Births, marriages and deaths

We awoke, at our usual salubrious stopover on the way north (Charnock Richard services) to a power cut. Rather than bothering to try showering by head torch, (!) we set off, making sure to wave to Gladders as we passed Arnside. It was just light as we passed the Howgills, and we were glad of the light on the road in from Sebergham, as we could more easily look out for debris from the night's gale.

I got stuck in to looking through some family docs, including a fantastic letter from a vicar in response to an enquiry from an elderly man, as follows: "You were 3 years out in your reckoning. You were born on 8 February 1879....." This amused us, although the next sentence is sad: "Your mother died about a fortnight later..."

We've had one power cut today, the generator was fired up to keep the lights and heating on, but luckily the problem was fixed after about 3 hours. Fingers crossed the power stays on tomorrow at least until after Christmas dinner is cooked.

Happy Christmas everybody.