Monday 29th January

Met up with Ann, Boaz and Becky today in London. It's always great to meet cyber-friends, but this was my first meet up with International Cyber Friends! (Ann and Boaz live in Israel).

The concert last night (Wally Fields Jazz Orchestra at the Liverpool Philharmonic) was excellent. Dad loved it - especially when they opened with his favourite - Sing, Sing, Sing! And they did the original version of Rhapsody in Blue, which was wonderful. All in all a very nice evening.

My dad is feeling a bit better today. He ate a lentil shepherd's pie that I made for him and really enjoyed it! We'll see... I would still feel more comfy if he had proper tests etc.

Comment added in May:
During the interval of the concert, I went out to the loo. Coming back in I got delayed behind a group of people faffing around at the door, but I could see Dad standing up waiting for me to get back. His face was side on to me and my stomach lurched a bit as I studied it. His mouth looked strange - and I couldn't decide if it was just a sign of him getting old, or if it was what I think of as "sick person's mouth". I can't describe it properly, but you know how someone's mouth sort of caves in a bit when they're really ill? That's how it looked and it worried me.

Later (in the hospital) Dad told his friend George (who had recommended the concert to us) that he had been on the verge of sleeping through a lot of the second half of the concert. He was that full of paracetomol. I know he'd made a super human effort to get there - when we got home, he hugged me and said "Thanks, I really enjoyed that, I'm glad I made the effort".

Sunday 28th January

From the Prevention Forum:
Hmmm, my dad isn't feeling so well, but says he will be ok for tonight. I'm a bit concerned about him, he's been having trouble with his tummy for a while now - constipation and soreness in his stomach - and the doctor just keeps giving laxative type things. I'm going to tell him to go back tomorrow and insist on further investigations.

Comment added in May:
At this point, I had started to convince myself that Dad had Irritable Bowel Syndrome. I took over some Flaxseed and Lentil Shepherd's Pie and was advising Mum on what type of food to give him.

Saturday 27th January

I'm cooking this evening. Starter is halloumi cheese with chilli (Nigella). Main is beouf bourginnone with broccoli, kale and roast potatoes. Dessert is chocolate pots (Nigella again!). Dessert is done, and I'm going to start the stew soon.

I went for a walk today instead of the gym... it was so mild and sunny here I decided that some fresh air would be nice.

It's blowing a gale here!I'm going over to Liverpool tomorrow. I'm taking my dad to see a Jazz orchestra at the Liverpool Philharmonic. Then I'll drive back home because I'm on the 7.40 train to London on Monday morning.

Friday 26th January

I slept in! After all that waffle about keeping to my normal sleep patterns, I blew it last night. Went to be just after midnight and then couldn't sleep. So when Roy left at 7.30 I just turned over and went back to sleep Now I feel groggy. I think my natural body clock is that of a night owl - my tendency if I don't have to get up for work is to stay up late. But I'm trying not to. Roy is the opposite, he's an early bird.

http://www.myspace.com/katherinecrowe

I've met Kath a few times through my best friend. She's a talented musician who was working in banking to make a living (the music career wasn't taking off). Last year she was diagnosed with breast cancer and it has made her take stock and want to pursue her music again. If you can take a moment to have a look/listen I know she'd appreciate it. She's dealing very positively with her situation and is trying to get good coverage on her myspace.Personally I like her music (I bought her first album back in 2000) - she reminds me of a Beverly Craven/Julia Fordham type of singer/songwriter.

Thursday 25th January

I'm off to get my hair done soon... my roots badly need doing.

I've been getting up with Roy (well, when he leaves the house at 7.30) during the week - if I start getting used to sleeping late I'll be in a mess when I start work again. So am trying to keep my "normal" bed/sleep/get up pattern going.

Wednesday 24th January

I'm going to the Body Balance (yoga, pilates, tai-chi) class this morning and then for a swim. Then I'm coming home to clean my house.

Monday I made a veg/pasta bake with the fusilli. I made a veg/chickpea curry last night and tonight we're having veggie shepherd's pie (lentils and mixed veggies/tomoatoes as the base although I cheated and stirred a little beef bouillon through the mixture!).
Tomorrow we'll have the left over veggie curry and Friday I'll do a vegetable & bean rice. I am waiting to see if Roy notices that he hasn't had any meat yet this week!

Although I'm cooking for friends on Saturday and going to make beouf bourginnone so that'll make up for it.

Well the Body Balance class was good... I sweated more than in the gym... some of the moves were quite tricky for me, due to my inflexibility, fatness and general lack of balance! I'll go a few more times and see if I can improve. My favourite bit was the "relaxation" at the end . Then I went for a swim... the pool was packed! I get quite stressed out when it's like that as I like to mix up strokes and I can't do backstroke properly if the pool is full (unless I get the end lane where I can follow a beam that runs along the ceiling, LOL!). I stayed in for 25 minutes, anyway.

I don't know where all these people come from, as most of them seem too young to be retired! I said to Roy that the whole of Leeds appears to be on garden leave at the moment. He thinks they go in during work hours, but in the pool, there is a "lounging" area and jacuzzi and there were at least 15 people just sitting around in there, drinking coffee and reading the papers! They didn't look to me as if they were about to rush back to work.I've been really surprised, I had thought the gym would be empty during the week.

Tuesday 23rd January

*yawn* I don't know why I still feel tired, I slept from 11-7!

I'm dashing a bit... haven't stopped today - gym, shopping, cooking, phone calls. And now I'm rushing to do my "internet" stuff I need to get done. (Some banking and things like that).

Monday 22nd January

I think I've had enough lazing around now. Need to do something or I'll go mad!

Today I'll go to the gym and then I have a few bits and bobs to get at the shops. Then I'm going to sort my office out. I'm not quite sure how I get it in such a mess. It struck me that I can actually throw a load of work stuff out now, anyway!

I haven't been weighed this week. I've been at the gym again this morning. I'm still enjoying it (which is a good phase to be in) and it's a lovely crisp sunny day here, which I think always lifts ones mood

I'm watching a lot of tv at the moment as there are a few things I'm into... and 2 new shows start tonight that I like the look of. One is about training rangers in a game reserve in South Africa. The other is Masterchef new series - it's about food, say no more.

Sunday 21st January

I am sort of enjoying garden leave but need to put a bit more structure around my days so as not to squander them. If that makes sense!

Went for a swim earlier and then came home and cooked a nice roast dinner with our leftover pork and turkey which I'd frozen at Christmas. Am now very full.

Saturday 20th January

Did a good workout at the gym. My physio scrapped the strength routine I was planning and replaced it with his own! Ah well, if it helps sort my neck out then that's fine. He also said he didn't believe in ab crunches! But didn't offer an alternative. I think I have to disagree with him.

I do have some alternatives to crunches which I might start doing for now. Going to try to get into the pilates class at the gym... they also do something called Body Balance, which is a combo of yoga, tai chi and pilates. Sounds interesting.. might give that a whirl.

Friday 19th January

Still windy here but so far not as bad as yesterday. I'm going food shopping and to return my slow cooker (after anguishing for weeks whether to keep it). I've just decided that I'm not a slow cooker type of person! I can't think that far ahead. I did tell Roy about it. He just rolled his eyes.

I still haven't moved. I'm burning CDs onto Itunes and keep thinking "I'll just do one more then I'll go shopping". I'm trying to work out how to copy all of my nephew's ipod tunes onto my itunes... I think there is software you can download to do this, but I don't know how dodgy it is. Am browsing some ipod forums to get an idea.

And I will go for a swim later if my latest headache lifts.

I have booked my ticket for London so the meet up with Ann and Boaz is def. on the cards. I am really looking forward to meeting Ann. I couldn't get the free tickets as it turned out - there weren't any seats left (I think you need to book 3 months ahead). But I got a reasonable deal by following Moneysavingexpert advice and splitting my journey at Peterborough! Works out half price than buying a straight through fare. And all I have to do is get off the train and back on! Crazy, innit??

Had a chat with my sis earlier. She's really upset because my niece (Emily, 12) is being isolated/bullied at school by a group of kids she was befriending. She's struggling to find nice kids to bond with. Long story, but my sis and the Head of Year are talking about how to deal with it.

I have only been bullied twice in my life - as a small child (4-8 by my "friend") and last year at work.

We had a power cut tonight and I missed the BB Eviction! (Jade Goody).

Thursday 18th January

I was up late last night, catching up on emails and "stuff" now that my 'puter is back. The good thing is that they literally just repaired the screen - they didn't wipe any of my hard drive or favourites etc... so that saved a lot of time setting everything back up!

It is wild and windy here. I am going out though... a supermarket chain (Aldi) is selling painter's overalls really cheaply so I promised Roy I'd go and get him some. We don't have a shop nearby but there's one about 7/8 miles away so I'll drive over there. This afternoon I'm going to the gym.

Whew it is wild out there! I was going to walk round to the gym but thought better of it as now it is raining. I'm going at 3 as I am seeing my physio round there. He's been trying to help me sort out a sore neck problem and I want him to show me some "safe" upper body strength training I can do. And also some ab techniques that won't strain my neck. I think I know what I'm doing - just want his ok on the routine I've put together for myself.

Wednesday 17th January

I have a cold. Managed to avoid one so far this winter so I guess it was inevitable.

My laptock comes home today I hope they bring it this morning and not later on in the day. Although I have a feeling that when they collected it, it was quite late in the afternoon.

I've made bread (well the breadmaker made it really). Am trying to get some use of my many kitchen appliances! But still debating whether to keep the slo-cooker or not! I made wholemeal and mixed seed rolls. They're yummy - quite small but very dense. I also made a smoothie with my blender - banana, yogurt, blueberries and honey. And then I made some hummous. Now I stink as I put loads of fresh garlic in it.

I'll get fat eating all this healthy food, LOL!

I love how the supermarkets are pricing their fruit & veg so cheaply at the moment! But I'll spend more in petrol driving around the different ones to get various items.

Tuesday 16th January

My mum wouldn't eat rabbit as a child (it was served quite regularly then) because they were having rabbit stew once, and her dad started to ask where the cat was, and my mum fell for it, thought they were eating the family cat, and freaked out.

Well the "interview" went well. They really liked my presentation and then we chatted about what sort of package I'm looking for and what the role would entail. It isn't as big a job as I'd thought, as the MD is looking to have more then one person heading up this area. On the one hand this is good (less pressure, stress, hours). On the other hand I need to make sure the job I am offered is sufficiently stretching for me to grow and develop and learn.

We had that discussion, and he's going to come up with a job spec and package offer for me. His words: "I hope to put a deal together that excites you as we'd like to have somebody like you on board". I'm pleased, but I also want to explore the other avenues open to me before making any final decisions.This role is quite fluid as the business is still growing and it could evolve and change... I'm fine with that, as long as I'm happy and getting good job satisfaction.

I am quite happy to spin this one out a while so I can explore some other options so the next step will be he makes an offer, I'll then explain my position. Won't be a problem.

My mum has just reminded me that I'm taking my dad to a jazz concert on Sunday 28th Jan!! I had forgotten and am busy arranging to meet with a Cyber Friend from Israel on that date.
So I will have to look at train tickets for the Friday or Monday.... will sort it all out tomorrow.

I am getting my own laptop back tomorrow *happy dance*.

Monday 15th January

I have my "interview" and presentation with Key Retirement Solutions tomorrow.

I finished the presentation and Operational Plan (I may have taken the brief too far) at about 1am this morning! Am pretty happy with it. Ran it past a colleague this morning and he thinks it's good. Am just spending the rest of today reading through, "rehearsing" what I'll say, checking for typos, and compiling a list of questions I have for them.

Saturday 13th January

I confess to feeling de-mob happy. I do feel very different since I know I'm definitely leaving. Just shows how bad that place was for me, eh?

I do, however, have a presentation to finish for next Tuesday's meeting with one of the prospective future employers. And I'm not knuckling down to it. Have done all my shopping today and will put a block of time together tomorrow to get it done. It's 90% complete but I haven't touched it since before Christmas !!!

The Celebrity Big Brother Racism row kicked off this week. I am watching avidly - much to Roy's disgust.

Back from cinema. Apocalypto is gruesome. Very good film.... just a tad gory for me.

Friday 12th January

No weekend plans, although we are thinking of going to see Apocalypto tomorrow. Just chillin' and workin' out.

Re. my mini rant about Pru yesterday - you'd think that private sector would be sharper and have moved on wouldn't you? Not in my company. It's awful.... on the one hand they speak all the buzz words and make a big thing of political correctness. On the other hand they take actions that prove they don't value their people at all.

Well, five phone calls to make, five emails to send and my work here is done.

I am on hold with a call centre which boasts on it's website that 80% of calls are answered in 20 seconds. Unfortunately they didn't say how long it takes for them to pick up the rest and I've been holding for 4 minutes already. This must cost a fortune as it is a premium rate number (I'm on my office phone though so will let my lovely company pay).

Ahh, now up to 7 minutes holding time. I'm trying to get through to the company which makes my boiler. It keeps going off - has done since we got it really - and numerous plumbers have failed to fix the problem. So I will try to get one of their own people out to have a look.

After 16 minutes (cost: £1.12) I got through to an insurance company!
Me - "But I wanted to speak to Boiler Company"
Them - "Ah you pressed repair or problem so you've been put through to me. I can sell you an insurance policy for £288 to cover fixing the problem.
Me - But I want to speak the the Boiler Company about the problem. Do you have a number for them.
Them - No, you have to ring them again.
Me - But then I'll get back through to you.....
And on and on... so eventually I found a "back door" number for the Boiler firm and they've put me onto a local specialist who said it won't cost anything like £288 to fix the problem. Hopefully. We'll see. Rant over.

I've been baking apricot and nut wholemeal scones. Mmmmm, they're lovely - lowish fat and sugar too. I just adapted a wholemeal scone recipe and hoped for the best. Had one for lunch with some Clementine Marmalade. I had eggs for brekky. Tonight it's lentils and feta with rocket. Am hoping to get to the gym for a swim.

Waiting in for the Bose to be collected again. I did my first proper workout with weights yesterday (up to now I've been mainly going on the CV equipment). Touch wood, I'm not aching TOO much just yet. So a nice swim and steam should loosen me up.
I am trying SO hard to ignore the 6 bars of Lindt in the fridge. Evil SIL2BE knew exactly what she was doing when she put those in my Christmas present, didn't she.

We're planning a few weekend trips while I'm off, but I don't want Roy to lose too much time off work as he's self employed. We'd already booked for South Africa from 17th March - 4th April so I am thinking of extending that so we come back a few days later.

Thursday 11th January

Wild and windy here, too. Kept us awake half the night. This is when loft extensions aren't a good thing - not a lot between us and the elements.

I had a great time in Scotland. How refreshing to be up there and relaxed, not stressed to the eyeballs like I used to be! I drove up Tuesday morning, arrived at 11.30 and went into the office to do 2 annual review meetings. Went to the hotel, got changed and met my 2 colleagues (supposed to be 3 but one couldn't get up there as his girlf had a car accident) and we drove to Edinburgh. Had a curry and beer, and a great laugh just talking rubbish about all manner of things (work and non-work related). Ended up having a nightcap in the hotel with my colleague and good pal David. He's worked with me since 2000 and I'm really fond of him. Late last year he left his wife and 2 kids, whisch was a massive decision for him. He's going through a tough time and I know the Christmas/New Year period was difficult for him. So we had a good chat till about 1am.

Weds morning, got up late and met Dave for breakfast at 8.30, then sauntered into the office at 9.30. So different from this time last year when I'd be in the office by 7.30 without having eaten. I met a close colleague who I worked with on our marketing for a long time. She resigned last week, so we had a coffee and good natter. Then I took my old telesales team for lunch.

There were 12 of us in total and we had a lovely time. It was nice to see everyone and I didn't tell them this, but it's probably the last time I'll see them before I leave the company in March. I didn't want any big goodbye scenes so I just said it was a "well done and thanks" lunch... they hit their sales targets last year.

Every single one of us in the team I built is moving on to new and different challenges this year (because of the restructure). So whilst I'm the only one leaving the business, all of the others have seen changes to their role. They're all taking it really well but I know we all felt we had a great team and would have liked to have more time as a unit. Hey ho. Life moves on.

Drove back yesterday afternoon and felt a bit sad leaving the office. Now I'm just working on the paperwork for reviews, and I just need my Director to approve the ratings so I can finalise them and get them issued. Then I'm done here.

Sometimes I despair at the prospect of doing even one more day's work for this sodding stupid awful company. That felt good! They've mucked one of my team about and it has really angered me. Told her on 6 Dec she was redundant. Told her before Christmas they'd found her a permanent role. Told her this week that it's only a 3 month temporary secondment. She's lost all that time when she could have been looking for another job. I'm fuming. No one else cares.

Monday 8th January

Well I went to the gym. I dare not say how much weight we both gained over the Christmas and New Year holiday.

Didn't think I'd last 5 minutes but Stevie Wonder kept me going and even kept me on the treadmill an extra 10 minutes cos the LONG version of Do I Do came on just as I was thinking of quitting. It's one of my all time favourite records. Only problem was I wanted to sing and dance along. My IPOD is brilliant for the gym - keeps me motivated.

I am off to sunny Scotland in the morning.

Sunday 7th January

I just made some lentil soup. It is lovely. I also made irish brown bread (i.e. no yeast!) and that's good too. So that's lunch for tomorrow and the next day sorted.

We had Shepherd's Pie for dinner, I found one in the freezer that I made before Christmas. It's huge, so we'll eat the rest tomorrow.

I'm systematically going through the cupboards, fridge and freezer to have a big "use up". Hence the soup, to use up some veggies that were on the verge of being thrown out. Been to the gym. Now things hurt!

I am going up to Scotland on Tuesday..... can't wait as I get to have a night out with my "boys" - the three Managers who were my right hand men in the job I did before August this year. Then on Wednesday I am taking the tele-sales team I also managed in my "old" job out for lunch. It's a sort of "thanks" (for being a great team), "well done" (they hit all their sales targets this year, which benefits me financially too) and "goodbye" (even though I don't leave yet I don't think I'll get to Scotland again.)

I'm so proud and fond of them all and I wanted to personally thank them for what they've achieved since I've worked with them. *gets all misty eyed* LOL!

I have recently become addicted to Deal or No Deal (oh the joys of unemployment ) and tonight's show was a cracker. A young girl won £250,000. Roy and I cried (Ok he's messy but he's a big softie and I love him for that!!).

Saturday 6th January

My husband (Roy) leaves clothes all over the house. I end up throwing them all in the wash basket and then he moans "these are all clean". Right, I'm supposed to know that t-shirts and trousers strewn around all scrunched up are clean? Grrr..

I have tried just leaving Roy's "stuff" lying around but it drives me mad looking at it. It isn't just clothes, he is untidy with everything. He'll open a draw and not close it. Get the phone book out and leave it on the kitchen counter. And don't even talk to me about glasses! We have about 8 pairs of cheap reading specs that I leave about the house for if I need to read a packet in the kitchen, etc. He always either loses them or they all end up in one place.I bought him a "pot" that is on the hall table for him to put his loose change, keys, mobile phone etc. into. He puts it on the table. Or he empties the pot out to look for something and leaves the crap all over the table.

Friday 5th January

I have a lot of work to do today. Was in our London office yesterday having my annual appraisal. And also doing reviews for 3 of my old team. What a farce! However I am entitled to a bonus payment for 2006 and so have to have an assessment so that they can rate me and decide how much bonus I'll get paid. So I can't really complain. I am tired today - not used to all this hard work, you see.

Garden leave started on 2nd Jan. My letter says:

You will be on paid leave from 2nd Jan 2007 to 26th March 2007. Although you are not required to attend the office on a day to day basis during your paid leave, you remain an employee of the company until your last agreed day of service. During this period you must be available to carry out specific duties as and when required by the company who will give you as much notice as possible.

I've agreed that I'll check emails once a day (easy as I have a blackberry) and also keep my phone on. Also easy as I'll be using it anyway! My boss has promised not to put me on any projects. I said I'm happy to chat to anybody who wants to pick my brains on any topic that they think I can help with. And that's all. Once these reviews are all done (12th Jan I think) then I'll be totally free

Well, our Bose came back yesterday. We sent it off as the radio was broken. They've fixed the radio but now the CD doesn't work. I'm seriously thinking of trying to get a refund and just buy the docking station. Although I did hear they've now developed a connector so you can plug your ipod into the normal Bose CD player. Must look into that.

Thursday January 4th

Got back from London after 7 and we went straight out to Roy's brother's (Gary) house for dinner. It's his niece's (Emma) birthday so they cooked fajitas and trifle!

Strange combo, but nice.

Wednesday January 3rd

*Sigh* It's that time of year when Roy has to do his tax return and I hate it. I can't describe to you how disorganised this man is. And then of course I get involved and irritated by the whole thing. *Takes deep breath and points husband in the direction of the filing cabinet*

My plans for this week are to get myself organised for starting a major healthy eating campaign. I am trying to decide what sort of "diet" to follow. South Beach Diet Phase 1/2? Low-fat? Calories? Something different?

Today/tomorrow I have some work to do as it's annual review time. I have been asked to complete reviews for my team (5 of them) and so am in London tomorrow to do three. Next week I'm in Scotland to do the other two. After that, I'm pretty much done and dusted with work and on proper garden leave. 15th Jan is my next "interview" with the company in Preston. I have a little bit of prep work to do for that, too. Today I need to sort out a mountain of washing from our trip away. Also, they're picking the laptock up to take it away for fixing or replacing. I borrowed my mum's monitor last week and saved all my files to an external hard drive.

After some discussion, we've decided on trying the Carol Vorderman Detox Diet! And it's vegetarian for the first few weeks.

Here is the Virgoan New Year Resolution Diet:
Jan 1st: resolve to Diet in the new year.
Jan 2nd: go through all the Christmas leftovers, deciding what you can make of them, as you won't throw good food away.
Jan 3rd: (and for several days thereafter)eat said leftovers.
Jan 4th: get out your huge collection of diet and fitness books and prevaricate for ages about which one to follow in the new year.
Jan 5th: procrastinate some more over The Diet, whilst polishing off leftover chocolate, cake and peanuts.
Jan 6th: enjoy a huge lunch (well it IS the weekend)
Jan 7th: have a Monday panic because The Diet hasn't yet begun. Pick up those books again.
Jan 8th: decide to look online for support and ideas. Spend the next three days surfing the net.
Jan 10th: finish off the peanuts (make note to self not to buy such a huge jar next Christmas) and spot a huge bottle of full fat Coca Cola in the fridge. Drink it.
Jan 11th: remember that you rejoined the gym and start to consult exercise books for ideas on the fastest way to lose that tummy.
Jan 12th: compile shopping list for The Diet.
Jan 13th: go to supermarket, buying healthy food sufficient to feed 12 people for a month.
Jan 14th: start to eat healthy food. Like it so much you have second portions of everything.
Jan 15th: sample three new types of Healthy Eating Cereal Bars and love all of them.
Jan 16th: have another panic attack as you realise you haven't reached your goal of four gym visits per week. Do one very long session to make up lost time.
Jan 17th: get weighed (well you had to let the Christmas bloat settle down). Feel sick as you realise you've regained (and some) since your last Diet. Comfort eat for the rest of the day.
Jan 18th: consider hypno-therapy and start to research it on the internet.
Jan 19th: discount hypno-therapy as too expensive.
Jan 20th: discover some uneaten goodies in the back of the fridge. Take them to the bin. Bring them back in the house. Take them out again. Bring them back in. Say "oh sod it" and eat them in one sitting.
Jan 21st: Realise you haven't been very good on The Diet. Oh well, it's the weekend.
Jan 22nd: Monday weigh in. You have gained 3lbs since starting The Diet.
Jan 23rd: time to get serious. Throw out all the out of date healthy food and prepare to restock.
Jan 24th: reacquaint yourself with the gym. Realise it is full of January Joiners and get irritated at how busy it is and how you can't get onto your favourite machine. Go home early.
Jan 25th: cook three months' supply of healthy stews and soups to freeze.
Jan 26th: realise that lentil soup doesn't freeze well and eat three portions.Jan 27th: it's the weekend! Enjoy a special treat, since you've been on The Diet almost one month.Jan 28th: order three new exercise DVDs from Amazon.
Jan 29th: buy Detox Diet book from the supermarket. Get home and realise you already have it.
Jan 30th: decide to tackle the psychological aspect of your overeating before attempting any physical Dieting. Dig out 14 self help books from the book cupboard.
Jan 31st: prepare to start the New Diet in February. Work out how much weight you can lose by Valentine's Day.

Tuesday 2nd January

Wishing you all that you wish for yourselves in 2007.

Just got home from New Year's weekend in the Lakes. We stayed at The Cottage in the Wood which is on the Whinlatter Pass just outside of Keswick.

I need just a moment to wax lyrical about our food at the weekend! The hotel we stayed at was lovely, but the highlights were undoubtedly the setting and the food. It is a 9 room place, and our standard room was very comfy but nothing special... just like a very good B&B. It's in the middle of a forest and the walking trails from the hotel door were just amazing. We walked up to the place where they took the video for the panoramic view on the website. We did one long (3 hour) or two short walks each day, and then in the afternoons we would go for a little drive into parts of the Lake District that we haven't seen before! We even went to see the Sellafield Nuclear plant on the coast (Well, I'd never seen it before and we were kind of over that way.....)

The couple who run the Cottage in the Wood are amazing. She (Kath) is front of house and makes you feel SO welcome. He (Liam) is a chef who's worked in Michelin starred restaurants, and it shows. The menu was fixed each night - no choice of meal, apart from dessert. I was a bit worried about that, as whilst I am not a fussy eater, I'm not overly adventurous. You can specify any dietary requirements, but we didn't. Liam has a knack of preparing extremely well balanced menus, and even on NYE when he did a 6 course dinner, you didn't feel stuffed or uncomfortably full. The wine list was also very good. Last night we had a tarte tatin that was absolutely the best I have ever tasted! I was so impressed. And the breakfasts were wonderful, too!

The hotel is small and so all guests gather in the small lounge before and after dinner, so we got chance to meet some new people. We got friendly with a lovely couple from Bristol, and had some lovely evenings just chatting and laughing with them. Roy and I can tend to be a bit anti-social when we're on holiday so it was nice for us to actually meet people we wanted to spend time with!

New Year's Eve was pretty low key - a wonderful dinner (canapes, scallops, consomme, sorbet, venison, chocolate tart/ice cream, cheese & biscuits/coffee/truffles) and then just chatting in the lounge before toasting 2007 with a glass of champagne. None of that forced jolliness!!! We were also quite tired with the walking and fresh air! But we managed to stay up until 1am.

Oh, and we also got afternoon tea every day! Mince pies on the first day, mulled wine and sausage rolls on NYE, and tea and crumpets yesterday! It was like being on full board really, we didn't eat anything else when we were out walking or driving (apart from a small bag of chocolate we'd taken with us from the Christmas collection!!!).

We got drenched on the first and second day's walking.... we only had waterproof jackets, and discovered that we also need to buy waterproof trousers. Getting back to the hotel absolutely chilled to the bone and soaking wet every day wasn't fun, but there was no way we were going to stay in and not go walking.

Christmas 2006

Celebrating Christmas in the new conservatory.