giant snowflakes/happy christmas

we have giant snowflakes here in yorkshire! me and bert had been hoping for a white christmas like the way it used to be (like in that song), but actually now pickles family are panicking that james won't be able to get here for christmas day from london, so maybe we've had enough of it now thank you mr snow.

since getting back last wednesday, we have been busy clearing all my things out of my room, painting, repapering bits, replastering bits, going to ikea for shelves to put all my things on, and sorting all my things out/throwing them all away. i can't believe how much stuff i have - clothes, books, ornaments etc - why do i need them all i really don't know... we have taken bert for some fish and chips, which he liked, he has played golf with my dad, which he liked too - especially drinking the pints of beer afterwards. we went to an old house nearby called shibden hall, from the 1500s, and saw lots of old furniture and timber and beams, and bert loved it. mum slipped in the snow and nearly landed on the floor but we caught her. bert likes all the yorkshire accents and is getting the hang of sarcasm/irony. abi and laura came to visit us and we walked around the snowy garden, it was like narnia.

i know i left the blog a bit high and dry and haven't updated on our last couple of weeks of travels, i will do at some point. we left monty in storage in mexico, flew to cancun for a night to get our flight to new york, had 2 nights in new york, then flew overnight to manchester via iceland - which we couldn't see as the sun doesn't rise until noon for just a few hours. we saw the airport though and bought some icelandic beers and a few postcards. bert had never been to new york before can you believe it, so that was exciting, we went up the empire states building and a man showed us where that plane had landed in the hudson river. we also saw the giant christmas tree and the ice rink at the rockefeller centre, and grand central station, and had a bagel and salmon, and a bagel and sturgeon for breakfast at barney greengrass, the king of sturgeon. (upper west side, around 86th and amsterdam).

if anyone would like to buy some high quality menswear for the festive season, you can buy it from dsdundee which is my brother james's clothing company, they have a shop in london for a while, and sell in other shops around the country, and in the US and japan apparently - it's really nice stuff. website is www.dsdundee.com

ok over and out we're going to assess the snow situation and help with decorating the tree (bit late i know), and eat some mince pies. i think for now that is the end of this blog as that is the end of my trip for now, though if anything very exciting happens, or if i learn something interesting that needs to be shared, then i will write about that, so keep checking in. i will also add some picutres on the older blogs when i have time, as i have all my pictures back now from earlier in the trip. i was thinking of publishing the whole blog as i found a website called lulu.com where you can publish your stuff - you could be the proud owner of my entire blog (!) in a lovely book with a cover on it.... and i could make my millions....

ok happy christmas to you all from me and bert! xx