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My first visit from an LJ friend! :)
Why are weekends so short? They come and go much, much too fast – especially when you really want them to last. I was pondering this last night after ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lillianmorgan left. And it would be my only complaint – she didn't stay for long enough. *sigh* But I suppose I should begin at the start....
It's funny, but as we stood waiting on the platform for the train to arrive, I flashed back to the posts thatsweet_ali and treacle_a wrote after their visitors left – should I have made a sign? Although if I'd stood there with a banner saying 'Buffy fans over here' I have a feeling Darcy wouldn't have talked to me for a long time! ;)
Anyway, we had no problems finding each other, and it was very lovely to be able to exchange a real hug after half a year of virtual ones. Although they were near-daily.The children of course turned into shy little timid things, unable to say hello, but that's small children for you.
It was 13:15 but since we'd had no lunch yet, we all squeezed into our car (poor LM was the most squashed of all I'm afraid) and went home to have some food. I'm happy to say that she's as delightful in person as she is on LJ – if not more so. We spent most of the time just talking - catching up on all sorts of RL things, not to mention things Buffy! :)
After lunch we went to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, which proved to be a very good idea. The weather – although not brilliant – was warm and a bit windy, and we spent a long time wandering about chatting and enjoying the beautiful countryside (and the sculptures too of course!). The children had stopped being shy, btw, and declared LM to be their new best friend, proceeding to tell her many tales of the kind that are very interesting if you're 3 (nearly 4) or 6. There were also a lot of sheep which they tried to catch.
After more squeezing (the children both have booster seats, which is why the back seat is not very comfortable for the person sitting in the middle. Thankfully LM is very slim, so she coped rather well) we went home again. With all this driving she got to see a good bit of Yorkshire countryside, which was very pretty.
I'm fairly certain we had a long, interesting conversation when we got home, but I'm not sure which one it was. Darcy was making dinner (he's the cook in the house, you see – something for which I'm eternally grateful) and come 7 o'clock it was ready – so I recorded Dr Who for later viewing. Dinner was lovely (salmon with new potatoes and beans) except for Little Miss M thinking that pink fish was wrong and refusing to eat any. But that's another tale... After dinner (which we finished with ice cream) we watched 'Thunderpants' which LM had never seen, so we felt obliged to introduce her. It's such a wonderful little film, that I want to buy it for my entire flist (sadly this is impossible due to our financial situation, so all I can do is to urge you all to go get it yourselves). Children were getting tired by this point and Darcy put them to bed (more or less – we did get the “I can't sleep, can I just stay down here with you?”). Post-film we watched Doctor Who which was excellent (as usual) although Darcy is getting a bit tired of the whole 'showing the human side of the monster'. It was getting late by now, and although it's nice staying up late with a nice bottle of wine, knowing that small children will wake you bright and early in the morning sort of puts a dampener things so we decided to head off to bed after a good long while of interesting talk.
Sure enough, the next morning we heard little voices coming from the office/guest room, although it was 8 o'clock, so not too bad. Went in to make sure they weren't bothering our lovely guest, but she was being friendliness itself and reading their animal encyclopedia with them (looking up salmon amongst other things). We then had another long chat (with many interruptions from the littlemonsters angels) and I can't being to explain how wonderful it is to have long Buffy talks – I know some of you out there have them frequently, but little me has no one in RL to chat to. I got to talk through the plot for my ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
summer_of_spike fic, which was very helpful since she had some excellent suggestions, and she read through the next chapter of 'Maybe Someday' which she liked, even though it is still very rough. This was very reassuring, since I thought it wasn't any good.
As Darcy was making breakfast (croissants, yum!) we had to migrate downstairs after a while, most of us still in pajamas (we're not a very formal family, which probably shows... I hope the house came across as cosy and cluttered, rather than just messy. *g* Although LM can now verify the fact that the children's room IS a tip!). Not much to tell until we set off to Nostell Priory (yes – again!). Darcy had found out that there was a big Sports Event happening, including a heat in The World's Strongest Man competition. It was rather wet, so we brought umbrellas etc, but when we got there it was actually ok. A bit of a drizzle now and again, but no heavy showers or anything. I'm afraid it wasn't the most thrilling of adventures, but we're really not at the center of anything here, so a fair would have to do. And it's always fun going these places when you have children, since they get very excited and enjoy all the rides so much. We even found a big tent for sitting in when we had our 'picnic' – actually the only problem with the day being that the Strongest Man competion started rather late so we only saw a couple of things before we had to go. But the guy from New Zealand came out top, so we were all pleased. :)
We drove back home (oh, and LM got to see the 'Pride and Prejudice sign with Illyria!) and had a quick cup of tea before we had to go to the train station. Time just went much too fast! Although we were in good time for the train, time still flew and all of a sudden it was time for goodbyes. *sniffle*
All in all it was a most wonderful weekend. Darcy said that I was welcome to invite any of my friends to stay if they were all as delightful as LM (he's been a bit suspicious of all my 'mad Buffy-fanatic friends', but he was completely won over!), which I think was a very good end to such a successful visit. The main problem is that you live much too far away, dear LM, because I wish you could come see us every week.
I'm sure I've forgotten something and I'm sorry if this was dull for others to read, but I mostly wrote this down as a reminder for myself. Also we have to go out in just a moment, so I'm in a bit of a hurry now. Also sorry about my non-presence these last few days, but I guess I've explained it now. ;)
lillianmorgan also wrote her own post if anyone's interested. With lots of good links! :)
lillianmorgan left. And it would be my only complaint – she didn't stay for long enough. *sigh* But I suppose I should begin at the start....It's funny, but as we stood waiting on the platform for the train to arrive, I flashed back to the posts that
sweet_ali and treacle_a wrote after their visitors left – should I have made a sign? Although if I'd stood there with a banner saying 'Buffy fans over here' I have a feeling Darcy wouldn't have talked to me for a long time! ;)Anyway, we had no problems finding each other, and it was very lovely to be able to exchange a real hug after half a year of virtual ones. Although they were near-daily.The children of course turned into shy little timid things, unable to say hello, but that's small children for you.
It was 13:15 but since we'd had no lunch yet, we all squeezed into our car (poor LM was the most squashed of all I'm afraid) and went home to have some food. I'm happy to say that she's as delightful in person as she is on LJ – if not more so. We spent most of the time just talking - catching up on all sorts of RL things, not to mention things Buffy! :)
After lunch we went to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, which proved to be a very good idea. The weather – although not brilliant – was warm and a bit windy, and we spent a long time wandering about chatting and enjoying the beautiful countryside (and the sculptures too of course!). The children had stopped being shy, btw, and declared LM to be their new best friend, proceeding to tell her many tales of the kind that are very interesting if you're 3 (nearly 4) or 6. There were also a lot of sheep which they tried to catch.
After more squeezing (the children both have booster seats, which is why the back seat is not very comfortable for the person sitting in the middle. Thankfully LM is very slim, so she coped rather well) we went home again. With all this driving she got to see a good bit of Yorkshire countryside, which was very pretty.
I'm fairly certain we had a long, interesting conversation when we got home, but I'm not sure which one it was. Darcy was making dinner (he's the cook in the house, you see – something for which I'm eternally grateful) and come 7 o'clock it was ready – so I recorded Dr Who for later viewing. Dinner was lovely (salmon with new potatoes and beans) except for Little Miss M thinking that pink fish was wrong and refusing to eat any. But that's another tale... After dinner (which we finished with ice cream) we watched 'Thunderpants' which LM had never seen, so we felt obliged to introduce her. It's such a wonderful little film, that I want to buy it for my entire flist (sadly this is impossible due to our financial situation, so all I can do is to urge you all to go get it yourselves). Children were getting tired by this point and Darcy put them to bed (more or less – we did get the “I can't sleep, can I just stay down here with you?”). Post-film we watched Doctor Who which was excellent (as usual) although Darcy is getting a bit tired of the whole 'showing the human side of the monster'. It was getting late by now, and although it's nice staying up late with a nice bottle of wine, knowing that small children will wake you bright and early in the morning sort of puts a dampener things so we decided to head off to bed after a good long while of interesting talk.
Sure enough, the next morning we heard little voices coming from the office/guest room, although it was 8 o'clock, so not too bad. Went in to make sure they weren't bothering our lovely guest, but she was being friendliness itself and reading their animal encyclopedia with them (looking up salmon amongst other things). We then had another long chat (with many interruptions from the little
summer_of_spike fic, which was very helpful since she had some excellent suggestions, and she read through the next chapter of 'Maybe Someday' which she liked, even though it is still very rough. This was very reassuring, since I thought it wasn't any good. As Darcy was making breakfast (croissants, yum!) we had to migrate downstairs after a while, most of us still in pajamas (we're not a very formal family, which probably shows... I hope the house came across as cosy and cluttered, rather than just messy. *g* Although LM can now verify the fact that the children's room IS a tip!). Not much to tell until we set off to Nostell Priory (yes – again!). Darcy had found out that there was a big Sports Event happening, including a heat in The World's Strongest Man competition. It was rather wet, so we brought umbrellas etc, but when we got there it was actually ok. A bit of a drizzle now and again, but no heavy showers or anything. I'm afraid it wasn't the most thrilling of adventures, but we're really not at the center of anything here, so a fair would have to do. And it's always fun going these places when you have children, since they get very excited and enjoy all the rides so much. We even found a big tent for sitting in when we had our 'picnic' – actually the only problem with the day being that the Strongest Man competion started rather late so we only saw a couple of things before we had to go. But the guy from New Zealand came out top, so we were all pleased. :)
We drove back home (oh, and LM got to see the 'Pride and Prejudice sign with Illyria!) and had a quick cup of tea before we had to go to the train station. Time just went much too fast! Although we were in good time for the train, time still flew and all of a sudden it was time for goodbyes. *sniffle*
All in all it was a most wonderful weekend. Darcy said that I was welcome to invite any of my friends to stay if they were all as delightful as LM (he's been a bit suspicious of all my 'mad Buffy-fanatic friends', but he was completely won over!), which I think was a very good end to such a successful visit. The main problem is that you live much too far away, dear LM, because I wish you could come see us every week.
I'm sure I've forgotten something and I'm sorry if this was dull for others to read, but I mostly wrote this down as a reminder for myself. Also we have to go out in just a moment, so I'm in a bit of a hurry now. Also sorry about my non-presence these last few days, but I guess I've explained it now. ;)
lillianmorgan also wrote her own post if anyone's interested. With lots of good links! :)
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(Mr. S thinks I'm quite batty but he's fairly indulgent but I think he and Mr. Darcy would get along famously, if you know what I mean :-P)
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It's a shame you live so far away - but if we ever travel across the pond we'll try to make a point of seeing you. And our husbands would probably enjoy talking about their sad, obsessive wives very much! ;)