So then – January 1st already – who the hell's been speeding up the Time off Work dial?? Has been a leisurely but varied Crimbo in 3 main stages of stufferoony.
1. Nesting Chez Stroud Road: We were meant to be having Zoe for the week before Christmas, but needless to say, the Queen of Evil cocked up all the plans and poor H had a 6 hour round trip to Bristol on Xmas Eve, so he could handover Zoe's presents, and she didn't make it to Londinium.
So, that made for a quieter week than anticipated, mostly filled with final present wrapping, Olga coming for lunch, seeing Mum off in a biddy wheelchair at LHR en route to my sisters, an epic night on the sausages and vodka at Pams (astounded I wasn't sick and sorry that someone ate your pork pie, but it still wasn't me!), Singalong Carols at the Albert Hall (hosted by Jonathan Cohen who used to present Play Away for anyone equally old enough to remember him. Apparently Brian Cant was in the audience too… throwback to the 1970s or what). We came out to loads of snow and trotted off to spend a packet in the fab Wholefoods Store in High St Ken – what an awesome array of scoff – with some fairly awesome price tags too, no wonder they're about to go under! But was worth £6 for a tub of blackcurrants, lychees and kiwi – my how good they were in a massive vodka martini.. or three that week. Hic.
Xmas Day was a highly indulgent day a deux chez nous… .copious amounts of food, drink and – bliss – no-one else except our bods layed on the sofa and our two furballs. Ahhhh…
2. Hollandia: Yes, it was Groundhog Xmas.. on Boxing Day we duly boarded our KLM flight (so much better than BA, quite shocking how nice their service is, considering they are 'rude' Dutchies!) and had 3 days avec Sis and lovely little Lily Rose niece in Clogland. Wild exploits like coffee with ancient Uncle Jan in his old people's home abounded… bless him, he'd ordered 'lunch' even though we were coming at 10.30 and leaving at 12, so having just had a whopping Dutch brek of bread, ham and cheese we got to his place and had… more bread, ham and cheese. Except slightly staler and with a whiff of cabbage about it. Glad we'd made up some nibbles for the airport as well, that 3rd round of… bread, ham and cheese was nearly a deal breaker!
Also met up with Beth, a chum who's in the GB Olypic squad for hockey – can you believe they are all giving up work and training full time from now till summer 2012 (on bugger all cash) to give them a good chance of a medal? She's given up her job with Nike in Holland, moved back in with the parentals near the training ground in the UK and left her partner in Holland for the time being, a right toughie – now that's commitment… and enough to make you feel like a right lardy bloater, knocking back a pint as she sat there with her Diet Cokes! Good girl…. do a few gym sessions for me while you're at it?
3. Cottage: Just back from last 2 nights chez Capon at Janine & Rossco's cottage in West Sussex. Vast over eating interspersed with walks, fireworks and 2 new board games – EYEdentity, the brand/advertising game (Mikey and Madge – you have to come and play this, its not great but there are US brands on there so you two can only triumph against us!) and a retro couple of hours on the classy Mr & Mrs game. H is still grumpy that I couldn't remember where he was born or his parents' names… Amazed we all avoided a row, can see how it would usually result in some corkers!
And now one more weekend till back to… boo, hiss, look behind you…. work schmerk. Bit of a tough prospect in a lot of ways, as seem to be in Turkey, New York, Moscow and Turkey again in the first 5 weeks of the year, but will prob seem easier once am back in the flow… and once the airmiles hit my decimated account. Please don't let BA downgrade me from Gold to Blue in one foul swoop – here's hoping Silver cards hit the mat in early Feb and we don;t have to queue with the hoi polloi quite yet….
Happy New Year you fabulous people – may we all lose the Xmas lard and please let my hair not be orange all year. Note to self: Buy more dye in Sains tomorrow, the photo we took today looked like I had a ginger monk-style bowly…. gopping! Sx