Going back to my roots

In a couple of weeks, my gran will be 90. A surprise-ish celebration is planned (she knows her children are going to be there, but not her grandchildren, great-grandchildren and other relatives). So, we'll be spending a few days in the ancestral homelands [1]. R has never been before (tho me and O visited when he was a baby, and I've been a couple of times since for funerals). My sis and her boyf are going to be going, too.

My mum is a bit worried that R and sis-boyf may need a phrase book to understand the local patois. R will be fine, him and all his family speak a similar way (with many of the same dialect words - even O knows what his oxters are, even if his teachers don't). It's sis-boyf I'm really worried about. He speaks fluent Black Country. His chances of understanding, and being understood by, my relatives are virtually nil. Which may actually be a good thing, my uncle's sense of 'humour' being what it is.

I'm more worried about the eating aspects of it. The birthday meal itself is not a prob - it's a posh hotel that will have reasonable choices. It's the rest of the weekend. We'll be eating out all the time, which is never good for diets. Also we'll be visiting relatives and being presented with tea, cakes and biscuits at regular intervals. I will have to come up with a plan ...


[1] where my parents are from, tho I was born and raised in Engerland