Carsington Christmas Capers

Carsington

Friday 13th December - unlucky for some!

At precisely 9.57 on a very grey, damp and dismal day we assembled at Carsington for our pre Christmas gathering. We were almost a full house of babes apart from Helen J who had escaped the weather and the politics and was lazing on a beach in sunny Thailand, we seem incapable of making a decision without her! but we did manage to make one decision and headed to cafe - after we had finally worked out how to use the car park payment machine - it was a case of how many retired teachers does it take...... turns out the answer is five.

Fortified by coffee in the cafe and now joined by Pam, we were well placed to put the world to rights and analyse the depressing and slightly terrifying political situation resulting from yesterday’s election. Julia had cheered us up by wearing her Christmas jumper and thankfully the conversation took a more lighthearted turn as we caught up on everyone’s news of holidays and cruises and Lynn’s confession that the delightful Tali has been banned from a dog friendly pub!

Pam doing a sterling job of clearing up after us.

Coffee over it was time for breakfast - putting the world to rights certainly works up an appetite. For some reason the menu didn’t show any veggie options but we soon discovered that by asking at the counter we could have pretty much what we wanted - although they didn’t seem to have any impala available.

  Maggie will never have curly hair - or perhaps she is subconsciously saving the crusts for the dog.

Without anyone to guide us on our secret Santa procedure we yet again struggled to make a decision as to how to proceed - we had managed to smuggle them into a large shopping bag so no one knew who had brought which present but the big question was now or on the day - we decided that now was more fun and everyone could see what everyone had got. Unfortunately someone had got confused and had left a parcel at home (must be an age thing!) which meant that Alison didn’t have a present to open, she was very good about it and tried very hard to hide her disappointment and I am sure that Santa will get it to her before the big day. If only people would read instructions, forgetting to put a name on a parcel is bound to confuse and some people had blatantly ignored the recyclable wrapping instruction, there was almost a candle blunder but thankfully it turned out to be sparkly lights - phew!

Some jolly well chosen gifts and smiles all round- apart from Alison!

By this time the cafe was filling up with lots of people in Christmas jumpers settling down for a festive lunch and the miserable weather and other commitments made the decision not to go for a walk an easy one so we said our goodbyes until next year.

Mass takeover of Santa’s grotto

Today’s bird list:

Partridge (just the one)

Turtle doves

Blackbirds - otherwise known as colly birds

French hens

Geese

Swans