Back in the saddle

Another of those presents money can't buy - Angie feeling strong enough to get on Rosie and go out for a ride. Not a speed canter, simply a pleasant relaxed ride on a wonderful sunny day and as one can see by the lack of any headgear, a warm one too.

Both the dogs were over the moon too and clearly to be seen on Lunas jumping about even though this was taken when they had been out for well over 30 minutes. I had gone out to pick up Flash who despite the obvious difficulty of keeping up, was grinning from ear to ear and more than happy to be lifted in to the car.

In retrospect I probably shouldn't have been driving, having knocked back 3 bottles of beer and finally well after midnight and feeling thirsty, a final bottle of a weird "girlies" bottled stuff called "Goass" in Bavaria or "Goiss" here in Swabia (even if we are also part of Bavaria!) 50/50 dark beer and coke with a shot of cherry brandy. Now I normally get drunk on half a pint of shandy and I suspect this is the most I have drunk since August 2014 but somehow I didn't feel drunk at all.Perhaps it was the attack of nostalgia that plagues me on Christmas Eve every year - a lovely telephone chat with my 14 year older Uncle Jochen who lives near Heidelberg and who in his student years kept having this snotty nosed child thrown at him to look after during holidays. Jochen and his brother Georg, sadly died a few years ago, both knew how to empty a liquid container and then start reflecting over life.

Loads and loads of memories, for every sad one, two happy ones, a tear here and another mouthful of beer to replenish the liquid loss. . The dreams of a huge family Christmas are unrealistic and would almost certainly end up in massive fights. Naturally it's wonderful if everyone lives within falling over distance of one another and can spend the day together knowing their is an escape route.

Here we didn't otherwise do anything special. Could have gone down to the alps where the summer toboggan runs have opened this year for Christmas. No shops at all open in Bavaria (and most of Germany) until Monday. Angie set about making a cake for our family do tomorrow when father, step brother and wife and baby comme for the day. She's made the cream filling using the "left overs" from a mixture she made for some rum mini cake things she made for her birthday - she had got the recipe somehow mixed up - the quantity of strong 40% proof rum was mistakenly taken by 80% proof. At least the fridge got disinfected. I tried a half teaspoon of it after a week - it blew my head off.

A highlight was opening our christmas parcel from daughter Kate with its wonderful cards and contents - dried biscuits for me, chocolates for Angie: perfect. And then the morning and evening telephone calls with the grandchildren in Ireland and catching up on matters Lego, space men, hair bands, more Lego and sadly the dreadful weather passing over and no doubt on it's way to make the residents of the Lakes and Western Scotland miserable. Our thoughts with you all, made more poignant by my christmas envelope to our postman which I wrote in English and addressed to "Postman Pat". He was in Scotland for two weeks in 2014 and was totally blown away by it's beauty and I have been trying to persuade him to try the Lakes, the home of Jess and Pat.

I didn't tell him that the Royal Mail dropped Postman Pat as their ambassador - son J in Sussex who like his sister was bought up on Postman Pat was thus not surprised when his christmas package sent by Royal Mail didn't get here in time - "wouldn't have happened if Pat was still in charge" he muttered down the phone......

The extra photo is of a few things during the day: had just stuffed the geese with apples and maize when they took exception to cat Cindy, evening sunset walk at the lakes with the dogs and then a spectacular full moon rising directly along our drive, at first red like the sunset, then mysterious blue.........