This was the weekend that was ..or wasn't

The weekend before Christmas , just as it started snowing in earnest , as I composed a mental list in the early hours , D became ill and we were unable to take up residence in a holiday retreat in Ambleside in the Lake District as we spent the day in the Emergency Department at the hospital instead , with me still composing mental lists , it being hard to switch off what you're doing , whilst eating surreptitious kitkats as advised by the porter whilst D was having CT scan after scan , and D was doing , well what he was doing .

So this weekend , dates all changed , we packed ourselves and two teens plus big not so skinny greyhound into the teeny silly little green ( "green" though really black ) car plus four small bags ( one each ) plus boots plus coats plus a miniscule bit of food and hardly daring to breathe ,off we sailed into the dusk of last Friday afternoon . Cats fed and watered and pigsters all done and dusted and munching on hay and squeaking to the neighbour who was popping in to tide them over till the arrival of sister at 7 30 am Saturday ( weekend break at the seaside for her ) .

We arrived at seven , guided up a steep hill by the satnav and wondering if the car and its clutch would manage its load up a 1 in 4 gradient with extremely sharp hairpin bends .... but all was well . Spectacles needed to manipulate and mange the key code box and pick our way across the Kirkstone slate slab steps in the dark though our hostess had put on as many lights as possible and our house was well lit and looked like a fairy tale house
twinkling over three storeys and set in stunning grounds above the mist hanging above Ambleside town. We ran around , chased by an excited greyhound eager to practise her cornering skills on the stairs , shouting to each other about the different rooms and places to explore . After dumping
bags and placing a fish and chip order D and I charged off down to the village with Alice to collect food and provisions . Low Carb? Who me? I ordered a chicken and mushroom pie and chips and back up the hill we raced . Nat BBPinned me ( this is so technical for me , I now have a Blackberry ,) saying "Are you far off? I have eaten Paige ...."

Never have carbs eaten round a table with mushy peas on a Friday night tasted quite so good . There is in fact nothing quite so good as sitting round a holiday table at the start of a holiday weekend .. when you have scoped out the beds and the duvets are of excellent quality and there is space galore and a spa day beckons and you are in your favourite place in all the world .

Saturday was Spa Day for me N and P down at Oxleys , part of what used to be and might still be the Satutation Inn , but we were far too excited to notice .

The highlight - skipping across the freezing slates to the Canadian hot tub , then boiling away to our heart's content with not a care in the world , then racing back into a menthol shower. The most fun .. eating a healthy lunch and knowing we had breakfasted on bacon and eggs ...

The treatments were excellent , back massage and facials our choices though P had a hand massage .

I dozed off in the relaxation area pondering the massage therapist's words that I should consider booking a massage at home in a local salon given the knotty state of my back and neck . ( Indeed , I have no objection , though it is fifteen years since I did such a thing . Fifteen years the age of my child . Thus was it ever ) Day Spas Lake District, Day Spa Cumbria, Health Spas Lake District, Spa Day Pa
The weather was stunning . D sunned himself on the patio with dog after their walks.. 2 in all . They ate steak pies and rested lengthily, at least I imagine dog did . D does not rest much . Later we ordered from Zefferellis and then drank Pinot Grigio , and watched a French film while the dog slept for England exhausted in front of the fire . The house was colder than ours so dog had to be covered by a towel as her ears were chilling in a slight draught . Couldn't have that .

Today we "did" Kirkstone Gallery and I contemplated living in Ambleside for ever . It would be good to live above the mist though , as we were , just a short walk down the hill to civilisation and
coffee and scones .

Again , again , as the Teletubbies used to say . Greycotes, Ambleside - a stunning holiday cottage in the heart of the English