Christmas and Willies in Scotland

We are now home after an extremely busy Christmas period where we drove a total of 900 miles. The weather forecast on Christmas Eve said not to travel unless absolutely necessary; there were multiple accidents in Lincolnshire (where we had to drive through) and snow was forecast for Yorkshire (ditto). It was very stressful making the decision to carry on with our plans, but I'm glad we did because the roads were fine (the BBC travel advice must've scared others off) and it was so nice to see our family and friends. The worst part of the travel was driving from home to the cattery, half an hour's drive, to drop off Meg. The country roads and our driveway were icy. 

These photos were taken at the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh when we stayed with our friends Pete and Lyns and their kids. JJ always attaches himself to me from the moment I turn up to the moment we leave and he is the sweetest little person. One of the best conversations I had on the trip was when JJ and I were sitting in one of the rooms at the gallery while our friends milled around looking at the art. Instigated by JJ we discussed which of our friends had willies, and which didn't. These things are important when you're three years old. It was established that Haggis, Pete, Ian, Kevin, Paul, JJ and Nate all had willies. Paula, Lynsey, Connie, Isobel and Sam were declared willy-free.

So, now we are home. I drove from Edinburgh to Wetherby (the halfway point where we change drivers, get Costa coffee and food from M&S) and as soon as I stopped driving my body started shaking with flu. This used to happen to me when I toured with Hagos's band. No matter how long the tour: two weeks or two months - as soon as I got home I got a cold. My body had managed to hold out for as long as it needed to, and then it collapsed.

I spent most of yesterday in bed and am feeling better all the time. I had just completely exhausted myself before we even left, and with all the driving, socialising, and sleeping in strange beds on top of it all my body had just had enough.

So, now we're glad to be home and settled and calm and I'm looking forward to getting back to my own work, though I still wish we lived near our family and friends and could see them more easily and frequently.