Having worked last week on our own (with a little help from Malcolm, when needed!) he and Ali let us have a longer break this week so we were able to get some jobs out the way. A large shop at Sainsbury’s was undertaken (courtesy of Manda’s car) along with a trip to Dean’s mums to retrieve our Christmas decorations from the loft.
As usual, I (Angela) had to eat my own words…having given Dean a lecture about the stupidity of going up the loft ladder in slippers, I took mine off and went up the ladder in socks. Well, what a buffoon – one minute Dean was looking at me as I poked my head up through the hatch, the next he was shouting in concern and looking at me sprawled on the floor having fallen off the blasted things!
I remember my butt hitting the bannister rail and thinking I really needed to avoid falling backwards down the stairs so I grabbed anything I could – my fingertips were sore for hours! Then I landed on the floor with my left leg trapped in the rungs, but luckily all I’ve ended up with is severe bruising to my left leg and both feet. The repairs to Chris’ woodwork have been added to our list!
All this the day before we went to London…
We had been told about the Christmas Market in Hyde Park called Winter Wonderland, and as we’re having withdrawal symptoms for all the markets we went to in Germany last December we thought it would be a great idea. For once we were up early and headed into London on the Oxford Tube, arriving at Marble Arch midday. My brother was able to join us for the day so having met for coffee we set off.
It is a really good market, with quite a few stalls and lots of rides for children – nearly as good as the markets in Germany, but not quite…
The mulled wine tasted like it used to and the Currywurst transported us back to 2009 and a takeaway outlet in Germany. The cash machine wouldn’t give us any money as the link was down to UK so we only had about 10 euros – the only thing we could afford was a Currywurst!
In Hyde Park they have also erected an ice skating rink and it was doing brisk business the day we went, even though it was a freezing cold day.
As the day drew on and the temperature dropped, it was only right to sample the Gluhwein again…before we all headed home.
