Back in Bigastro

Pam and I had a wonderful eight day trip to England. The weather might have been mostly rubbish but the company was brilliant.

First off we visited the Wirral and stayed in Heswall. That allowed us to do some shopping for presents and clothes in Chester. Whilst the shopping in Liverpool might have been more varied, Chester is compact and is just a magical place to be at Christmas. Sods law though, two days after I bought myself some new togs, Marks & Spencer had a 25% off men’s clothing day!

Whilst on the Wirral, Pam and I took the opportunity to catch up with some of the people that she worked with and got to know in her years as an infant teacher at Pensby. We also met up with our ex neighbours - Hugh, Angela and Andrew to see how their new kitchen was coming on.

Hugh and Angela’s new kitchen is fabulous and will make cooking for them that much easier and more pleasant. Both Andrew and Hugh are keen chefs and so had a very clear idea of what they wanted in the new layout. I’d say they got it just perfect. Andrew writes “the Redline Kitchen” blog about the food they prepare which has been in abeyance for a few weeks. I eagerly await reading about the first dish from their new kitchen. After checking out the work in the kitchen we all went for a wonderful meal at the Manor Farm in Greasby.

We visited Pam’s father a couple of times, to take him some new clothes and of course chocolates. It was good to see him looking well and he did remember who we were. He even remembered who Jemma was after a little prompting and remarked that her hair was a different colour (she was blonde when he knew her). The home where he is staying is just so good, they care for him better than we could hope for. 

Having done all we wanted to do on the Wirral, Pam and I then moved on to Sale. This time we stayed at the Premier Inn near Manchester airport because that was where the best deal was. It is only twenty minutes away from Laura and Dave’s house and so was reasonably convenient.

Our eldest daughter, Jemma came up from Wolverhampton to spend the weekend with us and cooked us a special pre- Christmas meal on the Saturday. It was good to spend some time with her. Since Molly has been born we have spent very little time at Jemma’s house and we do feel guilty about that. Having a granddaughter is obviously a distraction but it does not alter the love we share with both of our daughters.

However, the highlight of the trip was seeing Molly. Pam and I were held up on the way over to Sale and so Molly had to be patient and look at the large box wrapped in Christmas paper,  which stood before her for two hours - she knew it was a present for her! As we walked into the house, there was Molly bouncing with joy, her arms wide open, waiting to give me a great big hug and a kiss. Even the hardest man’s heat would melt at such a greeting.

The formalities of greetings over, Molly got on with tearing the paper off that big box to find her present inside. We are pleased to say that she loved the kitchen we’d bought her and played with it for hours making us cups of tea, cooking pasta and baking cakes.

All too soon, it was time for us to fly back home. It is good to be back in the sun in our own home but we will miss being with our family at least for awhile that is. Hopefully, we will get to chat with Molly and Dave this afternoon on Skype. And as for Jemma – we must make more of an effort to Skype you as well.