Worcestershire 1 - the end of the line and the boys are back in town

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Well we reached the end of the line today. The terminus of the Severn Valley Railway at Kidderminster. Our plan to meet up with Jo, Ian and Sions best friend Woolly Mammoth. Having not seen Woolly since the summer Sion had had to make do and mend by emailing his friend on a regular basis as Woolly now lived in Turkey, However, he was coming home for Christmas and this gave Sion the opportunity to dress up in his new hat, his scarf and his jingle bells pinched off the Christmas tree and head for Kiddy station to meet his friend and catch up on world travels.

The trip didnt take that long. Two hours and a drive for the second time this week down the M6 Toll road. AT a cost of £4.80 each way it is not the cheapest bit of motorway but compared to French toll charges fairly reasonable and to be fair it does make the journey a bit more pleasant. The weather held out too with the sun shining and it felt more like Spring than a few days before Christmas. The storm approaching had not hit these shores yet but it was still on its way.

Arriving in Kidderminster the car park was heaving with taids and nains and mums and dads taking their offspring on the Santa Expresses. Cost for parking £3 all of which goes to help maintain the railway line and the rolling stock. People were everywhere and the station concourse was decorated with christmas trees, decorations and lights. Festive music "i wish it could be Christmas every day" coming out of loudspeakers and stalls set up selling Christmas goodies. What a hustle.

The cafe/dining room was full as customers whiled away the time with a cup of coffee or tea or ate a bacon butty or a full English whilst they waited for the station announcers to tell them their train had arrived. Jo and Ian and Woolly had arrived before us and found a table. The boys sat together discussing the journey home from Turkey in Ollie, what was going to happen to Ollie now he was "redundant" and not going back to Turkey and what was life like living in Turkey in all that sun? It was all new to Sion as he had done Europe but not ventured so far as Turkey however listening to life in the sun it was soon clear his ears had picked up and he was planning a trip further afield for us and Suzy. We had to say that it might have to wait until 2015 as May holiday to Southern Spain was planned, tickets for the Eurotunnel purchased - cost £12 - the rest paid for with Tesco Clubcard vouchers and our September holiday to Italy was in the planning stage. But it is hard putting a sheep like Sion off when he sets his heart on standing in Asia. And those eyes how can you resist??? Whilst they talked we drank coffee out of paper cups and ate hot bacon and bacon and black pudding sandwiches and found out about the change of lifestyle for Ian and Jo.

We visited the small museum and wearing their Christmas red and white hats the boys tried out the old fashioned telephones bringing back memories of party lines and push button B phones. Can you hear me Woolly? Nostalgia is a wonderful thing. Sometimes its a smell, sometimes a sound but whatever sets you off sends you back to the past with a smile of your face. It is a really packed small museum with examples of train signage, tickets and memorabilia from the steam age and all free. Outside the trains came in and puffed out full to the gunwhales for happy noisy children and probably a Father Christmas, mince pies and mulled wine. We couldnt get close to the trains - health and safety gone mad so the boys had to make do with playing on the suitcases, pondering on joining the navy to see the world and trying to buy a ticket from the nice man in the ticket office. He very kindly agreed to indulge the boys by having his photo taken with them.

Sadly though it was time for them to say their goodbyes as Jo and Ian had to head over to Aberystwyth and for us to head home. For them the holiday period spent in Wales and Devon before heading back to Turkey and making plans for trips for 2014 and for us our first Christmas back in Derbyshire. The rain came in as we came home, the sky darkened and it was good to get in to our house which is beginning to slowly look like home. Yes we are still in boxes but many are emptied, clothes into warddrobes, the washing machine works and the TV. It did need an engineer but it feels more like home with all the little things in place. We picked up the car and its now parked on the drive . Mine though is the proud owner of a few scratches on the back bumper as I argued with a low wall and the wall came off on top. And Suzy is home. She fitted in between the conifer trees and onto the area we had dug out for her. Downside the hedge needs more of haircut as it sticks out a touch in all the wrong places. Because of this she no longer has a drain pipe for the grey water. It sticks out and a branch caught it. Being plastic it pulled it out of its fitting and ripped out the screws holding it to her bodywork. Not major just needs a bit of TLC. Something to do in the New Year and a phone call needed to Lowdhams to find out if they have the strip to repair the kitchen unit. Oh yes it was only ordered in June and they sent the wrong piece. Re-ordered in August and we are still waiting. ACSI book not arrived. Although they have the new address we guess it has gone to the old one and the new owners of the house look as if they have binned it or kept it for themselves.

Looking back on 2013. Who would have thought we would have moved house? Looking forward to 2014 Sions wants to see Woolly again, we will get to see Granada and some of the southern Spanish cities, we hope to see northern Italy, Milan for a little longer than our last visit and Bergamo and hopefully a few weekend trips in between . And we were not at Bewdley today but Kiddy does not exist on the options for the blog .



Happy Christmas Bloggers , Happy Christmas Jo, Ian and best friend Woolly

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Comments

[Home and Away]

That's wonderful that you got together...
Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

[JenGog]

happy christmas to a friend across the Pond
Hello Bob Merry Christmas to you to and a happy new year. I trust that 2014 will be a good travelling year