Thursday, 25 December 2008

Today, we played host to a host of Murrays (Jackie’s family) and it all went swimmingly. The food was magnificent: brother-in-law Steve brought along a cooked Turkey, Jackie's daughter Rhiannon brought along a selection of home-made sweets, and Jackie herself produced stunning vegetables and home-made Christmas Cake and Christmas Pudding (using nearly all local ingredients). And it was wonderful to have our granddaughter Bethany here for the day!

Jackie and I treated ourselves to annual season tickets for Hatfield Park – allowing us to walk there all year round. I thoroughly resent having to pay the Lord of the Manor for the pleasure of walking on what was common land until the forced enclosures of the 16th Century. Perhaps this is an ancient folk memory from the Hertfordshire peasant genes bubbling away inside me – I will treasure them always. But it has been more than 400 years and I am sure they need money to maintain the woodlands so maybe it's time to let bygones be bygones.