Friday 31st December
Another ending?
We come to the end of another year. It is amazing how quickly time passes. Nick and I think that we have had a good year on the whole. We are both feeling settled and have things to look forward to in the new year. There is of course the minor matter of finding a new flat, sorting out new commuting regimes and adjusting to life without Duncan and Bronwyn but I am sure we will get through that as well.
We had a lovely Christmas. Everybody throughly spoilt us with gifts. Big thank yous go to both sets of Mums and Dads, Duncan and Karen, Julie and Adrian, Fiona and Philip and Dave and Graham. It is lovely to know that people are thinking of you on the other side of the planet. Nick also got me lots of lovely gifts including an enormous surprise, a digital camera. So now I have my very own camera to play with. This of course neccessitated a walk on Boxing Day to play with all the new features. See picture to view the macro feature of MY new camera. We also ate extremely well. We had the full traditional lunch: roast turkey, roast pumpkin, sweet potato and potato, mashed potato, carrots, zuchinni, garlic bread, gravy and cranberry sauce. This was preceeded by copious nibbles and followed by too many desserts to count. Though I have it on good authority that Nick's non-traditional Christmas cake continues to evolve and improve. The food also lasted for several days so it was good not to have to cook.
Today has already been eventful. Mainly for the wrong reasons. While eating lunch I found a huge chunk of filling in my mouth. Fortunately the crater doesn't hurt and I will wait until Tuesday for a dentist visit rather than incur the £80 call out fee for dentists this week. We did have a better afternoon. I bought some new trackpants and Nick found a very cuddly pullover in the sales.
As usual, due to my New Year-phobia, we don't have much planned for tonight. A viewing of the extended version of Fellowship of the Ring (Thanks Santa — no really it came with a tag that said from Santa) and some Champagne for Nick. We hope you all have a happy, healthy and relaxed new year.
Posted by Hogmanay Hayley
Wednesday 22nd December
Party, Party, Party
My work year is finished and I now have a break through to the 4th of January. Nick, on the other hand, is working right up to Christmas Eve. Fortunately, he was super organised with presents and mine have been sitting under the tree for weeks! However, I was sent today on a forage for exotic cake ingredients and tins so that he can whip up some creations after work on Christmas Eve. I think I did quite well, all things considered, and our Christmas shopping list is now down to things you can't buy until almost the last minute for freshness (baguette, pate, fresh herbs) or storage (turkey) reasons. Magazines recommend keeping your turkey in the garage for up to 72 hours if you don't have room in the fridge but I'm not sure our garage (currently the subject of a planning application that would result in demolition) is fox and element proof enough.
In case we needed proof it is the festive season we have been over run with parties recently. Nick had his work do and I had two work parties and my bosses mumble, mumble significant round number that is twice Nick's age birthday party. All of these have been fun events.
My two work Christmas lunches have been held at "ethnic" restaurants. The first, for all the DASS administration staff at Ladbroke House (and me), was at an Italian restaurant called Stringray. My team party was held at Zen Satori an Oriental and Asian Restaurant, that is also a training establishment that is part of the Further Education College. My food experiences are always interesting. The staff at Zen Satori tried extremely hard and I came away with a very full tummy after a little reworking of the menu. The staff at Stringray on the other hand .....
Jennie's birthday party was held at the University Women's Club. The club claims it is "a London haven for discerning women". It is located in Mayfair and the rather gratuitous instructions for getting there include references to the Ritz and the Dorchester Hotel. The club itself was once used by a film crew as the setting for a Miss Marple Murder Mystery. It is a very odd club, obviously very posh once but now rather faded. It has very high subscription rates and I suspect finds it relatively hard to recruit young members. It was however a pleasant setting for an all-girls luncheon. We began with drinks in the library before retiring to the dining room for lunch. I couldn't get over how peaceful it was inside. Two weekends before Christmas, one tube stop from Oxford Circus and you wouldn't even know you were in London. It certainly was a unique way to spend an afternoon!
Posted by Holiday Hayley
Monday 6th December
St. Nicholas Day
Yay, it's my saints day. That doesn't however make it any warmer in the mornings! It's been freezing. And dark. And did I mention it was really dark. It was a good day though. When I got home in the evening there were two parcels waiting. One for Hayley and myself - from the family Robertson - christmas presents, that are now under the tree, the other was just for me and was my main birthday present. That's right, birthday present. From back in July.
We had wanted to get me something to mark thirty years that would last. Something that wasn't likely to be used up or broken in a hurry. This took a great deal of thinking, and many ideas were suggested and shot down because of various factors. Cost, practicality and appropriateness were weighed up repeatedly. Thanks to this process I'm not the proud owner of a diesel locomotive, though it was a close call. In the end we decided to purchase me a membership in the Neil Gaiman series of limited edition books from Hill House Publishers. This membership entitles me to two limited edition works, American Gods and Neverwhere. American Gods was in the parcel today and it is beautiful. The photos on the publishers website don't do it justice at all. Anyhow I could gush on for ages about how lovely I think it is, but you've all probably got better things to do. I will finish by saying that it is a very lovely present that you all should come and see, though not touch, you might get it dirty : )
Posted by St. Nick
