“… Back from sunny Iceland to utter English chaos …”

Well, we’re all back and despite the sad events surrounding our unplanned trip to Iceland we all had a good time. My dad commented that it made a weekend, which could have been a melancholy one, a very enjoyable one. The positive attitude our two boys injected into their surroundings was a good distraction for one and all.

Amma Siggas funeral was lovely but I found it really hard. As soon as I looked at the coffin, which was beautiful, it all came over me. I started crying before the service even started. Afterwards, I wanted to sit on my own with the coffin to say a private goodbye but instead I said a private goodbye in my head whilst laying my hand on top of it at the church. Walking back down the isle I just hid my face and then Joanna gave me a big hug outside whilst I cried and cried. There was coffee and drinks at amma Siggas house afterwards with about a hundred people which is just the way she would like it, as she lived in a big house which was open to anyone at any time and it was quite literally the centre of hers and my fathers generations social life for many decades.

Whilst we were in Iceland it was nice and sunny. We sat outside in the garden drinking our coffee and some people even got sunburn. Due to the lack of coverage of the English weather we were completely oblivious to the massive flooding that was going on. (The first news item on it was yesterday … too late for us to plan around it.) Therefore, we had our own little adventure during our trip back home yesterday.

All was well until we set off from Stansted on our planned 3 hour journey north to Yorkshire. We drove happily on the A1 and it wasn’t until the traffic news came on that we realised that our trip might not be so easy after all. We had three options. Continue on the A1 and get stuck in traffic (in fact they closed it later on). Head for another route on the west side of the A1 toward home. (No way of doing this without hitting Sheffield or Rotherham, which didn’t sound good at all.) In the end we drove east of the A1 for a tour of Lincolnshire through so many villages and so many diversions and traffic stops that I lost count. We saw fields that had literally turned to lakes and at one point were turned round by the police as the road had been drowned and they were expecting a flash flood. I even drove past a live fish struggling for its life on the road … not your usual roadkill (not meaning to be insensitive or anything …) In the end, our journey took us 8 ½ hours and we had all been up from 4am in the morning until 10pm, when the boys finally got to bed. Me and Joanna got to bed nearer to midnight.

On top of all this, our only remaining cat, Joy, was nowhere to be seen. She didn’t come in to eat and this morning we still hadn’t seen her. Joanna had just gone out to look for her when she strolled in, quite oblivious to all the worry she had caused.

But … we’re all here safe and sound … at last … but all very tired today. So, with love,

Toti, Joanna, Jolyon and Elijah