A start to the new year.

So here we are in 2016, having successfully negotiated New Year's Eve. We went to a friend's house to celebrate the event. She and her daughter and a few other people had been to the pantomime first. Not quite what I would choose to do, but there it is. We went along post panto for drinks and nibbles. Our contribution was a bottle of Rioja, a strange chocolate fondu set (given to Phil by one of his chess players who clearly thought that his chocoholic habit extended to dipping marshmallows and such in melted chocolate - not really the case) and some rather old sparklers. The wine was mostly drunk and the chocolate sampled but the sparklers fizzed out rather too quickly to write Happy New Year, or HNY as some of my younger friends refer to it, in the dark air. 

Fireworks, fizz and chat over, we walked home through the crisp night. The weathermen were correct: the skies cleared for midnight and at two in the morning we had stars and half a moon to light us on our way. The weathermen were right about the temperature drop as well. As we walked down the hill there were frost patterns on the roof of cars, the first I have seen this winter. 

 There was also frost on the roof of our shed when I got up this morning. My plan had been to stay in bed until I just woke of my own accord, no alarms set. Had that happened, I might not have seen the frost. Our granddaughter had other plans however. And so my phone went ping at 9.30 with the following message: 

"I'm not sure if you are awake yet, but if you are am I allowed to pop over?" 

Now, I assumed she was at home, a bus ride away and told her: 

"Yes, I am awake NOW. How soon will you get here?" 

The conversation continued: 

"Like, immediately." 

 "Where are you?" 

 "Delph crossroads. (i.e. Two minutes down the road.) I tried to get a bus but they lied." 

"Ok. I'll open the door. See you soon." 

"I'm here!" 

It turned out that she had seen the New Year in locally with her he's-not-my-boyfriend and his family, had stayed up all night watching stuff on Netflix and had planned to catch a bus home. The bus never came! Nor did the next one! (Later in the day other friends complained about the complete lack of bus service.) So she decided to wake her grandmother and wait for her mother to pick her up at some point later in the day. 

These are the kind of things you can do when you are 18. Grandmothers do not necessarily appreciate being woken earlier than planned however. 

Happy New Year!