Easter weekend round up

It's the dog end of the Easter weekend and been fun, and pretty lively with our three kids and two partners here. It's been lovely to have all the family back home for those few days but it has made me realise how quickly I've got used to a quieter, slower-paced way of life as I am now quite exhausted. We've had lots of food, alcohol and even some warm sunshine on Friday, which seduced us to a nearby country park we've never visited before after a stroll into town for breakfast, hot cross buns and some Easter hymns from the Salvation Army.

On Sunday, my sister and my two nieces joined us and we all ate more than was good for us and reminded me that there is always a price to pay for over-indulgence.

Last night's visit by Storm Katie caused us some problems this morning, on top of the planned rail engineering works across the networks in our area. Our youngest has to be back at Uni for Tuesday to complete a placement he's been doing in a local primary school and because of the bus replacement services in place for today we'd arranged to drive him 15 miles or so to take an alternative line into London Victoria for access to Victoria Coach Station. On arrival at the station we were told there were no trains running because of a fallen tree blockage, further up the line, so we ended up driving him to Victoria where he was in good time to catch his bus, and hopefully a good run up north. Fortunately the roads to London were clear and it didn't take too long to drive there and back.

Our daughter and her boyfriend left at lunchtime so there's just one son with his girlfriend still here, and leftovers from yesterday for dinner - bliss, no proper cooking to do today.

Thoughts now turn to packing and last minute prep for our trip, now only 3 days away!