26 May 2009

T-shirts gave way to fleeces as the temperature dropped significantly with a cold north wind.

Given Emily's obsession with trains, a trip to nearby Brookside, with its miniature railway, was in order. It was the kind that you sit astride rather than having covered carriages. Emily seemed a bit peturbed and stopped waving her Thomas flag when we set off. She seemed terrified of the dark tunnels but amazingly didn't cry, though she gripped Nick's arm like a vice, and emerged pale and wide-eyed. It was probably for the best that they were running a diesel not a steam engine, as the whistle would have likely caused tears. Well Nick, Kate and I enjoyed the five minute ride anyway!

After lunch I had to take Nick to Macclesfield to get a train to London for his overnight visit. The rest of us then went off to a lake near Congleton to feed the birds. It was a bit of a disaster-laden jaunt. First of all we were stuck in a traffic jam leaving Macclesfield as there was an accident on the road ahead, with multiple emergency vehicles attending. Taking a country road detour we hit another queue as a herd of cows made their very leisurely way into a farm. At the lake we found a host of waterfowl, including at least 20 swans. We gave Emily a piece of bread to throw but she had barely extended her hand when a swan shot out its neck and took it. I don't think it hurt her but the shock of it made her yell.

Walking along the waterside we were accosted by a strange man who addressed us from his car, banging on about the local MP's expenses (the hot topic in the UK right now, and very unfortunate timing given the economic situation, is the exorbitant costs that MPs charge to the taxpayer, and it has escalated to the point where the whole political system is near collapse as voters have lost what little trust they had in their representatives). After that the nutter, a middle-aged man who sported a frizzy mane of grey shoulder length hair, started expounding about his wife taking his son away. At that, Kate and I walked on and left Pam and Graham to extricate themselves as politely as possible, but not until they had been informed that he was an Iranian musician and his ex-wife an Austrian nun. Contrary to Graham's recollection, the land surrounding the lake was off limits so we took a little walk in a field, where Emily was in seventh heaven staggering around in the long grass.