1111.19 MY BIG DAY OUT

I've previously said that I almost never spend much time alone. So when Morticia planned a day out with her Mum and the kids I jumped at the chance to to go out and about on my own. We are staying at my Mother-in-law's so my day out, unless I planned to jump on a train or bus, would be in the town of St Neots. The town centre is only 20 minutes walk, it was dry and a little misty which made for a lovely walk.

I'd been looking forward to the idea for weeks, it's not a big deal but the solitude was really therapeutic. I had lunch in the local cafe, a mooch around the charity shops and visited a few pubs and sampled a few ales. Reading my cycling magazine in the pub whilst drinking ale all on my own was absolute bliss.

I returned and followed my big day out with a visit to the chippy, mmmmmm.

For those interested in the ales;

Elgood's Black Dog (3.6% ABV) - A proper English mild, smooth and flavourful.

in the Coach House, St Neots.

Potbelly Brewery's Potbelly Best (3.8% ABV) - Easy drinking bitter.

in the Pig & Falcon, St Neots

Young's London Gold (4.8% ABV) - A light refreshing ale.

in the Cambridgeshire Hunter, Eynesbury.

1111.18 SINGLE FATHER

Sometimes it's advantageous to sent Morticia away to her Mum's for the week. Her ME can take it's toll on her so a short restbite break is in order. This week, following a visit from her Mum, she went down to the little town of St Neots for the week and left me home with the kids.

It probably sounds like I get quite a lot out of this, you know, suddenly being on my own, doing my own thing etc. this couldn't be further from the truth. The kids, even though they're older are still a handful. Add to that the fact that I still go into work (albeit for half days). Rest for me? Not a chance. It's been all go until 22:30 each night when I have myself a chance to catch up with my Sky+ recordings. Come bed time I find that I don't enjoy sleeping alone (I found this out many years ago).

Today, in fact tonight I drive down to be with her. We return home on Sunday.

1111.06 BONFIRES, WITCHES & CHRISTMAS TREES

I'm more than a little annoyed that my mobile blogging app, BlogPress, has not worked since I updated my iPhone to iOS5. I am using the native Blogger app to compose this for formatting later on a PC.

Anyway, this is not the purpose of my post today. It's the beginning of November and that means Guy Fawkes night, the traditional celebration of a failed Catholic terrorist plot from 1605. Whilst for us there was no bonfire (we rarely have one) we did set of some fireworks whilst down visiting my Mother in Law.

That's where the witches come in, well one in particular. The aforementioned Mother in Law who returned with us to stay for the week. It's been a difficult preparation getting the house together for the visit. I'm hoping Morticia will get a lot from the visit, at the end of the week she will be returning with her mother to St Neots for the following week. It will mean rest bite for us both, I think we both need it.

I noticed over the last few weeks Christmas trees have been appearing and television adverts have turned to seasonal subjects. I'm not a big fan of Christmas commercialism and I hate how early the 'silly' season starts. How long until Christmas starts in August?