27^th December 2020

 

Dear All,

Speaking as someone who has experienced a 26 person Christmas, 2 seems a too drastic reduction! I did not begin well as I had a bad night with stomach pains which have kept coming and going ever since. On Christmas day after a traditional ham breakfast we completed the calls Santa had been unable to make in the village, then started a jigsaw, had lunch, had a mutual exchange of gifts, played cards and Rummicub and had a family ZOOM. Ben had run 29 miles on Christmas Day – a PB, Esther and Emma had ordered their Christmas dinner to be delivered and the Russells had been on the breach.

I started the week by having to cancel the normal Brussels sprout deliveries as the source I Bedfordshire had been classified as Tier 4. We eventual found a few in Witchford for favoured friends and neighbours but the round was severely reduced from 58 to 8.

On Wednesday we had deliveries of flowers from Esther and Emma and edibles from Kate and Gordon, so Christmas had begun.

 

 

                                                                        Flowers                                                                      

                                                                        Edibles

 

We charted a new walk on Thursday starting at Upwood near Ramsey. The first problem was getting there as there were floods at Earith, Fen Drayton, Fenstanton and St Ives as well as the bottom of our garden. The land round Upwood belonged to Ramsey Abbey until Henry VIII redistributed it to Richard Cromwell. It is an attractive village with a nature reserve but was too wet to be at its best this week.

 

Our garden

 

 

Near Upwood

 

Damp patch

 

 

Upwood

 

 

St Ives

 

We had on-line quizzes with Ben for 3 nights as he is stuck in a flat on his own (when not running).

The river at Overcote has overflowed to the flood banks and has been a tourist attraction.

 

 

Mere Fen

With love

Mike & Kate