Well its now the night where people are excited to get drunk, rush to buy the latest item which is reduced by 50% to 80% if your really lucky or just chill after the excitement of Christmas, but for me, its time for more festivities from my Dad's Side of the family. It had also been amazing weather, so its time to telll.
So as we decided to head off to the pub, it was a nice drive, with all of us 3 chatting about various topics and the sun was shining down on us, the view of the river Tamar was beautiful and then we arrived to the Rifle. It was a quick 15 minute journey or less.
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When we got there, we thought everyone had arrived, but we got out of the car, then walked in and my other grandparents and one of my dad's brothers along with his partner were they, it was a nice catch up along with the drinking started to begin. Well for me it was Lime and Lemonade twice then after that, just simple tapwater with ice was the rest of the drinks i had until we left.
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| A Nice pint of Lime and Lemonade, although it wasn't as strong as i hoped. |
Then we were seated in the conservatory, but went we were there, it was nice, but it was too hot, well not for me (my problem was the sun was blinding my eyes), but for my granddad's fiance. So we moved to a room near the bar, which could only fit all 10 of us. Then it was cosy, but no signal which was a bit of a shame. So then it was more chitchat and you can see the menu's below:
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| The first side of the Menu, i know it was poor quality but i was rushed to do it |
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| The other side of the menu, which was any other options and sides you could have. |
Then it was a case of ordering, which took quite a short while, but then it was a 15 minute wait but the time passed as it was nice to hear various topics being discussed from a horse being high to cats and even about vicious dogs out in public. Then the starters arrived, only 4 of us ordered it, my mum and sister shared come Crabcakes, me and my cousin had some breaded kingprawn and my uncle enjoyed some garlic mushrooms. it was about £5.75 each for starters alone :O.
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| My Breaded King prawns with some salad and a mild sweet chilli dip. |
Then that was quiet delicious but it wasn't as filling as it looked, which is a good thing for a occasion like this one. But it was then more chatting and i decided to go for a piss, the funny fact with me having signal in there but not when i was at the table is slightly awkward. But i tweeted and attempted to download some maps, then as i got back to the table, the food was ready and waiting for me. A Roast beef which actually looked undercooked but hat a juicy bit of fat on it, amazing roast potatoes, minor vegetables and addicting gravy. This cost £7.50 on the menu alone, but its worth it for what you get.
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| The Roast Beef i had, you can notice the cooking wasn't as well done, but everything else was lush, especially the roast potatoes and Horseradish |
This was going to take a while to eat, but there was no rush, along with my other uncle ordering extra potatoes, it was sure to be a good hour of food and chatter to finish this. But eventually it was eaten and the plate was clean, i did have scraps from other people. Then it was nearing 2pm and everyone was finished, which was a short resting time before another order of drinks and then for deserts. Various people ordered different things, from me ordering stick toffee pudding to the traditional Christmas pudding for my granddad "A small one please" was his fiance's exact words. Then a short wait with chatter then it arrived, i was not disappointed with the look, the taste and even the feel of it. But for £4.75, it should be that good for a slightly premium price.
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| The sticky Toffee Pudding. I'm sorry its blurry, i did try to get it to snap. |
I enjoyed it and it didn't take too long to eat it, but by the time i did, i was justifiably full from the meal in general and it was the final preparation and arranging what to do before heading over to my uncle's for the presents giving. But before we left, we called dad on my sister's iPhone and asked if he was ok and letting him know of the next plan for us, he was ok with that and then after me checking if my GPS was working still, my sister drove us to our uncle's house.
The cosey delivering of Presents
Well the driving down to my uncle's place was quite nice, it was nearing 2:30 by this time and we were all chatting about the various topics that was talked about, from one of my auntie's asking why Aries needs a harness if cats go outside even though Aries is an indoor cat, to my mum and even i was annoyed at the fact that my granddad's fiance was concerned that she walks everywhere, like when they saw her on christmas eve walking into Tavi from home and back, since everyone else drives everywhere then we talked about my sister's new boyfriend. Then we made it, the sky was slowly getting darker, but it was nice to be there anyway. I just about made it down to the house with the huge bag i had to carry with the presents, but then it was a case of unloading it and then a short rest, a glass of fanta from my auntie then time to hand the presents out.
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| The presents at the tree in my uncle's house. |
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| A Nice sip of Fanta |
I started handing out the presents, there was at least 30 or more in total, like a
Page 3 Girls 2014 calendar by the Sun
from my uncle to my granddad, which really, really annoyed his fiance, you could see from her tone, Irrigation hosepipes from my uncle and auntie to my dad and mum, towels for my auntie from my granddad's fiance and even
Dove Giftsets my mum gave to both of my Aunties
. The conversations were quite funny, even one of my auntie's was getting really excited when either her or her husband were getting presents, even so much so, that my granddad's fiance was getting slightly irritable with her.
But to be fair, i only got 3 nice things this year, i'll post them below.
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| Some Fat Face Slipper Socks from my granddad's Fiance. Now she has a bad enough grudge against them, similar to the one i have with Vodafone, but just because she doesn't like the name. |
Then it was nearing 5pm and after all the presents had been handed out, me, my mum and sister were starting to debate if we should go home, now i was tempted to stay, but since that wouldn't be fair on my dad and also my auntie and uncle who drove my granddad and his fiance there was planning on leaving soon as well. But before we left, i got a plate set up for the food to take home for my dad to eat for his tea, so we didn't miss him out, but there was a lush range of party food, from chicken, ham, homemade potato salad, salad, sliced eggs. Sadly i didn't get a picture, but then i lifted all of the presents in the same bag i bought them down in, back up to the car.
Afterwards, it was nice to wait outside, check the GPS and then receive a few tweets, some were depressing (well one but that is my fault for missing the chance to try to be with Charley), i started the GPS and after getting in the car, we drove back the way we came, or so we thought...
While heading back near Tavistock Sawmills, we found a card parked to the right and then a elderly chap opened the windows and mentioned that someone had an accident. By the looks of it, a biker lost control of the bike and slid to the other side of the road, it was packed and a car blocked the road. So we turned back and went up the hill which leads to the road to Bere Alston, then crossed it and headed back home the usual way, while going up the hill, it was a usual lecture about how wearing a helmet can save my life and all.
The relaxing Evening.
So as we got back home, it was cold, not as stormy as it got later, but still cold i got the plate of food and the fruit salad bowl in and then it was a case of changing then telling my dad how we got on with the day and all, then soon after, the cat did a funny pose when in the basket. it was so cute, i ended up taking a pic:
Then it was nice to watch some Star Wars (Episode II) was just nearly finished, i prepped up a quick tea since i felt a bit hungry and it was a nice meaty combo along with some extras as per usual.
Then it was some Percy Jackson until 8pm and then it was enjoying the best of the Indiana Jones franchise: The Last Crusade, with Sean Connery in of course. Then after that, it was time for everyone else to go to sleep and me to get this up for you to read.
So that concludes Christmas 2013 for me this year, its not been one of my best ones, although i tried to make some of the people most important to me happy by giving them decent presents this year, its been a really odd Christmas and it hasn't hit me as much as the festive season is used to. Of course all of the January and boxing day sales are now on, with people rushing to get the cheapest deal, the weather is dangerous and depressing and its now the final countdown towards the New Year of 2014. Now i've got to finish up the blogpost for a review of this year, and its a surprise that i'm at 60 blogposts by this time Next Week. But i'll explain my plans then.
But for now, enjoy your hangovers or if your like me, enjoy working as normal until New Years Eve.
