Day Thirteen

30th Dec:  A second trip to Canterbury to peruse the sales.  Ellie came up too but Amy was too poorly with a cold to make it.  Mum took the kids off to the Canterbury experience while we went around the shops.  Misty and moist, very picturesque.

Day Ten, Eleven and Twelve

27th Dec, lazy day relatively speaking, given that we've only expended about 5 calories collectively over the last week.  A few hours sale shopping for Suji in Folkestone while we took the kids to the playground on the lower Sandgate road.  Every time I go there, it surprises me what a good job they've done landscaping that road into something decent.  Secretly jealous that it wasn't like that when I was a kid.

28th Dec, A walk around Hythe in the mist and drizzle to meet up with Ellie and Amy.  Then back out to Hythe in the evening for a rather good  meal with Ange and Chris at a Nepalese restaurant called the Everest.




29th Dec, I've been walking Malty every morning (waking at a normal time for the last couple of days).  Today's been very misty, yesterday was too.  Ange and Chris came over and we watched ourselves dancing and eating on Chris' video of our leaving do in 1997.  Kira was suitably embarrassed. 

Day Eight and Nine

Christmas day ... at last!  Raya woke as we were going to bed, and was guided back to the duvet with reassurance that she was sleep walking.  The girls unpacked their stockings at around 7, and came up stairs and we all unwrapped the gifts under the tree.  We did precious little until Dom and Hannah, Emily and Erin arrived.  We slugged some champagne and walked up to the Grand for uz Christmas buffet.  Nice posh hotel.  Food was OK, the company excellent, and the booze flowed.  We wandered around the kids playground until we were all too pooped to do much else.

 Boxing Day ... blood sluggish today, all the food and drink makes me feel like treacle being poured out of the tin.  Walked the dog as the sun came up around Enbrook valley which has been nicely landscaped now. Took the whole family around there in the afternoon once Ellie and Amy arrived.

Boxing day, the sad day after christmas day, the happy day when most the people who didn't get to give in their presents all get a chance to give them in. I felt like that today. I started off by waking up in the 

morning and secretly playing with my new ipod touch and my sister "silently" playing her nintendo DSi. When my sister had got bored and had gone to wake up and torture mum and dad and my ipod had run out of 

battery we ran upstairs and watched telly for a while until my cousins Emily and Erin arrived. A few minutes later someone knocked at the door, cousin Amy! I have wanted to see her the entire holiday. She came in 

and the first thing she mentioned was, " oh, look how big you've grown!", which is what every one says. She presented me with a kit to fake wounds and i thought that was really cool. We gave her some money

and she told us all she had got that christmas was money and books. I felt sympathetic for her. the day went on and we chatted and compared our thoughts and similarities but eventually we had to part. I decided

to try one of my old tricks of simply sitting on her, but she tickled me off.  In the end I gave in and let her go. Then we finished watching what I had been watching and i played on my ipod until my Dad told me 

to come and write this diary I am writing "write" now!

Day Seven

Off to see the Swedish contingent as they swing by on their way to Dubai.  Suji's eldest sister, husband and youngest son have dropped into New Barnet to spend some time with Mum and Dad so we travelled up on the high speed link between Folkestone and St. Pancras (dumbfounded at how quick that was).  Spent a great day in the deep snow, snowballing the cousins and eating vast amounts of pani puri and getting jolly with most of that side of family, and toasting absent friends.  Raya fell fast asleep on big Cousin Samir, which may help her and Kira with the 5 am wake ups.

Day Six

We'd booked a day in France via EuroTunnel today, but the trains were delayed so we cancelled and went off to Ashford in the fog for a day at the Cinema instead.  Raya and Grannie went off to watch Megamind and Suj, Kira and I went to see the first half of the seventh instalment of Harry Potter.  Day six done and dusted.

First Five days

Friday 17th December, 2010:

It's easy to believe the world organises itself for your own convenience. We landed at Gatwick before it was closed, and although Mum wasn't able to get through the traffic to meet us off the plane, she was only two short train rides away, one of which had been delayed long enough for us to board. An hour's drive topped off the twenty-six hours it had taken door to door from Perth, W.A. to Folkestone, Kent.

On the last day of school it was very early, Sim my Dad's friend he was picking us up and he drove us to the airport because he was flying to England. It took all morning. And on the aeroplane, there were two aeroplanes, the first one took ten and a half hours and the second one took six hours. I watched Pinocchio and Dispicable Me and Mary Poppins and I tried not to get cross with the game "Memories".

(Last train trip of the day)

Saturday:

Went shopping in Folkestone and got caught in the snow. The cars couldn't get past Sandgate hill and the traffic quickly built up, queuing into Folkestone. We ditched the car on the Leas and walked down the hill back to Mum's. I walked around to see what the hill was like. Cars were sliding down it and blocking each other. Drivers trying to get up were spinning their wheels. I asked "Dave" if he could lend me a barrow and shovel and helped "Mac" shovel grit onto the hill. A group of us also spent some time pushing cars up the hill. Seemed to me people become isolated and dependent in cars. Walking about gives you a different perspective.

Sunday:

We'd planned to go to Jason's for open house, but the snow wasn't worth the risk, despite the pull of company and food. Went and got the car from the Leas, and took the kids into the snow for a walk. Cured them both of the desire to make snow men. Little pink noses and toes.

Monday:

Drove the car to Canterbury and spent a great day shopping. Streets full of slush. German winter fare had bratwurst, gallettes and gluwein. The countryside looked fantastic, a snow covered tunnel of trees over the road outside Denton, swear that the Snow Queen was riding along side the car. As we drove out of the carpark, a robin swooped down on the road. As we watched, it disappeared down the drain!

Yesterday I went to the charity shop and I bought a Barbie and two Bratz, and the boy Bratz had a hat and the girl one had two braceletes. I was trying to set up a boat, it was called the Perl Putta. It was a really famous boat and the Barbie was jealous of it, because the Bratz had fallen in love and that means he gets to go on the boat and every time there was a meeting and they were dancing she always pushed the girl away instead of dancing with the boy Bratz. I wanted another Barbie but my Dad said no. I begged them but they said no. So I chose just the ones I liked the most.

Tuesday:

Duvet day, kids are waking later and later, from 1 am on Saturday to 5 am today. Ange and Chris came over for lunch. Feeling like Christmas with the snow outside and good food, drink and company inside. Duty done, snow man built.