19 August 2010

Emily woke up at 6.50am despite being up until 9pm last night. I was very grumpy with her and she ended up crying; I felt awful and took her downstairs. She played while I lay on the carpet next to her. I wish I could be better at mornings and envy people who can be bright from the moment they wake. After I harassed Nick to get up at 8.30 I went back to bed for an hour and could easily have stayed all morning. I really couldn't figure out why I was so tired though.

The others all went to Teg's Nose country park while I stayed at home to pack. Emily got very upset when she realised I wasn't going and had a massive meltdown; in the end I had to go out to the car to calm her down. Of course, she ended up having a fabulous time and came back with purple smears on her face from bilberry picking.

After lunch the family escorted us to Wilmslow station, from where we took our leave from them and got on the train to Abergavenny. We managed to avoid any tears on parting, but I couldn't help wondering how long it will be before we see them again. Luckily Nick couldn't dwell on things as he was occupied with trying to fit all of our many large bags, the baby carrier and the car seat into the small luggage space provided on the two-carriage train; eventually we had to use one of our three pre-booked seats to put the car seat on and have Emily share a two seat space with us, which is what I had suspected would happen.

As soon as we turned west the weather deteriorated until at our destination it was pouring. The train aircon was set to ice-cold and most passengers were wearing thick coats. Mum & Dad collected us and Emily seemed happy to be back despite the deluge, though I think when she realised that Fern wasn't at the house she was disappointed. Sarah, Tim and Tom arrived around 10pm, the latter very groggy after beginning his night's sleep on the journey form Sussex.