Happy New Year!!!!

Well we have taken a break from the blog and this is what we did over Christmas
We got down to Kent on the Saturday before Christmas to pick up all our presents sent on line and see Al's Mum and Dad. It was very well decorated with Christmas lights all down the road as we turned up.. We soon got cracking on wrapping presents..
On the Sunday we went to see nephew Thomas (who has been on Derwent6 a few times) as it was his 15th Birthday. It was lovely to see all the kids so excited about Christmas, and poor Thomas with all his Birthday presents wrapped in Christmas paper.. The following day Al had a funeral to go to (what a rotten time for the family concerned) and we also had a few jobs to do with Del putting up a couple of lights for Pam and Alf . On the evening before Christmas Eve we had a horrendous storm and the winds were so strong we lost a few tiles off of Al's Mum and Dads roof.. We also had a lot of flooding in the village and only had one route in and out. We had a power cut at around 8.30pm right in the middle of the Arsenal/Chelsea game and Del wasn't happy.. It started to get cold and we all went to bed at 9.30pm. In the morning the power was still off and Del spent the morning repairing the roof and power came back on at midday on Christmas Eve. It was then a dash out to deliver some of the presents we had for family and friends.. We managed to see Maxine and Graham and Richard and Lisa before getting back through the blocked roads of fallen trees..

We woke up to the sound of the Church bells on Christmas Day as we opened some of our presents, and Al went off to church, as for the first time we had no Christmas dinner in the oven. We had arranged to go to Cliff and Louise's pub, The Roebuck in Harrietsham, and when the pub had closed in the afternoon they had twenty of us for a Christmas dinner.. It was lovely to see all the kids, family and friends all round the table for a fantastic Christmas dinner..

It was so well arranged and the meats of Pork, Beef and Turkey were to die for.. The day was well thought out and well spread out so we didn't feel bloated as after dinner we opened all the presents and the kids got their main presents from Santa.. 

We then had dessert followed by cheese and biscuits with just the best cheese board ever.. Thanks guys for a great day and a lovely memory..

On Boxing Day we had arranged a meal at the Ole George Inn pub in Shoreham village where we had arranged to meet all of Al's family.. We got there at midday and then at 12.45pm all the rest of Al's family turned up. This was a bit of a celebration of Alf''s news of recovering from his tumours.. It was great to see three generation's of the family together...

We had the rest of the day to catch up with some of the telly we had missed and pigged out with even more food..
On the Friday Al wanted to go to the January Sales and we got up early and went to Bluewater to try and find a bargain. We were fine for the first hour we were there and then it got so busy.. We chilled with a coffee and a nice lunch and when we couldn't stand it anymore we hit the queues to get back to Al's Mum and Dads. We did pick up a few bargains, some new clothes, a new frying pan and a torch which has a magnet on it for working round the engine..
On the weekend we had some time to ourselves, and as the weather was bad again and we ended up going out in the afternoon.. We managed to pop in and see Steve and Deb and their daughter Leanne who was over from the States, it was a good catch up, and lovely to see them all. We then went on to Terry & Ron's where they had arranged a get together with family and friends.. We had a evening playing games with the kids, and eating some lovely food, together with a few drinks ..  We went back to Bernie and Sarah's where we stayed the night and Del felt a bit worse for wear in the morning.. We had planned to do some more visiting but we had to recover all day.... We did manage to get out in the afternoon to pick up a new telly for Al's Mum and Dad in the sales before we headed back there for the evening.. We had a lovely evening tea with cheese and all the pickles..
On the Monday we were up early and then travelled down to see Zoe and Greg in Whitstable and we ended up having lunch with them, a lovely surprise.. Rummage and Jumble were pleased..

We left there at 3.00pm and then made our way over to Folkestone...
Surprise!!!! we went to the bungalow of Paul and Lynne who used to own the boat n.b Pistonbroke. the look on Paul's face was a picture, in fact he closed the door again on us in disbelief..  We drunk more tea and had a lovely catch up, Paul telling us all about his tales at the Battle of Britain museum and working on the Spitfire Merlin engine. He was in his element. It was lovely to see them...

We left at 7.00pm and got back to Al's Mum and Dads at 8.00pm.
On New years Eve we had the morning running around as Al's Dad had a doctors appointment and Al had a hospital appointment, we even managed to pick up a timber board for Al's Dad on the way, for a project he has going in the bedroom upstairs. In the afternoon we got ready to party and got back to Bernie and Sarah's to get ready.. At 8.00pm we went over to Cliff and Louise's pub again where food and a singer had been arranged.. We had a lovely time seeing in the new year with friends and family with champagne and party poppers. (but Del did forget the camera)
On New Years Day, Bernie and Sarah had arranged an Indian Curry takeaway with everyone.. We all had a lovely time seeing in the new year in style..

We came home on Thursday and the trains were very busy, but we managed to get all our presents back in one piece.. The only damage through the storms was the rain hat on the chimney that had flown off and was broken into three pieces. We first had to warm up Derwent6 and then we unpacked leaving a lovely restful evening till the winds started to get up again.. Oh we have had a lovely time but it is so good to be back home!!!! Happy New year Everyone!