Sunday Spent With Family

A wet Sunday morning. The washing is hanging to dry in the living room which normally irritates you, but today you are going to see your Aunt, Uncle, Cousin and Godson so you won't be there to be irritated by it. Your Mum and Dad arrive and transfer the contents of their car boot to yours (baskets of flowers, copies of The Lady magazine, and other assorted bits and bobs) so you can travel down together. The rain hangs and gusts in the air, and the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge comes upon you sooner than you expected. You find your cousin's house surprisingly quickly considering that it is you who are navigating, and go inside to find you have beaten your sister and her husband there by just a few minutes! Hugs from godson and his brother, and fish pie and peas in front of the hugest fireplace you have ever seen. Time flies as cups of tea are sipped and 'do you remembers' are uttered. Down the road to your Aunt's and Uncle's home, to see your Aunt in the doorway. What a happy sight. A tree loaded with catkins in the garden. More tea, always more tea. This time, in a beautiful white and gold bone china service that was bought for £5 at a car boot sale (they call car boot sale visiting 'yachting'!). More talk, smiles, the menfolk go to poke at computers in the study. The women talk, talk, talk some more. Plans are made for a Ruby wedding anniversary in the summer. A bunch of Bridal Crown Narcissus and daffodils scent the air. Time for dinner, but almost no room left for it! Tamarinds handed round, a most curious affair. They look like a giant misshapen peanut, and when you crack open the shell, a long caterpillar shaped thing emerges, which tastes like a cross between a dried fig and a currant, with a similar texture. There are heart shaped seeds. The box had been brought back from their last trip to Barbados. A visit to the bathroom makes you smile as your toes sink ito the deepest carpet, the pink tiles, the pile of fluffy towels and the frilled shower curtain...this is your dream bathroom, you realise! Suddenly it is 8:00 and time to go home again. A stop at the service station on the way, and a quick visit to Marks and Spencer for lunch the following day. Home, the electric blanket on, and to sleep.