The Sleigh Run

[slowfox]

So today was spent mostly on the A1, travelling down to a mutually distant place of meeting for both my parents and myself and P. The weather's been a bit dicey of late, so I had to nose the Fox Mobile a little gingerly away from Castle Fox's immediate surroundings, the streets remaining, as mentioned a day or so back, complete sheets of glass in terms of traction-like qualities.

Nonetheless, once we were out onto roads proper, conditions improved, even if the weather did not, freezing fog hanging around us as we headed over the bridge. These days, y'see, rather than the old M62-M18-A1 route, I prefer to go over the bridge and round Lincoln. Yes, you pay the bridge toll (£2.70 now), but it's shorter, and the reduced trip distance offsets the cost, not to mention the time factor.

The downside is that the A15 to Lincoln is an evil road, with helpful signs up every now and again telling you how many people have died this year compared to last.

Anyway, P and I arrived at the appointed hostelry a little early, but M&D, having similarly worried about the impact the weather might have on logistics, had set off even earlier, so were waiting. Everyone was in good humour, though (which is surprisingly rare for these things), and the parental units were pleased to see P (I hadn't mentioned he'd be with me, thought it'd be a nice surprise).

Pub meal, chats about eBay (M&D are getting into selling some surplus stuff they have about the Parental Abode); to be honest, I had been fretting somewhat about their adventures with the 'Bay, but it seems my fears about them unknowningly swimming with sharks are unfounded, so I'll just leave them to it on that score.

After two hours, though, conversation was drying up quickly, and both sets of us wanted to start wending our ways back to our respective starting points, so Present Exchange and done.

Drive back was in better weather, and we made even better time - and P agreed with me that that section of the A1, where the central reservation gets wide and the road North goes up and down and left and right, at speed, feels just like Out Run (common cultural frames of reference FTW!).

Dropped P back off at the Farm from whence I'd collected him yesterday evening, and then trundled carefully back home to an empty Castle Fox - Mali's at his Happy Holiday Home for the day (because there was no chance at all of doing the whole there and back again within five hours, and I will not leave Mali alone for longer than that), so I pick him up tomorrow.

Which means that the whole present-swap operation really takes something like 36 hours all told. So I hope they all like 'em...

Comments

[linaelyn]

Glad to hear that it went reasonably well this year, especially with the weather as a possible complication! So that's done and dusted until next Yule Season.

[slowfox]

Absolutely - done and dusted, everything sorted. Glad to have it out of the way for another 12 months.

[aome]

Erk - that's a very long trip for present-swapping. Next year, have your Christmas hamper shipped? :P

What are your Christmas plans, anyway?

[slowfox]

Well, I also gave them the presents for brother and his fiancée, and there was stuff in addition to the hamper. But more to the point, the present swap is a pre-emptive strike designed to eliminate the possibility of spending extended periods of time in each others' company during the festive season. :-p

[carolanne5]

I'm glad it was all acheived to the mutual satification of all parties. Excellent to have it all sorted before the actual Xmas season.

[slowfox]

Yep, it worked pretty well this year. We've done the mutually distant meeting point swap for a fair few years, now, and it works pretty well; M&D's possibly have even less appetite for travelling up to Hull than I do for heading down to Sussex, and the ½-way point means that it's feasible to go there and back in a day.

[schnurble]

Glad the driving went more or less smoothly.

After two hours, though, conversation was drying up quickly
Sorry but I had to laugh about this one - two hours of chatting seem a long time for me, and not what I consider a quick end :o)
On second thought, I suppose you chatted two hours and then suddenly conversation dried up...

Anyway, I like the idea of meeting halfway and keeping it short. Unfortunately this is nothing my or Hubby's family would agree to.

[slowfox]

Well... you have to factor in that we were having lunch, too, within those two hours, and that M&D hadn't seen P (their only grandchild) for maybe 8 or 9 months (I honestly can't remember when we last met up). So there was stuff to talk about, but once we'd exhausted the 'news' type stuff, there was relatively little to discuss.

The half-way meeting point works really well for us - as I said to carolanne5 above, it means we can do the swap in a single day's driving for both parties, whereas to go to Sussex and back in a day isn't really feasible (I've done it, once, but it was a bit much).