Sun, Dec 21st

Today didn't turn out exactly as we had planned. Dawn and I were awake at 5am and after a brief lie-in we got up and watched a recording of last night's Strictly Come Dancing finale and results show (we wanted to see the result before reading about it in the media).

For today's agenda we had scheduled for me to drop Dawn, Brady and Jim off at Waterlow Park in Highgate where Dawn could then walk them through the park before making their way to the Spaniards Inn. At the same time I would pick up Dad and George and meet them there after paying Mum's grave a visit at the cemetery. However, I suggested to Dawn that maybe Brady and Jim would appreciate a day of rest after yesterday. Dawn didn't like the idea, but said she would put it to Brady when she woke up.

Brady didn't hesitate to agree with the change of plan. Both her and Jim were totally exhausted. In fact, Brady didn't show till gone 8am and Jim over an hour later. Seeing as we needed to be on the road by 10am, it was clear that even if we had wanted to it wasn't going to happen anyway.

So, I set out on my own and gave Dad the bad news. Fortunately, he was understanding. We drove to the cemetery and laid some flowers on Mum's grave. My parents would have been celebrating their 57th wedding anniversary. With George we then made our way to the Gatehouse and had a roast for lunch.

Meanwhile back in Hertford, Dawn ventured into the kitchen, an arena she has become a complete stranger to, and assisted Brady in making Brady's special rum cake. What makes it special, you ask? It magically disappears soon after you cut the first slice. And, to be honest, that was about all the exercise any of them had for the rest of the day. That is if you exclude using your thumb to change the channels on the TV remote. And, even that was more limited than usual because the Kerrs became transfixed with a series of "How We Built Britain" progammes on the UKTV History channel.

When I got back home I made a quick trip to the Post Office to collect Dawn's last Christmas gift, I watched the Spurs game on the Internet, and then made salmon for dinner which we had with some cinnamon sweet potato mash and broad beans.

The rest of the day was spent with feet stretched out and eyes glued to the television. However, in fairness I should mention that Jim did get some reading in. Map reading, that is. He wanted to check out where Dawn and I had forced him to walk on Saturday and see where she had planned to make him walk on future trips. I am sure this was to make sure that she wasn't taking the long way just to tire them out.