Across the miles… and Advent 2

As I had hinted in my previous post, I am back in England for the majority of Advent and for the final stint of making sure my mom has convalesced properly after her surgery and before returning to spend Christmas with my family in Switzerland!

Of course, as soon as I left, the snow arrived to cover most of Europe with a beautiful white blanket – except Britain! This, then, are my poor Christmas roses…!

Over in England, the weather has been fairly cold and dry (until today, which is dark and grey and otherwise simply not worth mentioning!). It was lovely to see everyone looking so well and so cheerful, though I could have done without the neighbour’s pulsing blue lights which also reflect onto the windows on the other side of the road and bounce back to ours… Still, Christmas is a merry time of year for the English and there is plenty of hustle and bustle and glitter and bling and all the rest of it.

We had a wonderful day out, all four generations of us  It’s a fairly typical pic – talking and laughing don’t seem to stop for a photo!

Cousins who live in a beautiful cottage in the Cotswolds gave us a delicious and filling lunch and we really enjoyed spending some time with them, as contact has not been as close as we would have liked over the years – perhaps retirement has yet another benefit (theirs, I hasten to add!). Not wanting to invade their privacy too much, I will just add a pic of their gorgeous dog, a Field Spaniel, bigger and a more serious working dog than a Cocker, but just as mad 🙂 Right up my street, then!

The ultimate aim of the day was to return my daughter, who had been looking after her granny and great-granny for 4 weeks, to her husband… now they can finally begin to settle down properly in England in their now fully-furnished house. It was probably also the only opportunity my mom and granny are going to get to actually see the house, so they were delighted!

As my readers must now be aware, my life consists mostly of gallivanting (haha). So on a bright sunny Saturday morning, my friend and I set off for Worcester, pleased to find it busy but not heaving, prettily decorated and all set for the season.  Even some Morris dancers! Though we’ve never seen any with blackened faces before…

Of course, no day out is complete without a lunch (Café Rouge) – and quantities of tea and cake (this is England, after all!) –  in a café with a great lamp!  Full confession – we spent two whole hours here, sitting peacefully chatting and knitting and also discussing the latter with the staff… a perfect afternoon!

Otherwise life is quiet, the Christmas cards are rolling in and most of ours are rolling out, so we can enjoy a bit of Advent by candlelight 🙂