In the bleak midwinter, frosty Crepes may moan

[Collymollypuff]

Earth stood hard as iron, my heart like a stone.

Thanks Crepeys

Seems the traffic was terrible everywhere yesterday. We are in the car on our way back now so I hope it's not as bad again today.

anything here Stropps ?

Stropps, good on you sitting down with DH to do accounts. Try not to strangle him
And sorry that he is finding it hard to be the adult with DD. The TV in the sitting room is the source of many arguments at home, despite there being one in each bedroom plus laptops for catchup too

Sorry to hear it's been bad, BTM. Hopefully it should settle once you are home. Any change of routine is rubbish.

We had an interesting meal with in laws last night! SIL's partner is clearly fed up with her, so made everyone pretty unwelcome, just made grumpy sarcastic comments all night, BIL was on good form, which annoyed his partner for some reason and MIL is developing some form of dementia (in that all her filters are turned off), so that made for some interesting comments! She didn't have a huge amount of filtering on what she said before, but veering into Katherine Tate without the swearing now I've sent the others back to retrieve the car while I relax in the hotel with a stinky cold and sore throat....

I had whooping cough and double pneumonia twice as a child....spent quite a long time living in an oxygen tent in Woolwich (of all places)!

Ach, I dunno, Crem. Seems normal to me. Not many of this year's celeb deaths have been that surprising, have they? Lots of v old people, lots of people with cancer/other nasty health probs, and people who lived hard and drank a lot/did shedloads of drugs. Carrie Fisher was a friend of my exh's. They were a drama school together. She had led a pretty racketty life and pushed the boundaries fairly hard, even before she found her own fame with Star Wars.

x-posts loads of people - thanks for linky, Crem! I've just spotted a fairly nasty round red polyester item for £4.50, and will dig further to see if I can find the same thing in an oval format.

Stropps I get what you are saying re deaths this year it's just there seems to have been an inordinate amount of them, and what with Brexit, Trump etc. it just seems to be a rubbish year on a grand scale.

Beachy that sounds like an interesting evening! Here we have our 'open house' to go and family dinner with the in laws (please don't let the traffic be bad) and then dp intends to barricade the door.......

Goodness me, Strops - who's the adult in this situation?! The last thing you want is DH antagonising DD just when she seems to be on an even keel.

Hatty - poor DCs! Have never known anyone with Whooping Cough; the UK vaccination programme does tend to keep it out of the general population. But they're stopping TB vaccinations, aren't they? Unless you live in an area of social deprivation.

BTM - sorry to hear you're having a bad time with DS. It's a long road.....

Cocoa - holiday rows are always stressful because there's no escape! DH and I had a spectacular bust-up in one of our Dutch Holiday Park breaks, and in our case there was no wine-tasting to take the edge off, unfortunately.

Sorry to hear about all the pants traffic. We were alone on the roads at 1pm on Christmas Day when we whizzed up to Colchester, but we paid for it on the way back. All the sales shoppers gong to Bluewater and Lakeside Thurrock snarling up the M25.

DH has suggested we go for a walk today. Not a bad idea, as it is crisp and sunny. And I am several pounds heavier than usual.

True Stropps.

Stropps - I think my mother has the table cloth you seek but it is still in regular use. Twas the doc who lectured me on the biohazard that is the Paris Metro/RER. I'm going to start wearing masks like the Asian tourists. Difficult for you with intransigent DH although I am fully behind him with the Kardashians.

BTM - sorry I have just caught up and had missed your post about DS. Hope you are home safely and things have stablised a little.

Rose - boo to the journey from hell.

Crem - I think it's worth getting your DD checked out. I think they get so run down at uni and exposed to all sorts

BD, Trump's quite old. And a sleb. And Farage drinks too much and smokes like a chimney. There's still time...

Was it the M23 that you got stuck on Rose? We had two shocking incidents in the space of a few miles yesterday- you've just reminded me!
Driving on middle Lane- big car a short way ahead swerves off across left hand lane to hard shoulder then realise huge tyre is lying in middle of road and have to drive round - luckily no car in right hand lane or we'do have crashed...
A few miles later stuck in stationery traffic - car on hard shoulder - occupants all huddled on hard shoulder clutching large amounts of belongings. Smoke billowing from bonnet - then flames! By the time we were a bit further away it was a full blown fire! Terrifying.
Safe journeys today travellers!

Am off for hot date. Will kill DH if I have to spend any longer with him. He has a doctor's appointment this afternoon for the Rash of Badness.

Dds bedroom: A Portrait.

Gosh, we love having her but it is a biohazard

I reckon I can surpass this Crem but I can't photograph as she's actually in there crouched on her bed and looking ... and I'm quoting her "like Frodo after he'd been carrying the ring for a year".

I will surpass that too Crem - when ds2 has vacated his lair... I see your mess and raise you a plate of Nandos Takeaway debris on the floor.... mmmm the aroma of day old chockey bones...
Ds2 has been tidying his room "in a bit" for about a week....

CHICKEN bones - not sure what the smell of the bones of a John Wyndham character would be like!

GGG. We have "in a bit" as well - a VERY elastic notion.

Crem, what are you on about? I can still see carpet!

Took the words right out my mouth, CV!

Beachy, that sounds when you were a kid. I had whooping cough too appaz but not as badly as you.

CV I had the tb injection and given where I work I had the DC done too!

I agree with Stropps re deaths. Also, this is bound to continue for evermore given that celebs from the 70s/80's (when celebrity really stated) are reaching that age.

Cremo, that pic could easily be DDs room on a good day. But thankfully no chicken bones!

We are on the motorway still, having stopped for lunch. It had not been as bad as it was on the way up so far, bit there's still time!

Have put declaration of interest in for this gorgeous bit of fluff.will have to wait and see as owners assessing applicants.

Back at the chalet after day1 skiing with the family. So far no rows or arguments and not even any real bickering which is quite unusual for our family skiing. We are getting twice daily updates from the world's most expensive cat sitter - so far so good but the last message asked for instructions to turn the central heating on as the house is a bit cold for the cats so I'll add the increased gas bill to their account too I think.

Sorry for those of you living in plague houses - hope the various maladies resolve themselves promptly. And sorry for those of you not enjoying Christmas as a result of work or family imposition on your lolling.

I have had an enormous lunch and can barely move. Friend has given me some shower gel and tiny poppadoms in a little fabric case. He always gives me bonkers presents. The last one was the world's biggest chorizo, he also went through a phase of giving me expensive lip balms, which ended with La Prairie - he said he couldn't surpass this on the lip balm front, so would move onto other things. He has also given me a small jug from the Caucasus and a colourful stuffed toy cat.

So - turns out it is flu not whooping cough but real flu. Thank god I had my jab and can put whatever nasty little virus behind me to nurse the invalids.

Such a cute kitty Crem.