CHRISTMAS DAY!

Spent a lovely day with my parents and both my sisters, Lucy and Vivien at home in Holme. Fabulous roast dinner, which nearly went badly wrong, when mother and I discovered the gas oven had turned itself off, mid way through cooking the roast!!! Far too much was eaten as usual. The whole family – well all four of us, had decided for the first time not to bother doing presents, which seemed like a good idea at the time, but it did feel a little disappointing, not having a single present to open today! Shouldn't grumble at all though, when you think about everything going on in the world! Father just about coped with four women in the house, but had to have a few naps to cope with it all!

I managed to escape for a short walk late afternoon and walked round the entire village and reminisced about past events – the church where I married in June 1992, where my dear father proudly walked me down the aisle, the adjacent village school, which I have so many fond memories of, Baker's Field where school sports day was held and summer fetes, the village hall where the school held gymnastics. My father also hired this village hall to stage nature exhibitions for the NOA, many moons ago, which I also used to help with the running of and taking the entrance fee from visitors etc – very fond memories of this, ahhhhh.... the good old days! There used to be three village shops in Holme, hard to believe now! Peter Tipple's shop, known as 'Tipples' was on the main road opposite the council houses, 'Arnold's' Shop was opposite the White Horse Pub and the third shop was just west of the bottom of Peddar's Way, but I can't remember the name of that one. As I walked back to the house Tawny Owls were calling in the village and Pink-footed Geese were flying overhead as the sun set.

Didn't get home until 10.30pm and now very, very tired. I won't be setting the alarm in the morning!