The climbing, the pig, and the wardrobe...

Hello there,

Well firstly apologies for not being on here for what seems like a year but I've been so so so so so busy that I've barely had time to draw breath.

Tom and I did go up to the Lakes over half term and had a fab, if rather wet and quiet time. I am however, not a convert into the life of rambling and cagoul wearing and if I'm honest, standing in a bus shelter, swathed in waterproof fabric whilst swigging weak tea out of a flask whilst I wait for Tom to come out of a campsite's gents' toilets is not really my idea of a fun day out. Despite the serious amounts of gore tex and foil wrapped sandwiches, we did have a lovely time and I'd thoroughly recommend the house we stayed in if you want a romantic getaway that really is completely secluded.

In fact, it was so secluded that the nearest village was almost 4 miles away which meant that there was no light pollution at all from streetlights so at night it really was pitch black. This led to one of my finer moments when I got up for a pee in the night and spent ten minutes trying to get into the wardrobe and getting in a right palaver as I was desperate for a wee and couldn't work out why the bedroom door was blocked when in fact I had somehow got out the wrong end of the bed and was trying to exit the bedroom through the ruddy furniture rather than the door. There is no situation more likely to induce a blind panic that needing a wee in the pitch dark and not being able to work out why someone has seemingly barricaded you into your bedroom with your own clothing.

In addition to my impromptu hunt for a toilet in a wardrobe, we also did some serious hiking. After watching Julia Bradbury scale one of the local peaks on the TV, Tom decided to ensure that I was totally unable to walk by walking up not one but two peaks in a day. I therefore broke every single nail I had as well as my feet swelling up to the size of a mother's pride sliced loaf as Tom made me scale rivers, scree slopes and walk up near vertical rock faces. He was happy as I've ever seen him and threw himself totally into the world of packed lunches, ordanance survey maps and hiking boots. Needless to say, my own pack up of lipgloss, a hairbrush and a mascara was not as much use when we were on a windswept rocky outcrop. I never want to go up Julia Bradbury's crags ever again.

We did eat some fab food though, my goodness me there's some fab pubs and restaurants up there! We went to the gingerbread shop which was about the size of an airing cupboard and I got trapped in there with a load of Japanese tourists who were all wearing swine flu masks. A huge herd of them trampled in there just as I had bent down underneath a shelf to adjust my swollen feet in my boots and when I tried to stand up again, found myself hemmed in a dozen chattering Japanese tourists in swine flu face masks. How on earth they thought the air quality in the Lakes was so poor as to require a mask was beyond me; my lungs felt as though they'd been sandblasted I had that much fresh air. It took me over 5 minutes to get out of the airing cupboard gingerbread shop and i can assure you that being hemmed in by giant cameras and tourists clamouring for gingerbread is not a pleasant way to end a day up a crag.

We've also been busy getting ready for and then attending a 1960s party where Bannerhanger made had a mini reunion performance. It culminated in me dressed head to toe in sequins, a pink bobbed wig and knee high boots whilst dancing like the Jon and Edward's slightly less talented auntie and shaking an evian bottle full of dried rice. Never a dull moment. Tom was dressed as a 1966 footballer and had the full England kit on as well as an old leather football tied to his boot. This is not to be recommended after you've had a few shandies. Bannerhanger were also very pleased to be paid in Babycham and I ended up dancing around on my own swigging from a mini babycham bottle whilst Tom disowned me and struggled to navigate the dancefloor with a ball tied onto his foot.

As is customary with our family dos, there was a hog roast and we are currently round at my parents' house where my mum has made enough pots of curry, stew and casserole to feed us all for a year and is currently labelling tupperware boxes with such delights as "pork korma" which is going to be a delightful accompaniment to my Dad's sloe gin factory above the dishwasher. He's brewing enough for us all to be in a coma between Boxing Day and New Year so I'll look forward to that.

We're also off to the hospital on Tuesday to find out about our treatment finally. We're still no further forward with getting the dates for the start of our treatment but we're off to see the consultant for the first time since my operation so hopefully we'll get some sort of indication about what's going to happen. Fingers crossed!

Work's totally and utterly mental and I'm getting busier every day but I'm absolutely loving it. Tom's started his new job with his old company and is happy as a pig in Korma so we're both doing pretty well at the moment.

Anyway, I promise I'll be on a little more as soon as work calms down a bit. I've had so many open evenings and parents' meetings lately that I'm thinking of keeping a sleeping bag under my desk.

Thanks again for all the messages and comments.

Lots of love,

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