I think I have probably mentioned that my Sister and my little Niece moved down to Oxfordshire so that they could live with her husband who is in the RAF. They moved a couple of months ago, and although my parents and other sister had been down to see them, I have always been away, or busy or just not around, and so this was the first time that I have had a chance to see them and their house in what has seemed a really long time. So Sister I and I headed down from Hull, whilst her boyfriend and my half sister headed up from down South.
I have to say that the house was beautiful (well bungalow!) and although a Friday afternoon drive was hell (well it was the M1, followed by the M40 which at about 4.30 on a Friday afternoon was never going to be an exactly fun journey, but 45 minutes to do about 5 miles really did seem like it was taking the biscuit.....god bless loud music, nicotine and caffeine drinks.) We all arrived at about 7pm and got to catch up on what was happening in everyones' lives, who was seeing whom, how work was going, and where the short future was taking us (oh and maintained the family drinking tradition.....I should be able to update you further on this in Part 3 with a fantastic game!)
Saturday saw us taking my Niece, with my Brother in Law, and Brother outlaw, to a fantastic park just outside Carterton (a brisk walk of about 5 - 6 miles, which was really nice to get out of the house whilst the ladies organised things - Jess took her bike, although very much like her Mum who would insist her bike on any walk, and after about 200m decide that she didn't want to ride, but rather my Dad would have to carry the bike and give her a shoulder carry!)
I remember parks when I was a kid.....there was invariably a couple of broken swings, a slide with something smeared along its length, a see-saw and a roundabout with metal surrounds (I loved that.....is it just me and my friends who used those to see how fast we could get someone else to vomit?) typically covered in empty beer/cider cans, various items of clothing and pages from those top shelf magazines. My "old" parks would not even stand next to this one......a sandpit with cranes and a bucket and pulley system, two sunken trampolines, numerous swings of varying designs, an adventure playground that would have put the US Marines training grounds and the Krypton Factor's assualt course to shame, numerous slides, and a roundabout that looked like a cross between an IKEA table and the Travelator from Gladiators.
After a couple of hours of playing (I mean looking after Jess whilst she played) we headed back to a lunch that the wonderful ladies had prepared (we did treat them for their kindness later with boxes of chocolates and fizzy wine!). We did spend the afternoon either sitting watching rugby or out at Minster Lovell Manor, details of which I will bore you with tomorrow, but in the meantime I enclose a couple of photos of Jess, who is a wonderful bright spot in our life, enjoying her bike!
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