Wednesday 10 February 2016

Family




Apolologies for absence, but I had to make a mercy dash up to Sheffield to console our eldest daughter, who has problems with her relationship.  Well, SHE is fine, it's him who is giving the problems.  I shall keep my lip buttoned, but she knows my take on this matter.  Update: they're back together, so let's hope he has woken up and smelt the coffee.

I drove up on Saturday, after we had had a viewing of the house.  The couple loved it, which is a positive, but it is a BIG life changer for them if they decide to go ahead with their plans, so we will just have to wait and see what unfolds.  Meanwhile, fingers crossed.

I drove up North when it was raining in Biblical proportions, yet again.  It was dark as I passed through Ashbourne, and I had to cross the Derbyshire hills (which I know well enough in daylight) cautiously, especially as I was very tired by then.  Imagine my dismay when I arrived and discovered I had to reverse into a tight parking space, in the dark and rain, and UPHILL.  I have never been so glad to turn off the keys at the end of a journey.

Anyway, T was better once I arrived, and we had a really lovely walk above the Rivelin Reservoir the following day.  We climbed (clambered is probably more apt) up the steep valley above the reservoir, beside a brook in full spate.  A tremendous force of water was hurtling over rocks and boulders, stained rust, ginger and dead bracken brown by the peat above it.  I bitterly regretted forgetting my camera (and also taking my running trainers instead of walking boots, as it got pretty muddy underfoot towards the end.)  T has taken some photos and forwarded them to me, but they didn't turn up so I will post them after she has sent them again.


Sheffield in the distance.

Now I'm back at home and looking at the jobs that need to be done here.  We have found some stuff which you paint on algae on walls, and it works very efficiently at getting rid of the stuff.  We just need a good dry day to go round with a paintbrush.

I bought a copy of The Book Thief from a Sheffield Charity Shop, and have just started reading - the first few pages are . . . different!  I have just finished The Miniaturist, which I greatly enjoyed, and am still reading The Serpent Papers.

There's a frost here this morning, but the skies are now looking rainy, which isn't a good combination - sleet later perhaps?  It was sleeting and snowing over the Brecon Beacons when I drove home on Tuesday.

11 comments:

  1. That must have been a truly awful drive up through the Peaks in the teeth of a storm.

    Keeping everything crossed that your daughter`s situation AND the house viewing will have positive outcomes, very soon!

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  3. Deleted comment - spelling mistake!

    I loved The Miniaturist too.
    Sorry about your daughter's problems. We never stop worrying about them do we?

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  4. DW - It wasn't something I want to experience again in a hurry as I was SO tired and positively witless.

    Pat - Glad you enjoyed it as well. As a debut novel it was very good - she captured the time so well. Nope, we never do stop worrying about them - programmed to do so.

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  5. Sorry to hear about your daughter's problems - hope everything turns out well - sounds a dreadful journey. Fingers crossed something positive comes out of the house viewing.

    Although I quite enjoyed the Miniaturist and it was a good debut novel I didn't think it quite lived up to the "hype" so was a little disappointed. I read Tulip Fever fairly recently and wasn't overkeen on that either - perhaps its the location and era!

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  6. Very wise to keep quiet, what ever you say will come back to bite you on the bum sooner rather than later. Perhaps they both need to smell the coffee, it is said that in every relationship there is one who is loved and one who does the loving. Been there, finally saw the light. Smelled the coffee and drunk it all.

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  7. Pam - T knows exactly what my (and OH's) take is on the situation. She knows herself, but when you are in love it is so hard to walk away. If she could get good and angry it might help matters but she is such a gentle girl.

    R. Robin - I thought the ending was a little - rushed. I enjoyed the plot and sub-plots and was right on a couple of them (though they weren't that obvious). My friend DW over on Where Beechmast Falls (see sidebar) gave me the book after they had read it for their book club.

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  8. I suspect things will happen as they must in the relationship, I hope it all works out fine. Enjoyed the Miniaturist when I read it a couple of years ago. I notice that in the next village to us the red phone box not only has a defibrillator, but also a place where you can exchange books.

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  10. I have not read the book theif yet, but I loved the movie - I'm presuming they are one and the same

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