further travels

Yesterday evening was our last dinner with my inlaws. Mr. Jenner's middle brother was going to come over. He called to say he was going to be late as someone was stuck in a field and he had to get them out. A kind of vague thing to say but this is the west country. People get stuck in fields. He showed up eventually. It seems there is this house (he does care-taking for a few) that is only reachable by foot or by driving across a field. It has been rather wet as of late and one of the family members was attempting to drive across the field but got stuck. It was dark and muddy. So Mr. Jenner's brother borrowed someone's range rover to help pull them out. All was well once again.

We had a lovely dinner. Cheese souffle to start and then duck two ways with potato rosti, squash and brussel sprouts. (from the garden) A good meal to end things. There was chocolate cheese cake and lemon ice cream for dessert. Now the dinner conversation was equally entertaining. There was a long discussion about hoof and mouth and how someone in the village was allegedly glad when they had to cull their herd as they wanted to get out of the dairy business. There were....discussions at the table about the truth of this story. (village gossip is always good) It was more like an episode of the Archers. (and btw... that MAJOR OMG episode...what a let down.)
Then there was some chatter about the former owners of the village pub. There were a few pointed comments about not wanting to pay taxes for someone who just bought a new car but is receiving housing benefit. This irked me. I smiled lightly and said, "ah yes... in this day and age you can still be bigoted about poor people." It did settle down that whole line of conversation though my Mother inlaw tried to say she wasn't bigoted against poor people (and most people don't like to think they are) I think I made my point. Just because someone is receiving welfare doesn't mean they lack the right to basic dignity as well. But that is enough of that.
FINALLY there was a whole thing between my inlaws about whether seaside rock (that candy stick stuff with resort names on the inside) is still hand-made or is it all done in a factory. That went on for awhile. It was this, which Mike Figgis film had a connection to my inlaw's place (long story) and where an obscure group of islands that are supposed to be great for surfing is that occupied much talk during dinner. Thankfully the internet was able to solve most arguments/questions.
If you want to know, seaside rock is still made by hand, the Mike Figgis film in question is "One Night Stand"...we think and the obscure group of islands that is great for surfing is near Sumatra.
You and the Jenners can now sleep easily.

After dinner there was scrabble. Because there is always scrabble.

This morning we sorted ourselves, had breakfast, said hello to the twins (Nana was baby-sitting) and then said our goodbyes and went off into the wild blue yonder.

But before we could go to the yonder that is sometimes cerulean and sometimes azure, we made a few stops.
We stopped at one of the service areas to eat and let the kids stretch their legs. This particular service station is incredibly dreary. I remember going to it once a few years ago and Mr. Jenner spilled orange juice all over me and I had to walk to the car park and get a change of clothes -all the while covered in sticky stuff. Mr. Jenner doesn't remember this. I also remember that there were some of the ugliest people in all of England at this place and it was crowded. Today as it was a weekday in January it was not crowded. It was still dreary and depressing. The sort of place that would make you want to commit suicide just to lighten the mood. I bought some jaffa cakes.
Then we continued on our merry way and eventually got off of the motorway and made our way to Avebury. Now before we got to Avebury we saw a freaking chalk white horses. It was thrilling to me as I have read about these for years. "LOOK AT THAT". I am easily excited. As for Avebury, it is a place noted for its ancient as hell stones. Yeah you can see stonehenge from afar but here you can get up close and personal. These stones can tell you how it likes long walks in the park, Mom's chili and men who don't come on too strong. Senor Onion was pretty fascinated and he wanted to know why they were there. We explained what we could and then it became a game to try and move the stones. "Come on... PUSH" Alas they would not be pushed. We picked up a couple of postcards and had a cup of tea and slice of cake. The tea was wonderful. Warm and strong. The cake was crumbly. Good flavor but much too crumbly. Another thing that amused me was how Silbury Hill (this artificial chalk mound) just suddenly popped up out of nowhere. This is a common theme in England. Minding your own business and WHAM hello ancient site. It kept me amused all afternoon. (we took plenty of pictures so I can bore the tits off of people later on)
After that we drove to Newbury where we are staying tonight before flying out tomorrow.
We went to The Plaice for Fish'n'chips. They fry the fish to order so it is deliciously fresh and hot. Mr. Jenner had the plaice and I had the cod. We also got two orders of chips. Oh sweet Mary it was good. It was perfect. And the right amount of salt and vinegar. The service wasn't overly friendly "let me lick your armpits" but it was swift and the food was cheap. So do go. (people were lining up for orders when I left)

Now everyone is passed out asleep.
Let's hope tomorrow goes smooth. As smooth as a long plane journey with small children can go.