Sibling bonding time.

Yesterday I went to town with my sister and her boyfriend. Sure, it's a bit odd to be a single person hanging out with a couple, but my sister wants me and her boyfriend, Sam, to get a long better; if that's possible.

We made our way into town fairly early, much too early for my liking and I woke up with only 40 minutes to make myself presentable for the rest of the world. The weather recently in the area has been cold with several layers of snow falling every now and then. Quite rightly, the bus services became even worse than usual, because the drivers of these big vehicles have clearly not been trained to deal with such bad weather.

When walking the streets of central Cambridge, the sight of the three of us was, in it's bleakest form, my sister linking arms with me and Sam and trudging along at just a faster pace than a snail on steroids. On the many cutbacks made by the council, there was no grit laid onto the paths and sidewalks, so it made the usual wallk to the shops more a fun time for drunk spectators than a casual strol.

We later left Sam at the bus station, and Rosemarie and I got a bus to go to a smaller town to go to the garden store to get grandmother a plant for christmas. A few days before I had made an agreement with my friend that if he got me a pair of trackies for lounging around in the house, I would get him two hoop rings for his sudden need of ear piercings. I chose to forget what he wanted, and got him a cactus called Arnold. This gives him the chance to see if he has what it takes to handle big responsibilities and I told him, cacti are not just for christmas, they're for life.

Of course, the bad bus services were made even worse by a new surge of snowfall. We were stuck in one stretch of road for half an hour and when we got to our stop, it was at blizzard levels. I had chosen to not carry Arnie in a carrier bag, and there was one moment when there was concern that Arnie may not make it. But, I am happy to say, Arnie made it and is now happily resting in the kitchen waiting to be handed over to his new owner.