2012

I have a good feeling about 2012 - not that it will be a year of unmitigated glory - but a year when I can finally do what I am meant to do - to shed some of my frustrations, and some of my weight - and make progress.  2011 has been a "square wheel" year - this is an image I have of my life - that its mechanism runs on a square wheel - so it tends to get stuck for long periods.  It takes an enormous amount of effort to push the wheel onto the next face - 2011 has been a year of herculean efforts, and now I think I have pushed the wheel forward and the new face/phase can get going - the next few days are slightly "square wheel days" since I am still bogged down in Christmas socialising.... the last "at Home" tomorrow - 8 people last night, and it was very jolly, then drinks at Eyvor and Michael's on Monday and then I think we will collapse - all ready for the new term...

I don't think my "good feeling" is wishful thinking, it's a real sense of changes in the air, it's a grounded feeling, not a Neptunian projection.   I do feel 2011 only had 9 months though, the last 3 seem to have been spent in a fog of ill-health/anxiety and stress.

Today I finally dared to look at the bank account - it's not quite as bad as I feared, and I don't think we'll need to do much food shopping for a while (although some new meat would be nice).  However, M has already invoiced for his last, small piece of work, and has no immediate work to start on.  This is worrying, it means things will get very tricky in February - but perhaps we can borrow something from Ned (again!) which I don't want to do - however, I think things will be improving financially within a few months, and the income from students will be good.  I am a bit hyper on carbs, but tonight's supper was claret, stilton and walnuts - which was very enjoyable. 

Grrrrr!

Mark has been pretty good over Christmas - although I did snap at him yesterday.  Today - after a long discussion about our respective ways of thinking about things, and an offering of a pot of daffodils - very nice! - he revealed that he'd excelled himself in idiocy.  He took a cheque my father had made out to me in my married name (which I don't use) to the bank.  I signed it on the back in my married name and told him to pay it in like that.   For some reason he took it upon himself to change my name on it, and initial the change... it will bounce and somebody will be charged (probably my father).  I wish he would just do what I asked, then if things go wrong they will be my fault and I will learn that this signing on the back thing no longer works.  Now it will definitely go wrong, because essentially he has tried to forge someone else's cheque - delaying another much needed payment. 

Finn said sweetly "never mind, maybe you could use his cheque instead." I explained that we did not use our present cheques to buy ourselves treats - rather to get through the demands of the household.   I think we will have a moratorium on eating for January - that should save some money.

It shouldn't matter, but his stupidity in practical matters is unfortunately compounded by an apparent need to ignore instructions - why?  It was my cheque, what gave him the right to write on it, especially when I'd told him what I'd like him to do.  He thinks he knows better, he doesn't.  "What do you mean your father's bank will reject it?" he said.   "Well - where do you think cheques go when you pay them into the bank?  Up into the aether as an offering to the gods?"

The true story of Christmas is this:  I worked bloody hard, the boys were helpful and Mark worked hard too on making fires and moving furniture and making up beds.  I worked hard on 24th, 25th, 26th and 27th.  On 28th we went to the Turner with Pa and when I came home I was knackered, but still had to make supper for Chris who came to visit Mark.  While Chris was here Mark went off into Markworld - a place of intense discussion about Italy, archaeology, developers, gothic architecture and so on.  It's all good stuff but like the lotos it makes him forget about other people and things - so no drink for me, no help etc.   I was getting tireder and tireder - I made a Christmas pie - and a fruit salad, we had supper, I went to bed.   Today was meant to be a rest day - but every time I try to do something he's talked to me intensely to prevent me reading, peppered me with ceaseless questions to prevent me writing, and done something so annoying and grating that I have been unable to watch and enjoy the Simpsons.   Shortly we will have to go out to a party, which I'm sure will be quite enjoyable, but I know he won't enjoy it, and he's already getting shirty about it.  

He says he hates being interrogated at parties about what he does (people love to meet a real archaeologist!).  I hate having to listen to people with strong opinions who can't discuss them, but like to churn them out... this is very likely to happen to this evening - if I am not subject to persistent monologues from men... I don't want to go out, I want to be ALONE.   I want to study and think and be able to concentrate on things.  Fat chance at Christmas.

Reading List

It's not exactly a new year resolution, but it's connected with my belief that 2012 is going to be about writing, and this is a sense that I will have to read a great deal of non-fiction and "hard stuff".  I have just started reading Teofilo Ruiz's book The Terror of History - not a particularly hard book - but I need to read research, rather than froth.

The Ruiz is interesting, but he's left something out, which I will have to return to, as it is now time for tea - followed by a drinks party at Alex's....

I feel pleased that today I have just about tidied up the desk in my bedroom... so I can use the laptop here.  It's the beginning of the new system.

Only Writing

I have started a new blog - this blog was originally meant to be a marketing tool for my writing, but has failed dismally.  Instead, I have a writing/marketing sort of blog called "Only Writing" on which details of my works and their progress can be found. 

Why did I call it that?  Because "Only writing" is the wrong answer to "what are you doing?".   If I am writing and someone asks me that I reply "I am writing, please go away and don't disturb me."  Or "Sod off and stop reading over my shoulder" etc.   This year there will be virtually nothing more important than writing. Whatever happens - et terra ruat - writing will be done, the next book will be completed, others will be fiddled with.


This blog can now be used to continue to offer cynical world-weary, optimistic, bitchy and Pollyannish comments about the passing scene - the world in general, the local community in particular.  My major problem will be what to do about local projects, which I now wish to extricate myself from.   We shall see.

Christmas Day

Well, it's over.   It went very well: we went to Midnight Mass - enjoyable, lots of carols, large congregation and then bed.  We got up early, had stockings, tea in bed, then I started the turkey etc.  We had a light breakfast - and then we did some more cooking - Ned helped to do the "pigs in blankets" - I did all the veg, and the stuffings and everything else was more or less ready.   

We went out to the beach just after midday - at first I was a bit disappointed, because didn't see anyone I knew - but then found Kai and Claire, Verity, Anette, Fran & Steven and Kirstie so we had a jolly time, and the Aldi Cava was surprisingly nice and dry.   The boys wandered about taking photos... and then we went home.  I carried on cooking - Pa and Coells came - more drinks etc. and Coells helped with the carrots (which I'd turned on without realising - and burned them) and cream for the chocolate roulade/log...

The food was very nice - although the sprouts were a bit water-logged.  The potatoes were superb... the turkey good, so generally very nice.  We ate masses - the new style christmas pudding was deemed the best by me - I have now found THE PUDDING RECIPE... it was light and fruity (figs, raisins and almonds) and really edible...this will now be the recipe for the generations. 

Then we all collapsed and sat like pythons in the sitting room for the rest of the evening - watched tv and generally behaved sluggishly.  We had nothing else to eat or drink - except some chocolates and malt whisky (and some tea at one point).

I suppose that counts as a satisfactory Christmas Day. Can't help feeling it seems a bit complacent somehow.

Christmas Eve 2

This is continuing to be a good day - I've done things I've been "meaning to do" for weeks - ironed the table cloths, prepared various things, formed a plan for tidying up the house!  And now I am feeling happy because I had a bit of a work session with the boys - got all the food out of the freezer, and dealt with the stollen... and saw that I had done a great many things already and didn't have much left to do.   So Finn made a fresh supply of fudge (coffee and walnut) and Ned made more cheese and walnut biscuits to give as presents.   And what is there to do now?

Make some truffles - and do something about a present for Gina, Ned's girlfriend - and something for the Chapmans perhaps... all these tricky delicate issues... I could make the Boxing Day trifle, and prep the veg and the other stuffing and stare at the turkey - but really it can wait a bit longer.  It's 4 and getting dark and we are listening to the King's College Carol Service.  It makes me happy, it used to make me tearful, but not this year.  So what can go wrong?  (not enough presents for someone probably...)  Birthday presents for Ben and Coellie can wait....

The major issue really is - shall I cook the ham in coke or ginger beer?  Or just the usual thing? I wonder.  The tongue is bubbling away in some flat cider - we are using up everything in old bottles... and finding great treasures: people give us port and we don't drink it - we love it, but it's a killer... so there's tons of it.  We'll have to have some this year.  We also have madeira, marsala but no sherry... strange.  No matter, we do have some evil half bottle of the v.v. sweet Pedro Ximenez.. which is like drinking muscovado sugar. 

Christmas Eve

I love Christmas Eve - if one's reasonably well organised - which I am this year, or rather the food is well organised, not sure about presents.  They keep arriving from friends, and we don't usually give friends presents for financial reasons, but because of the boys people tend to give us unfeasible quantities of sweets and biscuits... sometimes we repay with homemade fudge and truffles - but not sure if quince cheese (the local version of membrillo) is quite festive enough.  Perhaps I should go and buy some Manchego to eat with it.  Need to do a bit of snap tidying/wrapping today I think...so I will have a few return offerings for people.

And I also love Christmas Eve this year because I've had the operation, and the general anaesthetic and all my fears were of course ungrounded, and I have recovered relatively quickly, and although I spent the afternoon in bed listening to the radio and doing sudoku (it's a great compulsive thing to do with the brain while the interesting bit is otherwise engaged.   Some people like to do things with their hands when engaging with media, but I tend to do sudoku or Spider Solitaire! - terrible confession.)

So I am feeling really cheerful, and despite what they said in the hospital about the danger of fainting at the stove actually, I think it will be all right.  So a bit of light cooking - with the boys - could be great.  I might do the tongue.  I could probably do the trifle for Boxing Day - if I can make room in the fridge.   We have put a lot of things in the cellar - but the weather is really warm 11-12 degrees - so even the cellar isn't as cold as it should be at this time of year...

Thinking ahead, what the house needs is a thorough post Christmas sort out...I've got a box of stuff I set aside for a charity in the Gambia 3 years ago - haven't delivered it yet.  And we need to make room for the Colombian student we are going to have for 6 months.

Ned's had a conditional offer from his first choice university - UAE - it would be great if he went there - it's in Norwich - where Jeremy, his godfather lives, and Marge and John, and Chris, Mark's friend - so we could see them when we visit him, and perhaps he'd get to know Jeremy better.

Gosh - I really feel quite happy.  The operation was clearly hanging over me, but I've had some interesting results... first I haven't got to the menopause yet - my hormone levels are still have a good way to go.... so some of this bleeding has just been simply good old fashioned irregular bleeding associated with this.  They have fitted a coil which contains progesterone, this should balance the oestrogen which I'm producing, and this reduces a risk of uterine/ovarian cancer - as well as (I hope) discouraging the fibroids... which flourish where there's plenty of oestrogen.  We'll see - apparently if this doesn't work, it's a hysterectomy, which I admit I have a reall horror of...

Joke of the day:  As I was being wheeled into the anaesthetic room - "Have you had a pregnancy test?"
"No."  "We like to have one - perhaps we should...."
"No, it's entirely unlikely..."

Oh dear, have I become one of those middle-aged women....?   Time to get my mojo back I think.  But first, Christmas!

Displacement activity

There is so much to do - and all I want to do is write about it, because it makes me feel I am doing something.   I have made the pastry for the mince pies, and looked at the stollen recipe - and tomorrow I will make them, along with sausages, spinach and cheese filo pastries, devils on horseback and foccacia... I will also have to do the gravad lax - and tidy the dining room so that people can come in here and help themselves to drinks.

I keep finding things I haven't got: olives, pasta, etc. but then I remember that the shops will be open again one day and I will be able to deal with everything then.

So, now I am going to clear the dining room table and tag all the remaining presents and socialise with Ned & Finn...and then, when M comes back from the carol concert we might have a glass of wine and relax.

Flickers

Where do thoughts come from?  I know that sounds like a child's question - but I cannot resolve how certain thoughts insinuate themselves.  Yesterday afternoon when I was trying to organise myself I couldn't stop thinking about someone.  I wanted to, but whenever I established a new train of thought, he would seep up through the cracks and change the direction of my thinking.  Perhaps it is when one is wool-gathering - things just crop up.  I know that certain places of ideas are linked to certain things - e.g. if someone said Blenheim, one might think of Marlborough - or Winston Churchill, or Capability Brown - but what about people who suddennly crop up without any particular route... is it telepathy?  Sometimes these thoughts occur and a little later one has an email or a phone call from them.   

And what is that other (related?) phenomenon when unconscious thoughts of someone just ripple through one's mind as one is preparing to sleep?  I associate a lot of this with times when I've been in love, but it is disturbing when it happens apparently spontaneously.  Perhaps my mind's just shedding futile ideas?

Christmas Jazz

Last night went out to see a fantastic jazz band - the Harbour Jazz Orchestra - led by Paul Booth - a wonderful saxophonist.  Stupidly I didn't reserve tickets, but Eric (Paul's father who runs the club) found us seats next to the band - so we saw them from the back!   There were a number of arrangements of Christmas songs: Winterwonderland, the Christmas Song, White Christmas, We Three Kings, Silent Night and a fantastic version of "God Rest you Merry Gentlemen".   Interspersed were some more standards: The Man I love and a wonderful BirdLife -which was just so exciting.  Incredible the effect that 11 people working together can have - each of them good in him/herself - together quite sensational. 

The setting was in a very bland hotel - the Pegwell Bay Hotel - an extraordinary building which has been done up in typical dreary swirly-carpeted hotel style.  The room we were in has a terrace - which you can stand on and look out over Pegwell Bay.  Since it was night you could see the lights of Deal and lots of ships, lightships and one or two of the French lighthouses, and some French skyglow.  Very atmospheric - and cold.  I didn't drink, which I was pleased about - a St Clements is a nice drink if you don't have it all the time.

Today's Christmas tasks:  all the ones I wrote about the other day, plus cleaning the fridge to receive the vast shopping delivery.    Our first "At Home" evening is tomorrow - so need to prepare a few snacks for that (sausages, mince pies, devils on horseback, spinach and fetta pastries, bits of stollen, some foccacia perhaps - and lots of crisps and mulled wine).  We had a very successful birthday supper last night and Ned's girlfriend Gina joined us.  I made the famous coconut cake - which the boys just adore and the brown bread ice cream, and an exemplary steak and kidney pudding - Ned, mirabile dictu - said he really liked it, and ate all the kidney - Finn left his. 

Not getting on top of Christmas

About half an hour of difficult phone calls from the hospital about WHERE the operation will take place.   I get cold and snotty and horribly rational (why am I so unpleasant?) and then realise it is because I am actually horribly frightened of general anaesthetics... and wish I didn't have to have one.  Having been told it was essential I had the op in the main theatre to be near ICU in case anything went wrong with the anaesthetic, I have now been told that it will be fine for me to have it in the Day Surgery Unit - so I am now slightly worried that not all will be so well.  However, I have been reassured by Dr Ishmael (he's the one to sue if I die!) that it will be fine, I am now back where I was before... not by the ICU - but on the same date (there was talk of arranging a different date).   Last time I was in hospital I wrote a letter to M and the boys "in case" - because I was the closest to death I had ever been.  I suppose I ought to do another one... but I don't want to be melodramatic. 

I'm sure it's all right - it's not major surgery, no cuts will be made, no wounds, so why a general - why can't they do it with a local or an epidural... Anyway, the distress caused by these calls has delayed me further, so now M and I are mopping up the outstanding Christmas cards instead.... chasing up all the lost addressses etc.   Eeek.  Must make the ice cream and the cake at least today.  We are going out to see the incredible Harbour Jazz Orchestra later.

My Week with Marilyn was very enjoyable - lots of lush production values, I loved Judy Dench as Sibyl Thorndike - who knew she was such a lefty?  And Branagh's Olivier was great, as was Michelle Williamson as Monroe.  Usual hordes of great Brit character actors: Dougray Scott, Michael Kitchen, Jim Carter, Zoe Wannamaker, Dominic Cooper, Simon Russell Beale - I started to wonder which British Character Actor was not in it (Jim Broadbent and Timothy Spall chiefly).

Getting on Top of Christmas

Yesterday was M's official birthday, his mother, brother and sister in law came and we had a very happy day.  The food was great (of course! she said modestly) and we had some very nice wine that Polly had bought us last year... we've eked out that case well, and the next one's due on Christmas Day!

M's actual birthday is tomorrow - and we have his presents - although not his card - I've lost it!  I was going to make croissants, but as we're going to the cinema tonight to see My Week with Marilyn he isn't going to get homemade croissants.     I will make the steak and kidney pie and brown bread ice cream.  The traditional meal!   But the boys want me to make a cake - I was going to make a chocolate and orange one, but they want a coconut one - he'd probably prefer it, so I shall do one.

I did some shopping today, and wrapped all the outstanding presents - but I haven't done any cooking yet.   Should marzipan the cake today really.

I had begun to fret about not having ordered a turkey - and then realised I could buy one on-line from Ocado.  I feel sorry I haven't bought stuff from Hazell's the good local butcher - but I didn't get around to ordering it in time... So now that I have ordered turkey and gin I feel pretty ok about the shopping. 

So all I have to do is:

hand - deliver a few cards, assemble Coellie and Ben's food parcels, get Finn to make more fudge, and

make marzipan, ice cake, make mince pies, stollen etc etc and remember to defrost salmon to make gravadlax, cook ham and tongue, do some foodie things for our "At Home" on 22nd - and, oh, just a few little bits and pieces.  Damn, better stop blogging and start cooking again.

Night Thoughts

I have been awake for an hour and a half; I stop myself worrying about specifics (money mostly) by playing Spider Solitaire while listening to the BBC World Service.  It's rather more enjoyable usually than Radio 4, because Radio 4 news is all about the UK and European and US economy - which simply reinforces one's financial anxiety.   The World Service however was not consoling this morning - since there were news stories of a saddening nature.

However, I then felt I ought to think about the positive things that this year's upheavals have brought.  The arab spring ought to bring about some better results (although we will all feel differently if some really dire Islamic parties take power).  Is that it?  There must be other good news - but in my currently depressed state I cannot think of any.

I am not worrying about my operation, and biopsy - is that because they are too worrying?  No, I think it's because I don't have a gut feeling that this is going to "go bad".   Also because it would just be too ludicrous for me to get cancer too... there isn't any in my family, I don't think I've had any particular experiences which suggest I might be prone to it.   If I didn't get cervical cancer when I was younger (and had a partner with genital warts) then I doubt if I've mysteriously developed it now.  Of course, there's uterine and ovarian and endometrial to worry about too... but I don't.  

I am vaguely worried about Christmas - whether I will get enough rest and relaxation.  I am already feeling a bit tired, but have a plan!  I will cook this morning and then take a break this afternoon - lie down and read.  This is something I never do nowadays.  I should just read and stop fiddling about with the computer, pretending to be doing stuff.

At the moment I am reading The Victorians by ANWilson which is deeply enjoyable and has performed a mind shift.  I now understand why it was not a completely despicable thing to be a Tory/Conservative in the 19thC and why the Liberals were not necessarily a "Good Thing", since they tended to be laissez-faire urban mercantile capitalists - whose interest in modern ideas was often a bit like Henry Ford's "what's good for business is good for America" - ie not always interested in what was good for people, but what was good for themselves and their commercial interests.   I am only surprised because I actually did O-level Victorian History and I remember none of this.  I wondered what I did remember: the 1832 Reform act and the Chartists, the Irish Potato Famine, late 19thC social reforms, such as licensing laws etc.   I don't remember anything about Crimea, I think we did the Boer Wars and the Jameson Raid... but the book is a revelation and full of juicy anecdotes.  I have begun to like Carlyle and think it might be time for me to finally read Sartor Resartus  which I have owned for about 30 years!

Christmas Shopping

Well, with 10 days to Christmas (or is it 9) I have finally made some inroads on the shopping.  I have been cooking for a week or so, and have shoved into the freezer a load of chestnut stuffing, some red cabbage, a chocolate roulade for the boys (they don't like Christmas pudding).   I have bought a ham, and frozen it and industrial quantities of sausages - some to accompany the turkey - others to eat at parties...

I had this idea that it might be nicer to have people drop in casually over the Christmas season - advertised that we would be "At Home" on certain dates.  Then I suddennly panicked - will they all expect vast quantities of food - probably not, but since I usually make a lot of food.... Today I rebelled a bit, I thought, let me blend with the furniture for a change - let me not stand out by having made endless efforts for these events.  So I decided I would not do more than 5-6 plates of food for these things - and make a vat of mulled wine and have some plain alternatives - and hope for the best.  We could crack open some of our weird and wonderful drinks - and we still seem to have plenty of vermouth in the cellar.

Now I've calmed down a bit - I need a few presents for kids - and a mother in law pressie - and perhaps something small for my father - (he has a book coming)... something for the boys to give him (fudge/truffles) and probably something for the boys to wear.   The trouble is, I sort of promised them winter coats - and I am not sure if we can afford them...

What shocked me today was how much money I spent - I realise that it's the same every year - we usually go to France and buy loads of nice food and booze - but this year we haven't, so we have had to buy food and booze here... rather more expensive for booze.  Still, we don't need much more now except a turkey and some fruit and veg - so  nothing major.  It's almost over....

Apart from the cooking of course: mince pies, stollen etc. and perhaps a few brownies, should I have made a cake for Pa?  Could he have half of ours?  So many things to think of.

This is probably the mindless wittering category - no matter, the exterior political situation is so grim and upsetting that I cannot bear to comment on it.

That Eclipse...

OK, here's some astrology.  The eclipse - which happens at full moon and is believed bring about a crisis or the end of an issue... in this case it happened in my 8th house which suggests the issue would be involved in money shared with other people, e.g. property, inheritance, benefits, grants, and.... tax.  So on Friday, when I was feeling nice and sanguine, we got a letter from HMRC inviting us to pay them £2,248 immediately, or suffer "distraint of your possessions" i.e. they could come and take our goods to sell them.  M suggested borrowing from his mother - she told us to call Tom, his brother, and he suggested we  borrow from Ned.  So we borrowed from Ned - it will take a few days for the fund to clear, but then we will have sorted out our tax for the year, and we have some money ready for January, so all we have to worry about is July now.  We set up a standing order to repay Ned (with interest!) - and all is well(ish).  So that was the eclipse...

Now, I am normally sanguine about retrograde Mercury - one copes, but this year it seems to have come with particularly heavy boots on, rather than the usual winged sandals.... not only has our major client cheque this month been delayed (it still hasn't arrived), but the tax letter was 8 days late, my computer has broken down, and is still being repaired, and of course the car was still off the road.  Today Mark went up to London to do some work - only to find they hadn't sorted out the necessary paperwork.  I haven't been able to Christmas shop (as predicted by Susan Miller) because either I haven't had a car (necessary for carrying sacks of potatoes, logs etc.) or, as now, haven't had the money - until the cheque clears!  Roll on Wednesday when it goes direct again!

The other bad news over the period is that our friend D (L's husband) has got bowel cancer - they think it is curable, was caught early.  He's having the operation on Friday.   Too much bad news at the moment - that's the fourth close, young friend with cancer in the last 18 months...it must be ghastly for her, but perhaps like me she doesn't imagine the worst if she can avoid it.  More concerned about how his freelance work will be effected at present (I know the feeling).

Given that Susan Miller has been ludicrously accurate this month let's hope all the good stuff she proposed for the rest of the month comes true!   No news about the book - but I've been thinking a lot more about 17 Years.  I'm thinking it could work.

We got the car back - and I immediately celebrated by going and buying in some Christmas supplies.

The Eclipse!

I have great hopes of this eclipse - usually a turning point of some kind - this one is meant to be a slightly sinister one for me - but it could be good.  I am still waiting for that nice agent to return my book with regrets, but what I actually hope is that she will make some suggestions for changes which I can incorporate rapidly and then start the new year with a powerful attack on Conscience.  I love the Romantic Feminist but it's time for it to be finished - otherwise 17 years will never get written, but at least if I have an agent, I will be able to get some advice about the kind of weird structures I am thinking of.... running parallel alternative scenarios perhaps... can't help feeling it would be too confusing.  But it would be a challenge to do it.  And it might be a good way of getting more insight into the characters, and seeing how they change through their different choices.   I fear that it could begin to look like one of those novels that has been influenced by computer games, which isn't the idea - it's more the idea of trying to incorporate life's "what ifs?" into a narrative.  I expect it's been done before, but I'd like to have a bash at it.  Conscience is a much more traditional novel - which is right for it's subject and period... If I can afford it, I'd like to start doing some regular research at the Imperial War museum, but there's a new website with lots of old papers online, so that might save a lot of effort, even if one has to pay - it's £35 to go to London, so it might be worth it.

Night Flights

The local airport - which has an extremely long runway - since it was designed to help ailing fighter planes land during World War 2 - has been proposing night flights for some time.  They are not allowed to fly them, but in fact we have been having regular night flights for some months, the other night it was an Egyptian Cargo Flight just before midnight, this morning was something else (which I slept through - I do occasionally).  The local, Conservative, council supports the airport operator - but last night there was a vote of confidence and a new, Labour leader was elected.  Will this make a difference?  I hope so, everyone seems to think so, but I fear that the last Labour council wasn't particularly heroic - and whether this new council will do any better remains to be seen, however, everyone on the forum is behaving as if he were Barack Obama (in the days when he was Barack Obama...) or Tony Blair (in the days before he became Prime minister).

Oh well, it's better than the old regime I guess.

An early Christmas present?

Went to hospital today for the pre-operative assessment.  They decided I needed to be in a different operating theatre - one close to intensive care in case there were problems with the anaesthetic (well - you know what it did to michael Jackson).  This means I need to have the operation on 23rd - 2 days before Christmas.  There's never a good time obviously, but it means I won't be able to cook for 2 days before the Great Day!   Interesting.... I suppose I'll just have to be incredibly organised - and indeed I have been deep in the spreadsheets for days, planning which tasks will be done on which days. 

With luck the car will be back on the weekend, which will herald a vast outburst of shopping... even so, it's going to be tricky.

I think we are looking at an interesting time - 22nd - drinks party here (no alcohol 24 hours before op), 23rd 8.00 am operation... 23rd pm - go home and go to bed.  24th Stay in bed.  25th leap up refreshed to cook large dinner for everyone... it'll be fine.   "Can your husband cook?" the nurse asked.   "No."   Well, only fry ups and spagh. carbonara.... It just means adjusting all the timings - I'll have to cook the ham on 26th and we can have it hot - and do the tongue well in advance, and the gravadlax - but this is not for the blog - back to the spreadsheets!

I just hope that the next drinks party on 27th won't be too much like hard work... and that Ned and Finn will develop a fascination with making canapes!

Christmas Parties

We have been to our first Christmas party - which was very nice.  We decided not to have one this year, since I can't face it - for some reason I thought that having 4 mini-parties was a better idea.  Actually, it just means more stress and washing up.  But I think we can handle it. 

We decided to have an "At Home" i.e. inform people that we were open for visits on certain dates.  My first thought was to invite everyone I knew - and then I calmed down a bit and thought that really I wanted to have people I really liked.  Then of course you realise if you invited those people, and other people hear about it they'd be hurt... - so now the list includes a few "can't be avoided" invitations.  However, there are a couple of people I haven't invited.  Well, one who is so dominant socially and annoys people so much... I left him off.

In the ideal "At Home" scenario about half a dozen people turn up - and have a civilised chat by the fire... what the reality will be remains to be seen: there will be some where no one turns up (how restfull!) and some where screaming hordes turn up with dogs and children... and the food runs out.  Then there's the other possibility that the 4 most socially awkward people one knows will turn up and not talk to each other....

Actually, if things go well, we might institute an "At Home" every month or so - the old "salon" idea.  Although I doubt we could make the conversation so high-minded...

magdalen idiocy contd.

S sent me a link for a book/DVD rebutting all the Da Vinci Code stuff... but I think the book they were referring to was something more specific to the woman herself.  As for the research element - there used to be that computing saying "Garbage in, garbage out" - GIGO! it applies to books too.

The remainder of this entry had been censored for privacy reasons