Family Reunited

It’s a week since we arrived back in the UK and now just 3 weeks until the start of our adventures.  From day to day, certainly during the week, although relaxing, life has been fairly uninspiring. Fortunately, as we’re only back in the UK for a short time, we've made arrangements to catch up with various family members each weekend, so we’ll get a change of scenery Friday to Sunday.  The first catch up weekend was with my side of the family.

On Thursday, my sister came to stay.  Having not seen her for a year, it was lovely to catch up with her.  The dynamics in the van were a bit odd as we’re not used to having company for more than an hour or two, but we survived three nights without falling out or killing each other, which was a relief!

After too many years and an hour’s drive, we were re-united with my dad and step mum (I hope you don’t mind that reference – ‘his wife’ sounds so impersonal and clinical!) on Saturday.  As they have a caravan and were already away for a short break, we met them at their campsite near Northwich.  It’s a lovely part of the country and the campsite was probably the best one we’ve ever stayed at, making ours look not quite so inviting on our return!  I was especially impressed by the 4 individual bathrooms, each comprising a shower, sink and toilet; immaculately clean and enabling you to shower, dry off and get dressed in a space that’s actually big enough to move in (a luxury you don’t have in Dora!).

We had a relaxed afternoon, catching up over a brew, followed by a little walk in a nearby wooded area, 5 adults and 3 dogs in tow.  Powell was doing wonderfully until he decided to follow his nose a little too far, and then proceeded to disappear into the undergrowth and for the first time ever, he didn’t come back when called.  Despite whistles and shouts to get him back, we could hear him jangling but couldn’t see him.  What felt like an hour (but was probably only 10 minutes at the most!), we managed, by calling and whistling, to lead him back to us via a more accessible part of the woods; I have never seen the boy so happy to see his people.  The problem with Powell is he likes to follow his nose, but if he gets too carried away, he can forget himself and gets lost in the undergrowth.  Once he’s there, he’s happy enough to sniff away but then when we try and call him back, he won’t fight his way through it and will try to find a way round to get back to us.  Unfortunately though, if your calling him from the overgrown direction, it won’t occur to him to go around it, so he’ll just sit there and get anxious until he hears your voice coming from another safer direction!  He hasn’t a lot of common sense, bless him.  He is getting better though.

Anyway, mini Powell adventure over, we headed back to the campsite for another brew and to introduce the folks to Dora.  Brews finished and guided tour complete (it never takes long and yu don't even need to stand up for it!); we headed off for some much needed food at the local pub restaurant, The Plough.  In addition to the campsite, another recommendation goes to the Plough for their simple, but very tasty fayre, including the best sticky toffee pudding in the world...ever!  The night flew and after more chats and brews at dad and N's, it was soon time for bed.

The following morning, after a slightly teary farewell (I can’t help myself!) and promises to not leave it so long next time, we were on the road back to Staffordshire.

It was really, really great to catch up after so many years.  Sometimes life just passes you by and before you know it, nearly 10 years has passed and you don’t know where the time went.  We all have our own lives to lead and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, but I definitely won’t be leaving it another 10 years before seeing them again; life is just too short to leave it that long.  And it’s never too late to make up for lost time.  I won’t go into details about my family, it’s no one else’s concern, but those who know me, will know how important this weekend was.

So it’s now Monday and we’re back ‘home’.  Pete’s into his second week of plastering and loving it.  Meanwhile, I’m trying to stretch out our ‘to do’ list to make it last as long as possible as there’s only so much housework one can do in a 7x2m box.  It's safe to say I'm definitely getting itchy feet.  Roll on the weekend and our trip to see Pete’s dad!