We think we’ve escaped all of the terrible weather everyone else has been experiencing the last couple of weeks, with only a sprinkling of snow over the last couple of days.
It is freezing inside and out on the site, but the ‘van is coping admirably with the cold. The temperature dropped to minus 6 celsius the other night and so far, nothing on the ‘van has frozen this year…fingers crossed we’ll be ok! This week we’re both working on the site as the managers are taking a holiday but their staff cover has got stuck in Northumberland. Luckily I wasn’t working anywhere else (as I had originally planned) so I could step in at short notice, but it is nice to be meeting people again.
We’ve not been able to get out and about really but we did manage to go for a lovely walk around Christ Church Meadows last Wednesday. There was a lot of shouting and cheering along the river so we went along to investigate and discovered the ‘Christ Church Regatta’ taking place. Although the snow hadn’t arrived yet it was really cold and frosty so the views were beautiful, with the English Longhorn cattle grazing in the grounds.
I (Angela) had a lovely surprise the other week when my brother came up from London to visit, so we met and had a drink and caught up with each other’s lives. It was great to see him and to just have a lovely random conversation – it’s not very often we spend time together so I always cherish the experience when we do. We met our old Religious Education teacher, Mr Flanagan in the bar and he said he remembered us but maybe he was just being polite…
He is still in fine form, a true Irish man!
It was my Birthday this month so we went for breakfast in Oxford and then onto the cinema to watch Burke & Hare, a film about two grave robbers. The original plan had been to go to London and visit the theatre to see either ‘Les Miserables’ or ‘War Horse’ but when we looked online for tickets both were sold out until early December. So we ended up staying in Oxford and having a lovely Chinese meal at Chris’ house.
Another treat for me was going to see Alison for a much needed massage. I’ve been going to Alison for the last ten years, stemming from my motorcycle accident when I needed repairing! It was great to visit her and Valerie as they are always such bubbly, positive people and they’re just as excited as us about our way of life.
Hopefully, next week we can start getting out and about again when the managers are back – start enjoying life and getting ready for Christmas!
