Cynergist

Christmas

I would just like to start by thanking everyone for the Christmas cards and presents.

I'm just back from my trip to Higham Ferrers, where I spent Christmas with my father.

I would have liked to travel down by train, but unfortunately it looked like there were going to be lots of disruptions over the Christmas period while they worked on the rails, so I hired a car from Enterprise instead. This did give me the advantage of having a little freedom in being able to go around on my own while back in Northamptonshire, rather than having to ask my father to take me everywhere I wanted to go.

Open Garden

I visited my parents a couple of weekends ago as they had an open garden to raise money for the RNIB.


My father has always been (justifiably) very proud of his garden, so this was an opportunity for him to share it with other members of the community.

Unfortunately the weather on Saturday was rather poor, but there must have been at least 50 brave visitors that came for a viewing while the sky was full of thunder, lightning and rain.

Things did brighten up on the Sunday, and the number of visitors must have reached the hundreds. It was good to chat with them about the stories behind some of the objects and plants, as well as hear my fathers stories about how much the plot of land had changed since he bought the house.

Easter Holidays

I'm not yet back to posting every weekend, but I am getting there!

Since my last post, Easter has been and gone. As has usually been the case since my move to Stockport, this sees my sister (Julie) and her two boys (Dominic and Alex) coming to visit. In the past I've kept them occupied by taking them to various attractions around Greater Manchester, but as I sold my car last year (and Julie doesn't like to drive on the motorway) we thought this may be a problem.

In the end it was agreed that after finishing work on Thursday, I would catch the train to Northampton and drive them back to Stockport. Then I would take the day off on the following Tuesday. Drive them home and then hop on another train heading to Stockport.

Unfortunately the train journey down to Northampton had problems. To begin with there were point failures and our train was moved onto a different line. Then there was something on the overhead wires, so our train was diverted again. Finally, as the train was no longer going anywhere near where I was trying to reach, I (along with about 20 other passengers) were dumped at a small platform in the middle of a field. Needless to say, I was quite a few hours late arriving in Northampton. But at least this meant that the motorways were fairly clear for the drive and we arrived back in Stockport before midnight.

Shopping In Manchester

Julie (my sister) joined me last Friday for a weekend. We ended up spending most of the time shopping.



In the video clip we are inside Manchester's Arndale shopping centre, looking out to the big wheel.

Family Visit

I popped down to see my family at the weekend.

We drove over to Northampton and met up with both my sister Julie and her two children; Dominic and Alex. Dominic had just come back from a week away with his school, on a trip to an adventure centre.