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14.3.13

I'M BACK!

Back home in time for a cup of tea followed by a drink at Bar Leones and supper at Pepe's.
Kika was so delighted to see me that she turned a dozen somersaults, which is quite an achievement for an old cat - she must be covered in bruises under all that fur - and she had a paw on my lap even before I had lifted my legs onto the sofa.

I also discovered I acquired two more followers while I was away, and I would like to extend a warm welcome to them.

The two weeks I spent visiting family and friends in Sussex were lovely. For one thing, it was the first time in thirteen years that I have celebrated Mothers' Day with my mother and my UK children and their families. They looked after me beautifully and I stocked up on grandson cuddles, though you can never have enough of those, can you?

The weather was kind to me too. I was only rained on once, and the snow that fell on Monday lasted just long enough for me to enjoy the novelty. This was the blizzard we drove through on Racecourse Hill outside Brighton, but we were home in time for tea.

My daughter wasn't so lucky. She left work in Crawley at 5pm and was stuck on the A23 for eight hours. We tried to find news and updates on the radio without success. My son phoned the police to ask what was being done to help all the stranded drivers, but he got no satisfactory answers, He would have rushed off to his sister's rescue if we hadn't persuaded him that if she couldn't get out, he wouldn't be able to reach her!
She survived, tired but unscathed, but there must have been mothers with young children in that cold traffic jam, people in need of medication, and drivers without sufficient fuel to keep their engines running to stay warm. We were not impressed with the failure of the Sussex Police to react more quickly to the emergency.

On Tuesday, though, school was closed. We built two snowmen - Clean Bob and Dirty Bob - then walked over the fields to make snow angels, and by teatime the sun had started to thaw the snow.


Those two weeks gave my eyes a rest from the screen and my grey cells a chance to ponder the best way to tackle the task ahead - another re-write. I was telling my son about it and he asked, "What would you put on the back cover?" Just thinking how to answer that question has helped me to focus on my story and to identify my main theme. Thanks for the inspiration, John - next time you come to Tenerife I'll buy you a pint of Dorada!

6 comments:

  1. Welcome back. It sounds like you had a refreshing trip. I agree with those grandkid hugs. You just can't get enough! Looking forward to your A-Z posts:)

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  2. Sounds like you had a fabulous time - nothing beats Britain...!

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  3. Glad you had a good time over here.

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  4. So glad you had a good time with your Mum. Good to see some family too. What a crazy adorable cat.

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  5. Sounds like a great trip, and I'm a bit jealous you saw snow. The most I've seen is a few random flakes!

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  6. Aww, sweet of your son. I think a lot of the probably was the horrendous wind that was causing the drifts! Even though it had been gritted, it was just getting covered up or blown away. Bit of a nightmare all round. Glad she was ok x

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