Today we’ve done our annual pilgrimage to Southport to see another bit of the family. For years and years we’ve travelled over either just before or just after Christmas and had lunch out together. Last year we didn’t manage it because although Southport was still reasonably free and easy Greater Manchester was in a lockdown of its own.
We were a bit depleted this year. The Southern bit of the family had already gone back South. Two of my granddaughters were both working and my oldest grandson was just too busy with his XBox. My sisters grandson was similarly busy and besides had not even emerged from his den. But the rest of us had a good lunch together and we had the addition of my niece who has been working in Dubai and who has not been around for family Christmas get togethers for years. The small people behaved nicely. None of the grown ups got drunk. And nobody had a fight! A successful family reunion!
The weather let us down rather. It was dull and grey and drizzly, both massive lorries throwing up spray on the motorway, until we reached Halsall where the sun decided to come out, albeit only briefly.
That’s about all to report for today, apart from a couple of linguistic oddities. I replenished our supplies of coffee the other day and found myself wondering why it is that we always “replenish“ but never “plenish”. Similarly, we often “refurbish” places, sometimes at great expense and occasionally expecting other people to foot the bill. However, I have not yet heard of anyone “furbishing” a place. Presumably these existed in old English at some time in the past. I should like to start a campaign to reinstate “plenish” and “furbish” as words in everyday use.
That’s all.
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment