The delightful company of Lola II and Marcus and the Truly Magnificent Chicken Curry

One blog-free day was enough. I revised pretty much all yesterday, although I kept getting distracted by checking to see if any new posts had arrived on any of the blogs I've subscribed to. Google Reader is the best tool I've installed for a while, but it seems to feed an addiction.

Back to the holiday - we've established I know the cottage owner, so let's see if it's a nice place. It is! Warm (very important indeed) with all the necessary facilities, and a great little conservatory and garden that would be splendid in the summer, but we didn't use at all. After something to eat, we went out to explore Alston.

The requirement that there should be a pub in walking distance was easily met - there are at least seven pubs in Alston, and it isn't a large place. We chose the Angel Inn, and what a fine choice it was. Eveyone said hello when we went in, and Lola II's choice of Ginger Wine (a test of any establishment's quality) resulted in a huge unmeasured slosh for apparently no money.

M arrived next day, then it was New Year's Eve and I took the day off from my revision so we could all go walking together. The environs of Hexham was chosen, and a shortish walk so as not to put too much strain on M's recovering knee. That was the plan; in actual fact the walk turned out to be about twice as long as the book indicated, and the knee suffered accordingly. But we found chillies! Lola II had volunteered to create NYE dinner, a chicken curry which required chillies, but Alston Co-op had failed to deliver. Hexham Waitrose was another matter.

Readers, the curry was Truly Magnificent. And she produced chocolate mousse for dessert. Best meal of any sort I have eaten in 2007 - which leaves 2008 fully open to contenders. Games were played, Jools Holland and Take That accompanied us into the new year, and M had a great time with Mr A's flight simulator, seeing if he could sink ships by crashing the plane into them instead of dropping bombs.

On re-reading, I've mentioned everyone but Mr A in this post. He too was there, and also provided delightful company, although he soooo missed out on the 'best meal of 2007' award. He deserves credit for being Truly Magnificent, though.