Because I really ought to talk about the hotel too 🙂
The drive from Kessingland to Ipswich was stressful, because vast quantities of rain kept falling suddenly, and the road was full of idiots. I particularly enjoyed the jaguar driver who was sitting in a layby indicating left, who then pulled out in front of me and drove two miles down the road continuing to indicate left despite much flashing of lights at him. (He even flashed his hazards back at me at one point, and when he switched them off, the indicator was still on :roll:)
But we made it to the hotel. We used to stay there several years ago, when we had one child and two salaries, since Small came along we’ve rather downgraded out accommodation expectations, with frequent use of travelodges rather than hotels. But this was worth every penny, from the moment I arrived and elbowed my way past Tim to dive straight in the bath (he did suggest that I let the water out and try again after I’d soaked for a while…), through an evening meal in the restaurant, and two dips in the hotel swimming pool.
At the evening meal we were sitting in the garden bar waiting to go through when I heard someone start to play the baby grand piano. When we stopped there before there was a chap who used to play on a Friday and Saturday night, who would stop whatever he was playing when Big walked in and serenade her with twinkle twinkle or Nellie the elephant. Tim didn’t think it was the same guy, but as soon as I laid eyes on him, I knew it was. So we chatted to him for a while, and he played twinkle twinkle, and anything and everything else that the children could think of 🙂 Particularly enjoyed his rendition of summertime for Tim, though was a little surprised when he played Tears in Heaven just after I’d been talking to Tim about it, but apparently without Tim requesting it. (Have I got a spooky moticon?)
We spent Saturday with Tim’s rellies in Felixstowe which was extremely pleasant. The children had a great day despite the absence of their cousins (who usually wait on them hand and foot) and it was lovely to eat proper food and sit in proper furniture 🙂
Drive home on Sunday was a lot less stressful than either of the other drives, possibly helped by having only one child in each car.
And that was the end of the holiday. When I got home I pretty much headed straight for bed and stayed there for several hours in preparation for work the following day.
Turns out if we had been at home I wouldn’t have been at work, as the M1 being shut pretty much cut us off from the office. The children’s school partially flooded and they called the emergency services – despite being put on a high priority list because of the presence of small children, it was over 12 hours before anyone arrived, that’s how stretched the emergency services were. We assume that they are just about arriving at low priority calls now 🙁 (Not criticising the emergency services at all btw, just giving an illustration of how tough things were.)
And this week it’s back to the usual fray, with interviews all morning Tuesday to replace a team member, and then covering the evening shift yesterday and today. The children had yesterday off school, which was probably just as well, as they didn’t wake up til 8.40am (well over an hour after they would usually rise and shine). Tim’s done a sterling job of working through washing and we’re nearly caught up between the rain and the wind, and our street has dried out, although the sandbags are still around, just in case.
There’s something quite poignant about arriving home to a street full of sandbags. There are no skips outside houses here, but I think a couple of houses did get rather wet. It hasn’t brought out any community spirit though, or none that’s lasted this long.
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