when the snow lay round about ...

Hi Everyone
We are in the village of Weston, which is quite near to Stevenage. Lisa (John's niece) and her husband Angus live here with Alex (aged 3 and a quarter) and Thomas aged 10 days.Gran Jan from Christchurch is also here.Just before I started writing this today, the snow fell off the roof of the house next door. It is not currently snowing but it has been this morning.The houses all look very pretty - like the pictures on the Christmas cards which we have seen all our lives.

Now, I know that the news on the weather in the UK is all very dramatic but you must realise that British pluck comes to the fore in these things and they just get on with things. To prove the point, a man has just come to the door and is going to move a fence - even in snowy conditions.Lisa has been out to the doctor's (mastitis) and Angus is taking Alex swimming soon (indoors obviously!)However, The Sun newspaper yesterday had a headline "the Great Queue of St Pancras" which cannot have been pleasant (6000 people in a queue - the Brits know how to do it, don't they?)

In the morning we were up with Alex and Angus as they did the day care run and we were dropped off at Baldock station.John and I went into Cambridge for the day. The journey was interesting. We were to catch the 8.23(don't you love it?). The trains were delayed so it was 9.11 before we set off (temp -9 and snowing intermittently). The train was quite full and from conversations which others were having a volume it appeared that some were trying to get "ooop North" by zigzagging their way acorss country ("Eeh lass,I'll get to Peterborough and see what the delays are like to Newcastle. Toodle pip.")

Cambridge is smaller than I had imagine and walking around the old city proved easy, if slushy, underfoot.As we had left without breakfast, we made our way through Lion Yard to Carluccio's (owned by Antonio Carluccio of Food Channel fame). The eggs benedict and cappucinos were excellent.(NB later in the day we also went past Jamie's - Oliver - restaurant. As there are strict rules about how the fabric of the buildings under graded listing can be changed, there are some odd pairings of style. There was a market in the square outside Guildhall (and some very cold market stall owners). I needed a hat by this point so picked one up for £3.We stepped into the Round Church, built on the old Roman road and dating back from the Middle Ages. we walked down to Magdalene (pronounced maudlin -!)crossing over the Cam River. The punt owners were de-icing the punts; the (brown-feathered) swans were trapped by ice in a small patch of water; but the funniest sight were the ducks walking on top of the ice looking for a place to paddle in! - as you can see in the pics.We also managed to find a College which was open - most were closed. Gonville and Caius has a beautiful setting as you can see - thre was also a bedraggled-looking ponga in a corner of the grounds.
Our next target was King's College Chapel which was easy to find as there was a large BBC van outside - they were setting up for the recording of the Christmas service.The chapel (no small building, this) is a very impressive piece of church architecture started by Henry VI and finished by Henry VIII to show what great mates he was with God.The carved screen which today masks the organ's "engine", has the entwined initials of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn - I wonder if he ever felt bad about that! After leaving the Chapel, we walked around the edge of the building but not on the grass. They have signs for that as you can see! We found lunch in The Eagle, a pub dating back to 1575 - steak and ale pie and fish and chips with mulled wine and chardonnay. You will know who had what, I am sure! After lunch we stopped at a bakery called Fitzbillies to buy some Florentines to take back to Weston.

The names of the streets in Cambridge deserve a book on their own (and probably have one or two). At one time, all the Fellows (lecturers) of the various colleges of the day had to take divine orders, ie become priests.I guess that is one way to keep the universities under control!The names of places and streets abound with saints' names - Andrew, John(see the shot of John in situ), Benet (Benedict) and even Mary gets a look in. There's also Jesus College, Jesus Close and Jesus Ditch. There is also Maid's Causeway, Christ's Pieces and All Saints Passage, just to name a few.

Our last stop of the day was the Fitzwilliam Museum, which has an amazing and exhausting number of galleries. There was a great display of armour - the kind that knights wear - including armour for horses. The swords (including an execution sword were very mean-looking.The rooms of Renaissance paintings were beautifully displayed, each room having its own rich colour (red, green brown) and the paintings being set off by antique furniture - chairs, sideboards, etc and beautiful rugs. As it was 4.00pm and dark was setting in, we walked back to the station where there were lots of people catching trains, fortunately ours started from Cambridge so we were able to get seats.The grammar of the train messages intrigues me. The message is always "This train is for King's Cross" - which seems rather odd somehow.

We have just been out for lunch and to pick up the Christmas turkey from Church Farm, an organic enterprise which is very popular and looks quite properous.It is on the web, as everything seems to be nowadays. John and I walked down to the village shop for the papers (and a copy of OK magazine!)it was quite cold with a slight wind blowing. That has not stopped the fence man from continuing his work. Tomorrow we are travelling with Jan into London, leaving Lisa, Angus, Alex and Thomas. John has checked us through Luton on the internet and we look like we are good to go to Amsterdam on Friday morning. Fingers crossed!It is lovely to read your comments - they are cheaper than texts, too. Lots of love.