Archive Article: 2002/01/18
The family are here, everything is running smoothly although it is very cold. Tim is cooking hot, spicy prawns in the wok; there is a blazing fire in the lounge reflected in the dancing tinsel gift tags on the pressies around the tree. Its Christmas Eve.
The meal is very tasty and there is merry banter round the table, then Big Al catches Abis hand and theyre arm wrestling. Abi wins.
All hands to the deck on Christmas Day to get done early, but Al has a problem: a very sore arm and a displaced muscle – Abi didnt know her own strength!
Its a grey day outside but inside everything and everyone is glowing. We decide to have dinner at night for a change, after Tim has milked, so the afternoon around the tree is relaxed and fun with lots of pleasant surprises to unwrap.
After much persuasion Abi reluctantly calls her boyfriend Greg and invites him to come for dinner. Cherrys partner Fred is here, Beths boyfriend Pierre is touring Finland.
Greg is not daunted by Christmas with the Greens and even joins in with a party piece. He reads us Pam Ayress poem Oh, I wish Id looked after me teeth in his lovely French accent. He speaks little English and doesnt know what he is reading – "Sherbet Dabs? Cest quoi?"
Fred, now well used to us, tells a joke and we have several renditions of The Twelve Days of Christmas.
Its snowing and very cold on Boxing Day! Whats that? It is Nic (13) and Beth (21) already sliding down the hill on straw-filled plastic sacks. The pipes are frozen in the calf-house. The AI man arrives but he is rather dubious about getting back out again. Still, half an hour later and there is no sign of him, so it must be OK.
Al has an appointment to see the doctor at 1pm. We set off, he and I, and get just as far as the wooded part at the top of the hill before slipping and sliding to a halt. I slip and slide back down to cancel the appointment and get help. The surgery is very appreciative that I bother to call! Jacques to the rescue ploughing his way through the trees to the top of the hill then very cautiously driving the tractor down to hook on Als car and tow him up!
Whoosh? Whats that? Beth flying down the back of the house – youngstock scatter and leap over fences, dogs go bananas and Tim, coming down the road on the tractor with the feeder wagon, goes into the ditch. Much preferable to sliding off the road and over the edge as the tractor slides on the same patch of road at the top of the hill. Jacques once again to the rescue.
Snow melts. Tim takes his brother to the doctors at 6pm (to translate!). Doctor looks at his rather unattractive muscle and telephones a colleague. "Ah" she says… And it sounds like "Popeyes Ball". I have never seen that one before.
I suggest we have spinach for supper!