It was lovely to have snow on my birthday, really it was. I had a lovely day and felt really special. I’ve had gifts that showed me that the giver had thought of what I’d like and shopped accordingly.
I even got a couple of texts from two people who know reminding me that it was snowing on the day I was born!
We had bucks fizz followed by a full English breakfast, and after a quiet but enjoyable day we went out and had a meal at an Italian restaurant, which was really nice.
The journey home was a bit of a nightmare, my train broke down, so I had to wait over an hour for the next and missed my connection, and only caught the next train to my destination by virtue of the fact that it had been delayed by 5 minutes.
I walked to work 3 days last week, and my hips and knees protested for the next 4 days, I really could do without any more snow now til spring, but no, there’s more falling as I type. Wonderful. Hopefully this batch will only be a thin layer and will melt away soon and leave is with the crocuses and snowdrops we like to see!
Now, right this minute, I’m going to collect a cup of coffee and hang up some clean washing, probably in the reverse order, but that’s next!
Take care and stay safe.
Or rather, the post-Christmas muffin-top you get when you try and put on your work jeans that fitted fine three weeks ago only to find you have to lie on the bed to fasten them!
I wasn’t best pleased at that, they’ve been cutting into me something awful today; partly because I’ve gained weight after all the feasting we did over Christmas and partly because it’s so cold I’m wearing long leggings under my jeans at all times!
As I said just before New Year, one of my promises is to regain control over my eating habits and eat correctly 90% of the time so that I stand a better chance of reaching a healthy weight.
Change of subject now, I have rediscovered a delight of cold weather. Walking home after work through falling snow. It was absolutely beautiful. I did have to walk; the bike put up it’s usual protest about the weather and wouldn’t co-operate with me, but it didn’t really matter because I was looking at the falling snow and the light patterns and listening to the stillness.
Happy winter, and stay safe, wherever you are for the next 24 hours.
Dan and I went out for a New Years Eve do last night into the early hours. We started off going to the neighbours’ house before going to the village pub for drinks and a chat with some of the other villagers.
Later on we went back through the village to Colin and Karen’s and played games around drinks before watching the fireworks and popping party poppers and drinking champagne to welcome the New Year in. We had a great laugh and finally headed for home at 2:30 in the morning through falling snow to settle the cats and head for bed.
When we finally woke and had a full cooked breakfast a la Ted; Dee and I suited and booted and went off down the road get a breath of air and a little exercise. Generally we’ve had a quiet day but it’s been good, we’ve all needed to rest after the holiday.
Jewel is finally settling down, although she seems to be pathologically timid. Oliver is the confident one here, comfortable with the much larger house and larger group of people in a way that surprised me a bit, but I know that he is a good judge of people and that we are among good people.
Right. Time for another nap and maybe some food too. Dan’s cooking tonight!
Christmas morning was everything I’ve ever wanted a Christmas morning to be.
We had Buck’s Fizz (actually I did – everyone else had straight champagne!) while Dan sat by the tree passing around gifts to people. There were some amazing things and also some “it’s Christmas, that means it’s traditional to recieve socks!”
We had breakfast after gifts and then began the task of getting the turkey ready for the oven and the beers in the fridge.
Paul and Pauline arrived around midday while the turkey was cooking and we had a few more gifts and some more drinks.
Dinner was ready earlier than expected and we set ourselves around the table and feasted until we could hold no more – lobster bisque a la Ted, turkey with homemade stuffing, pigs in blankets, dishes and dishes of vegetables, roasted potatoes, boiled potatoes, gravy, to say nothing of the home made Christmas pudding with homemade brandy sauce!
When we finally finished eating, we moved over to the sitting room and played Trivial pursuit, which was fine until I lost by a country mile, at which point the alcohol kicked in and I cried my little heart out!
As expected, while it ws really cold, there wasn’t a white Christmas here for all that there was snow on the ground.
The cats did hide away all day as I’d expected, but Oliver did show his face later in the evening to say hello to his public!
It really is almost done now. The mincemeat is ready to bake off from this week, the cake is ready to marzipan this week, all my cards are written and most are posted, all the gifts are bought, barring a few that need to wait a few days and just need wrapping up.
My biggy is that I have found my dress for this Christmas. It’s brave and bright red and gorgeous. I’ll put it with silver sandals and some other bits and bobs and it should be great.
I think I’ve already had one of my best Christmas gifts. Last week I was finally invited for consultation with regard to the fact that my position was being made redundant. It may sound odd to be happy to be in this position, but I’ve been waiting 22 months for this meeting and it’s been hard work and quite depressing in all honesty, so yes, I’m happy. I have lots of plans and I can now put them in place within an actual timeline. [More]
I’ve been going crazy lately, fighting with crises and migraines, but I can report that six days ago I started the Christmas mincemeat.
I’m almost finished with the shopping. To be totally truthful it’s not hard to finish, my budget is fairly tight and I have a per person price limit, with one or two exceptions.
My decorations went up on Advent Sunday. I suspect a couple of eyebrows went up in the neighbourhood, but who cares; it’s the closest I could get to the first of December and I’m too busy from now on to fit it in any other time! [More]
At the end of a cold and damp week, Ted and Dan come down to Bedford to pick me up for the weekend. I only just got home in time because I thought I had time to make one final trip to Tesco before they arrived, and I did, but only just! We threw my bags of goodies including mulled wine in the car and left, just as it started to really rain! We made reasonable time and got back just after nine including stopping for chips on the way.
In the morning after bacon sandwiches, Dan and I washed up while Ted and Dee went shopping, and then we sat on the riverbank and watched the tide – until it started to rain! Dan managed to aquire a headache during the morning, so he was sent to bed with tea and paracetamol. Dee and I entered “major bonfire build mode” which entailed finding loads of scraps of wood and a few pallets and other bits, putting them together in a big heap and then packing them with newspaper, odd offcuts of wood and any other garden prunings we could lay our hands on.
Karen and Colin the neighbours came over with their firepit, Ted located and wiped off a load of garden chairs and set them on the bank ready – all while Dan slept off his headache! We got everything sorted just as the sun really started to go down, then went in to warm up and get ready for a big evening by the river.
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I spent last week staying with Dan and his parents at their home by the river Trent.
I couldn’t have timed it better really, there was a phomenon on the river called the Aegir. It’s the Trent version of the Severn Bore, and it was running on the river while I was there, and I managed to watch it twice. (out of 5 chances, but hey, it’s nature!) It was amazing to see that nature can provide an experience that is almost surreal.
Basically, at almost low water, the tide turns abruptly and a wave of water rides up over the outgoing tide, turning the tide and raising the water level significantly. The first evening I saw it, there was a wind blowing and the wave was a little harder to see as it came round, but it was still great. The next evening, the wind had dropped and the water was as smooth as glass, the wave came up and it really looked quite surreal as it came past. [More]
Happy first birthday!
You’ve changed quite a bit since we first got going, and your not at all what I thought you’d be, but I still love you.
You’ve seen lots of changes in me too, so here’s thanking you and wondering what we’ll see over the next year!
ps. your birthday gift is a new theme!
Dan and I were up bright and early despite the long journey, breakfasted, dressed and packed. It’s my sister’s wedding and we were determined to be there and to enjoy it, so we were!
Ted and Dee picked us up and took us to Cornhill Manor – the reception place, and then went on to Canons Ashby for the afternoon. My mum and Beckie shepherded us in, cameras, bags, wheelchair and all, and we were surprised by being served lunch before anything else happened! After lunch Mum showed Dan around Cornhill (it’s a place we as a family know very well) while I went upstairs and helped Anne get her 2 little girl ready. Dressed, brushed and shining, we were ready to go.
Since there wouldn’t be huge amount of walking around at the chapel, Dan elected to leave the chair in the back of mum’s car while we were there. We stood outside a while, chatting with friends and family, taking some pictures and laughing at one particular character who had obviously been dared to come along in some outrageous costume.
The various song we would be singing were printed on a handout that was (obviously) handed out as we went in. There was no bridal procession, Karen is far too shy to have survived that experience, and in another slight departure, she wore a long pale blue dress instead of a more traditional white or simmilar colour. Blue is Karen’s favourite colour, who were we to deny her that on her big day? [More]