12 August 2010

Hurray! Finally, Nick is on his way to Blighty, after more than 4 weeks of separation. We won't see him until Saturday though, as he has a couple of days down south first to see Matt, Ali and Alistair.


It was a changeable day right from the start. After coffee we all drove to Little Morton Hall, over on the other side of Congleton. This is a gorgeous little black and white stately home dating back to the 15th century, set in attractive Cheshire countryside and surrounded by a full moat. This was being replenished by a morning of showers, and it began raining as we arrived.

Emily was somewhat tetchy for a while, which I put down to the lack of a poo, and I had to carry her a fair bit at first. We left Mum, Pam and Graham to listen in on the guided tour, while Kate and I took Emily up to the Long Gallery, with its very higgledy-piggledy floor. Emily loosened up then and began running back and forth along the length of the narrow room.

We poked around in the other rooms briefly then took her into the shop, coming out a fair few quid lighter.


In the orchard, which charmingly had about 30 ducks grazing on the grass, a small marquee had been set up for childrens' activities. Emily enjoyed making a bumble bee on a stick. She loves being allowed to use felt-tip pens, which I don't allow in the apartment, and sticky tape is always popular.

We wandered briefly in the knot garden and around by the moat, then went into the restaurant. I ordered a ploughman's, and though it was pricey I didn't expect the two massive wedges of local cheeses, each of which was at least six ounces. I left more than half and took it home in a doggy bag. By then it was time for Mum to head back to Pandy, so we left the Hall, just as the sun made an appearance.


Driving back to Macclesfield, the heavens darkened and a sudden downpour hit us. This heralded a full afternoon of torrential rain and thunder storms. I spent quite a while pottering in Sainsbury's while Emily slept out in the car, then we went home. She seemed keen to hear the thunder and had plenty of opportunity as we peered out at the weather from the bedroom, though I think she was a little scared too. We saw several flashes, but she kept missing the forks that flickered periodically.


After Emily ate a huge tea, Graham and I set out for a run. We knew there would be a lot of puddles and mud after so much rain had fallen but at least it stayed dry for us, and in fact the skies cleared and we had a lovely, though cool evening with nice cloud formations in the distance. We ran to the old railway track up Brookledge Hill, and I found it very tough to even jog gently up that incline, but after a few minutes on the level trail I settled into a pace and managed to stay up with Graham. We dropped down off the railway on a quiet country road that afforded great views west and had some pretty red brick cottages, then turned back for the final mile on the main road. We were gone 50 minutes and at a pace out of my comfort zone, so we must have easily done 5 miles. Emily was in the bath and extremely genki. It was hard to settle her in bed and once more she requested me to stay and lie down by her for a short sleep. Sadly, the sky was not clear enough to go out and view the peak of the Perseids shower, but I was very weary anyway so perhaps it was for the best.