Sometime on Thursday afternoon, the FH trod on a large stone in the gravel driveway and hurt the underside of his foot. By Friday morning, his foot had swollen and was causing him a lot of pain, so at 6.30am I was fetching paracetamol, a cup of tea, and crutches so that he could hobble to the bathroom. He stayed in bed, resting it, until the late afternoon.
During the day on Friday, the YFG and I went to the little coffee morning at the chapel. It was quiet, as it was not intended as a big fundraising event. We wanted to provide somewhere that the older people could come and enjoy a drink ad a piece of cake for a small donation, and that is what we did. We'll probably continue it on a monthly basis after Christmas. It was also useful for eating up the leftover cake from the Cook-off the night before, and between the raffle and the refreshments, it raised £30 for the chapel, which was a bonus.
After coming home, I had some emails to send, paperwork to finish and hoovering to do, and then we had to spend a very focused hour finishing up UJ's room, but hurray, it was done!
At 2.30pm I left to go out - I had to go to the school where I have been running an after-school gym club. I received a cheque from them but my name was not spelled correctly so I had to nip in there to exchange it for one I could actually pay into my account. Then I went to gym for the evening. The girls didn't come as they still had packing to do and pieces of homework to finish before going on holiday.
There was an 8 year old in the second class who was particularly on form, RB, and she mastered a handstand forward roll with straight arms, and a backwards roll to handstand, neither of which she had been able to do before, but they both just clicked for her - we were both so chuffed!
After gym, I had a quick dash around Tesco for some food for the journey and to leave here for UJ - he does enjoy some bacon for breakfast and I had run out.
Eventually, I went to bed. It was late. On Saturday, the foot problem was worse, and the hobbling around was getting more difficult. The FH thought I would have to borrow a wheelchair from some neighbours, but I said I couldn't possibly cope with him, a wheelchair, the girls and four suitcases -that was just going to be the final straw!
We arrived at the first station well in advance of our departure, and the lovely lady in the ticket office was able to phone through to Peterborough, where we were told the FH only had to manage about 10 yards and no steps between trains. She also got through to Aberdeen, where they laid on a chap with a wheelchair, which helped enormously.
The first train was a nightmare - we only just managed to get on as it was jam packed and we all stood in the doorway with our stuff for the short ride. We perched the FH on the sturdiest suitcase for that journey. We were relieved to get into Peterborough and know that we definitely had seats booked on the next train all the way through to Aberdeen. The suitcases were the problem on that train as it seemed that everyone else had one too!!
The girls were keen to know when we crossed the border but we weren't really able to say. There is a huge sign when you drive up, but we didn't see anything on the railways. Despite being well prosisioned with Nintendos, ipods, new books and puzzle books, the YFG spent most of her time looking out of the window. The EFG was plugged into her ipod which made communication difficult: every time anyone spoke to her, she ignored us, then we would tap her to draw her attention and she would look at us blankly! She was reading as well. The FH found it hard to put his foot in a comfortable position as the space under the table was cramped but once we got north of Dundee, a lot of people got off and there were space seats so we spread out and he had more room.
We finally arrived at Forres station at 8pm and met the hire car people there. It was easy to find them as the car is decorated with advertising. It is a great car - a silver Ford Mondeo and it goes well. We quickly found the supermarket, bought a pizza for tea and some other provisions, then we got out the sat nav we had been lent, and headed out to find the cottage. The directions led us straight to the street, and having seen a picture of the cottage on the website, we soon found it. There is an excellent parking space at the back, and we soon explored and the girls claimed their rooms.
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