The easter weekend

Journal

The easter weekend

My mum, dad and brother Andrew came down to visit us on Thursday, staying in a travel lodge nearby in what turned out to be quite a convenient arrangement.

On Thursday I had gone out for a while after work for a friend’s birthday, thinking I’d have time for a couple of shandies before the folks arrived. When I got the call that they were here I took on the responsibility of bringing home an indian meal for everyone. Maybe I just lack imagination, but it seems like every time my mum comes down I do this. Tasty, though. ;o)

On Friday Fliss, Elisha and my mum and dad went down to the retail park for some odds and ends, leaving Andrew and I to play TimeSplitters, as is tradition. We had a good go at the co-operative story mode before everyone arrived back and I had to get out and cut the grass, as promised before they left.

Fliss had bought some plant food for my chilli plant William at the retail park, as he’s a bit under the weather after she put him outdoors for a night in February. I’m not convinced he’ll recover fully, but my mum seemed to think he’d perked up a little after the plantfood and some time out in the sunshine while I cut the grass.

Later in the evening we went to the travel lodge my family were staying at for a meal. The hotel was reasonably smart and the food was alright, but as the night wore on Elisha was being a bit fractious and I was knackered too, so it was good to get home at the end of the day.

We had planned to go to Southport on Saturday, but my mum decided that the weather wasn’t good enough to make the effort when she got up, so we settled for the short drive to Sefton Park instead. Once there the weather picked up and it made for a really nice afternoon. I threw the american football about with, or rather at Andrew, and the grass was dry enough that we could run about on it without slipping or getting wet and muddy. Not bad, considering the cold snap we’ve had recently.

We took Elisha down to the lake to feed the ducks, too, and she looked quite alarmed by the way they crowded round once they knew we had some food. It didn’t upset her, though, she seemed quite intrigued by the whole experience – it’ll be cool when she’s co-ordinated enough to throw some bread herself.

After we were done at the park, Andrew and I bolted back to the house to play more TimeSplitters while the rest of the gang went to get supplies for dinner. We had a quiet evening, really, watching some TV and just chatting. It was a great day, I think – it’s good to get outdoors now that the weather is improving.

On Sunday morning the family came down to our place in a bit of a pointless exersize, really, because we decided to go back to their hotel for lunch when we couldn’t think of anywhere suitable nearby. Once there, Andrew and I had a grand roast dinner – it was served in a giant Yorkshire pudding and turned out to be as tasty as it looked.

Since the family had to get on the road back to Scotland, we headed outside swiftly after the meal was done to say goodbye in the car park. It was quite sad to be seeing them off, as Fliss and Elisha were traveling back to Scotland with them so that they can visit a few people. That left me to make the short trip back home without them. This is the first time I’ve spent any extended time away from them since Elisha was born, so the house seemed really empty when I got back.

Rob