Christmas in England

I know this post in a long time coming, but here it is.

This year, my mum and I went to my sister's house in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire England. I didn't get any pictures of my sister's house, but it is a interwar bungalow. It is movie cute. The only problem was that the house had no heat. This may not seem like a big deal since it is not nearly as cold in England as Edmonton. But let me tell you. It was COLD.


I left for England on the 18th. Oddly enough, it doesn't take that much longer to get to my sister's than it does to my mum's in Ontario, since they have a direct flight Edmonton to Heathrow. I got there on the 19th to find my mum, who arrive a couple days ahead of me, very sick (norovirus) and my sister also sick, but at least only a cold. So I spend the first part of the vacation taking care of the sickies and freezing while waiting for the plumber to finish the radiators for the heat. Finally on the 23rd, we had heat and the value of my sister's house doubled. Probably the best improvement she will ever make to her house.


Once everyone was feeling better, we went to York. This is me on the top of the Tower of York. The view of the city is amazing.


I'm always amazed that these old castles and towers are still standing. Below is my mum and little sister.

I did take a couple of pictures of my sister's house. The lay out is very simple, wide foyer/hall way. Two large rooms off each side and a bathroom at the end. Off the dinning room, you find what the estate agent called a "conservatory", but it's really just a drafty enclosed porch. Off the conservatory is what is called the out building. The out building has the original toilet, the coal room that my sister has turned into a laundry room and the kitchen. Having a separate room for the laundry is very unusual in England, most homes the laundry is in the kitchen. I think it's weird to have dirty underwear in the kitchen. Anyway, one evening my sister was in the bathroom in the house and my mum needed to use the bathroom, so she went to the toilet outside. Anyway, after while my sister and I heard my mum yelling for us. We both thought she wanted help in the kitchen. Since my sister was on the phone and I was playing just a game, I shut my game down and went to help my mum. As I was going by the in house bathroom I could hear water running, so I asked my mum her there was something wrong. She replied with a "you are a useless daughter, who clearly doesn't love her mother enough to come and help her". I was very confused, so I told her "I was coming to help in the kitchen, I was just shutting down my game and I didn't know what her problem was." Then she said "Well you weren't quick enough, go look in the toilet." Now I was even more confused. So I went to the toilet. And this is what I saw.

At first I couldn't figure out what the black stuff was on the floor in front of the toilet. And then I was thinking "is that part of the toilet seat cover". So I walked in and looked in the toilet and found the following.

That's right the rest of the toilet seat cover and my mother's slippers. And I just started laughing and laughing. I could barely move I was laughing so hard. I finally walked back into the house and choked out a "what happened?" to my mum. It turns out that the antique toilet was having some issues flushing and my mum in her great wisdom thought it would be a good idea to close the lid and stand in the middle on the lid and try to get the flusher to work. While the lid broke and she feet got wedged in the toilet. Apparently she was yelling for help for ten minutes before we even heard her. And then because we thought she was yelling for help in the kitchen, I didn't rush. By that time she managed to get herself unwedged. I pointed out that it wouldn't have matter if we heard her right away, because we would have been laughing too hard to actually be any help at all. The best part was that for the rest of the vacation, my sister and I would just start laughing every time one of us thought of it.

This is my sister being silly, while we are getting ready to go to London.

Noelle in the Black cap in London.

And my mum laughing at me taking pictures.

My mum and sister outside of the Gaol Museum.

For Christmas, my mum gave my sister and I tickets to see Billy Elliot on New Years Eve. If you ever get the chance to see it, I would highly recommend it. The singing and dancing was phenomenal.