joining all you half-term holidayers on Friday (yes, right at the end of half term – what?). We will be getting the train up to Lincoln, thence a bus to Horncastle and from there to a small village called Tetford, where two of my aunts and one of my cousins live. This is where Rosemary went to stay with my mum at the start of the month and she enjoyed it so much we thought we’d go there at least twice a month. Only kidding.

The impetus is a fairly uncommon visit from my cousin, who lives in America (and is, I believe, now an official US citizen), along with her two children, who I have never met. The last time she was here, which was before her youngest was born, I wasn’t able to get to see her (can’t remember why), though managed a quick lunch in London the time before.

We’re only going for two nights. We won’t get there till mid-afternoon on Friday and will have to leave fairly early Sunday morning. I probably won’t get to see much of my cousin, as she has so many people to catch up with, but even if I only manage a 10-minute chat it will be worth it. I’ve also never seen my aunts’ houses, even though they’ve been there for years. My sister has been there loads. She was there when my waters broke, in fact, and had to rush to get on a train to get back in time to be there with me (she was one of my birth partners). And there are lots of people I’ll get to see who I haven’t seen since either my dad’s funeral or my wedding. And four new children to meet.

Rosemary adores her cousins (not the American ones, who she hasn’t met yet – though I’m sure she’ll love them, too), as well, and is looking forward to getting to see them again. I have to admit to feeling quite jealous when she and my mum were up there at the start of the month. I could hear her having such a good time and hear lots of familiar voices in the background and really wanted to be there, too, instead of sat slaving at my computer. And now I get my wish.

The train journey should be interesting. As we’re not going for long, I don’t have to pack too much, but it will still be a bit more than I’m generally carrying about these days. My leg/hip has been very good over the last week, since the physio showed me another technique, so hopefully I won’t be in agony! Rosemary was really, really, really good for my mum on their journey. But she does have a tendency to mess about more with me than pretty much anyone else, so we’ll see how she is for me. We only have two changes on the way up, which is good, but four on the way back and an hour and twenty minutes wait somewhere, where they had better have a cafe at the very least!

I, of course, have a bunch of work that I have to get out of the way before leaving (at 7am on Friday!!) and I need to buy the tickets and a birthday present for my (other) cousin’s one-year-old. And, when I get back, I’ll have a bunch of work to catch up on, so will be extra busy next week. But I don’t care. I get to go away. And Chris gets to sit slaving over a hot desk and look after the dog. Poor guy. Or lucky guy, depending on how you look at it!

So, sorry, the award post will have to wait. The next post that makes Emily from Maternal Tales say ‘Interesting!’ will have to wait. And the review of Bedtime Stories will also have to wait. Hopefully I’ll manage at least one of them some time next week.

Hope you all have fun half terms and manage some time away or doing something a little bit out of the ordinary.