Christmas cheer has arrived in Rutland, says Allan Grey
Well, another Sunday has arrived and I’m here, back at the keyboard wondering what might amuse you this week, writes columnist Allan Grey.
As you probably know, I’ve returned from another trip to warmer climes and it certainly was an almighty relief to get back to more traditional November weather a week ago. I just love a damp, freezing cold, snow-covered Rutland, having suffered temperatures approaching 30C for a couple of weeks.
Fortunately, however, technology covers most of our bases these days and my Hive central heating app made sure I returned home to a warm house.
The lovely guy who picks me up from East Midlands airport asked if I wanted to make a small detour on the way home down Brooke Road, now that it was open again. It was a tough call, but as it was close to midnight and I had been travelling for 12 hours, I said I would save the treat until tomorrow, which I did.
The following day I walked up and down a few times, breathed in the cool, fresh air, admired the new, beautifully drawn yellow and white lines, gasped at the freshly laid marble-smooth surface and then hurried home to pick up the car and had a drive along it as well, to sample the silky smooth sensation of two-way traffic.
Gosh, I thought, it doesn’t seem but a few days since they closed the road and started the intensive but altogether invisible work to widen it.
Well done Rutland County Council. Hats off to you for sticking with the original plan and not giving in to all those constantly complaining critics who thought a bit of road widening could be done in a couple of weeks. What did they know? I just hope all the pigeons have found new homes.
Now, coffee shops. I remember thinking, when they were building the new Costa down Lands’ End Way, ‘Why there? It’ll never work out of town’.
Well, what did I know? It’s now the ‘go to’ coffee shop for many local folk, me included, and at pretty well every visit I make, I meet friends and acquaintances with whom to put the world to rights. It’s light, it’s airy and the baristas are great, making every visit a ‘treat of the day’ and a good walk t’boot.
One good friend I meet regularly is a professional musician. A glamorous world, you might think, but with gigs up and down the country at different locations each day, perhaps not so.
As I write this, he’s just left to embark on a seven-hour journey to a gig with his band on the Isle of Wight, driving straight back home afterwards, and then tomorrow somewhere else. Respect, my friend. Rather you than me.
What else is there to report? Well, an excellent night out with friends at Rutland Hall Hotel at Barnsdale for a Christmas event with some great entertainment. This was the first time I had visited in many years, having purchased a timeshare in the mid-1990s and sold it 10 years ago. We never stayed there. Like many, we just used it as a means to access the gym, the swimming pool and the sauna, and would swap our week’s stay for summer weeks in the Canaries.
The entertainment at the Christmas event came from The Jersey Quartet, a Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons tribute act, who were excellent, especially for the over-60s cohort who knew all the words. The evening finished with a disco for some serious ‘grandad’ dancing, something I also hadn’t done for a good while. I’m sure the knees will recover after a week or two of intensive Voltarol treatment. A superb venue with some 300 people attending, I will definitely look to return in 2025.
Where would you go locally if you needed some cornflakes, a couple of bananas, some milk, a dozen eggs, a MIG welder, a hydraulic jack and some scuba diving goggles? Aldi or Lidl, of course.
If you want a new Emma double mattress for one growing child, no need to go online, just get down to the central aisle at Lidl, pay at the checkout and stick it in the back of the car to get it home. Simples.
Well, not simples if you take your eight-year-old twins with you, promising them a Maccie D while you’re nearby, because a double Emma and eight-year-old twins won’t fit in the car at the same time.
But hey, there’s always a solution. Leave the twins in a shopping trolley outside the supermarket while you take the mattress home, calling your big sister on the way, asking her to collect the stranded twins and get them their promised burgers. There’s problem solving for you.
It’s now December, and Christmas is well and truly underway across the county. Oakham’s Christmas tree lights were switched on by Oakham’s mayor with the help of Santa, who was on his first outing of the season with his Lions Club elves.
The weather was atrocious, with Storm Bert doing its worst, but that didn’t stop children joining Santa on his sleigh.
Well done Oakham Town Council, well done Santa and well done Oakham residents for braving the elements.
Santa will be touring Uppingham, Oakham and Cottesmore, starting at Tesco on Saturday, as we approach The Big Day.
