East to the north side of Nottingham to deliver Christmas presents and visit my aunt and uncle and stay with my aunt in Hucknall. She recommended a very good Thai restaurant and we all crashed out fairly early. Before we left in the morning, my decluttering attempts failed again when she gave me several bound copies of the National Geographic (1948 through to the 1950s). James was very keen to go the the huge Newark antique fair so we headed northeast, passing Southwell (worth another look at some point) and found the fair. It is huge and another thing ticked off in ‘A thousand things to see before you die’. I was not tempted but James found a lovely vintage silk tie. The storm was approaching fast and traders began packing up as we left, with things starting to fly all over the place. We had not been tracking its progress as we had not had the TV, computer or radio on at Aunty Mary’s. We decided that small roads (more likely to have fallen trees) were best avoided and headed up the A1 to our planned stop in Alnwick. Needless to say we made very slow progress until we got past the M62. Southbound there was a truck on its side but no explanation for our very slow progress northbound. Eventually we arrived to a very warm welcome. Had dinner in town and the weather had unfortunately put a chill on the late night Christmas shopping Alnwick had planned. Very few people around but, as the first customers in one shop – not only did we sip some mulled wine but they were so pleased to see us they gave us a discount on the gift we bought. Will keep quiet about what it was in case the recipient reads this. Tomorrow the spending might be more and decluttering will not apply as I hit Barter Books in the old station before heading up to Edinburgh.