Yesterday I had a plan:- get up at a reasonable hour; shower; breakfast; walk to Uppermill; buy stuff from the deli; catch the next bus to Tesco in Greenfield; meet Granddaughter Number Two there; shop for Christmas dinner ingredients; be joined by daughter and small people (who had been to a children’s music session - Boomting - party); go to Granddaughter Number Two’s favourite cafe for coffee and, in her case, chocolate Guinness cake; have a lift home with my shopping; spend the afternoon sorting out the shopping, wrapping presents, doing odds and ends in preparation for Christmas Day; relax.
It was a good plan. It worked well as far as going to the cafe. My timing was perfect for leaving the deli and hopping on a bus to Greenfield. I could have walked if I had missed the bus, but it was there, waiting for me while the driver had a cigarette. The supermarket was not too crowded, I found everything I needed and we did not have to queue for more than a few minutes at the checkout. As we left it was clear that the carpark was crowded and the store was filling up but, hey! what did we care. We had shopped at the right time.
My daughter messaged to say she was on her way and why did Granddaughter Number Two walk across to the cafe and bag us a table. So far so good. The cafe had one slice of chocolate Guinness cake left, a waitress promised to reserve it for Granddaughter Number Two. However, by the time we placed our order that slice had gone. We shall have to return another day, obviously. Fortunately, she had already bought some strange red marble cake in the supermarket.,
As we finished off at the cafe, my daughter asked if Granddaughter Number Two would entertain her small sister at their house and if the small boy could come to my house while she and her partner did some last minute shopping - she has a tradition of new Christmas pyjamas for all her children, including the grown-up or almost grown-up one and she needed to find some for the “big kids”, among other odds and ends. Granddaughter Number Two amended this to all three grandchildren coming to my house. Fine! No problem!
We had more coffee at my house and the small people “helped” me make jelly before Mummy set off to do her shopping. Then Granddaughter Number Two installed herself in the lounge while the small people and I did clever craft stuff downstairs. This was interrupted every five minutes or so with requests to check if the jelly was set yet. Very slowly, I put the shopping away, interspersed with helping create wonderful things with paper straws and cardboard and, of course, regular checks on the jelly in the fridge. This morning I had to try to remember where everything was put!
At some point in the late afternoon we discovered that one lot of jelly was just about set. It was intended for tomorrow but it was attacked yesterday. The small boy was very sticky by the time Mummy returned!
Eventually they were persuaded to have something other than jelly to eat and were manhandled into pyjamas before heading for home.
Phil and I finally ate in the middle evening - a glass of wine was definitely called for. And suddenly most of the evening was gone and we felt it was time to sit down and watch another instalment of the excellent Italian detective series we have been following - a nice mix of serious investigation, bit of irony, some sadness, some gentle humour and the chance to hone our listening skills in Italian.
So that was yesterday. Today I have run round the village, emptied the washing basket, made and apple pie and a cheesecake. Time to fetch the washing and probably peel some sprouts. Oh! and finish wrapping those presents. It is Christmas Eve, after all.
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone.
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