Category Archives: Christmas

The Nights are (Fair) Drawing In

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It’s starting to feel quite wintery outside, though really it’s still late autumn. I’m in Yorkshire again and there are still a few leaves clinging to the trees, though there are more on the ground.

While that leaf reminded me of flames (next project must be to get some kind of cosy fire in my house) most are shades of brown. Triar has started a new game where instead of pooing on grass, he’s choosing piles of leaves. As anyone who’s ever tried to spot doggy doo among a pile of leaves will testify, it’s quite a challenging game!

While I am trying to keep up my 7,500 steps a day (thank you WalkFit) the darkening evenings and wet weather are making it tougher. There’s mud now down Blackbird Lane and anyway, it’s too dark down there at night for it to be enjoyable, so though we still go there in the mornings, evening finds us walking the damp streets, admiring the foggy drizzle as we walk through pools of light from the street lights. Soon, of course, there will be Christmas lights to offer more colour in the darkness, but despite the best efforts of the shops, the Christmas spirit hasn’t quite descended yet.

That said, I did watch Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone last weekend. It’s one of my annual Christmas pilgrimages and it takes time to watch all seven films. I’m also in a mood to get the last seven chapters of my novel finished. It’s set in the lead up to Christmas and definitely easier to write when the evenings are long and the mood is upon me. I’ve been writing it for years and have considered abandoning it, but I’m so far through that it seems daft not to complete it. Then maybe I can put it behind me and start something else.

It feels odd to me that Bonfire Night has been and gone, leaving barely a mark. I did hear fireworks now and then. There was a spent rocket in Blackbird Lane the other morning, but it was always such a big part of my childhood that it seems very muted now. I guess I was lucky growing up. My dad loved bonfires and fireworks weren’t frowned upon as they seem to be now. But with the build up to Christmas getting earlier, it does feel like the autumn celebrations of Halloween and Guy Fawkes now feel like they are merging into some kind of early winter celebration. Instead of seeing notices for a local fireworks display around 5th November, then Christmas lights being switched on in early December, I’m seeing mid-November dates for the lights.

Maybe I’m just getting old. The neighbour’s children certainly went out Trick or Treating. I took them some sweets round and was rewarded by the neighbour clipping the top of my too-tall to reach hedge from the roof of his shed. I have no idea if those things were related, but it felt like it to me.

Project garden is moving slowly. The top part now looks neatish, with the exception of a flowerbed that is still choked with ground elder. I’ve planted most of the bulbs I bought with Valerie and have filled my brown bin each fortnight with hedge clippings. The bin service stops through the winter so there’s only one more to go this year. Next weekend, I’ll try to get more hedges cut. At least the growth is slowing down, so anything I do will be easy to keep under control until spring.

For now though, I’d better get up and take Triar out. Those 7,500 steps are not going to walk themselves. I will leave you with some photos taken last Sunday, driving back to Dumfries from Lochmaben. Amazing how the light changes, depending on the weather and the direction of the sunlight.

Hope you have a good week and thanks for reading.

O Come…

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So Christmas day has come and gone. The butcher in Settle created a decent enough ribbe (pork roast joint, traditional in Norway) even if he cut the crackling into cross-hatched diamonds instead of squares. There were roast potatoes and pigs in blankets and Triar barked so much at the first cracker that we gave up with only one cracked. Odd that he can withstand fireworks outside without blinking an eye, but inside the house, it’s a definite no.

His harness is also significantly tighter than it was when we came down five days ago. I know he had his usual pig in blanket Christmas dinner, but in addition, I suspect he’s been a useful receptacle for leftovers in a house where throwing away food is anathema and that was before he pinched an entire packet of Scottish tablet that he found in one of the bedrooms. That was only yesterday. By some miracle, we have made it through the night, undisturbed. I was expecting explosions at one end or the other, but it seems his digestive system is robust enough to withstand 600 calories of sugar and butter. We’re going to have to do a whole lots of walking when we get home to get it all back off again. As for him, no worries about explosions, he’s still hoping for more.

Christmas highlights included Triar opening his present. This year’s annual Kong teddy is a festive red effort. I also had a lovely laugh during a Zoom Christmas Eve church service I attended. I have started going to church in Scotland and wanted to go on Christmas day, but it was complicated by the fact that I was chief cook.

I know when I was a child, we used all to go to Church on Christmas morning. Grandma must have left the turkey cooking and we likely ate late, but I didn’t think that would work, and so I began to consider remote attendance. Geoff, one of my friends from the writing group I attend – also Donna’s father-in-law – is responsible for the video link in his church up in Lockerbie and so I asked him, and very conveniently, their Christmas service was on Christmas Eve.

It was a nice enough service and the filming was excellent, but the pièce de résistance came during the final carol – Oh Come All Ye Faithful. A small child had been called up to light the Christmas candle and he remained near the microphone in the aftermath. O Come, All Ye Faithful had quite a lot of verses and I spent the first couple smiling at the man who was unable to resist singing the first Oh come, let us adore him, despite the instruction that only the women should sing, but as the verses went on, the small child began at first, humming the chorus, as if to alleviate the boredom, and as the hymn went on, he was getting more and more into it. By the last chorus, he was belting the O comes out, wonderfully tunelessly. For Geoff, it highlighted a technical problem with the microphone, but I loved the raucous singing as that little boy found some entertainment. It’s also a reminder to me of the lack of children in the church I have joined. If the church is to survive, we need to embrace its children and smile at whatever they bring.

On Boxing Day, John, Yoana and I braved the fog on the tops and drove over to Malham for a walk to Janet’s Foss at Malham. Everyone else seems to have had the same idea, but we found a parking space and had a lovely walk.

Towards the end, the sun almost broke through and for a moment, there was blue sky.

But the mist met us again as we drove back up the hill and it’s been grey and damp in Settle every day since. I worked yesterday. I had received permission to work in Yorkshire for a day, though had something urgent come in, I would have had to rush back. My emergency kit is in the car. But now I am on holiday until the 7th of January, so I can now hopefully relax and maybe get a bit of writing in.

Anyway, wherever you are, I hope you have found some joy in this Christmas time. Thank you for reading and I will see you all in the new year.

Looking Up

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It feels a long time ago now, but last weekend with Valerie and Charles was wonderful. Having slept well after hot chocolate laced with brandy in the hot tub with Valerie, we all headed out on a drive through Kippen to Fintry. It’s a beautiful area of Scotland and one with some special memories for me. Thirty five years ago, as a vet student, I saw practice in Kippen. It was there that I was first sent in to do a consultation on my own on a lovely grey rabbit. There was also a parrot in the waiting room that used to meow at the dogs, then tell them to shut up, if they started to bark.

We stopped off at the Courtyard Cafe on Knockraich Farm for lunch. It was beautifully decorated for Christmas and the lights at the top of the page were above us as we dined. I had a ploughman’s lunch, followed by a mince pie with Bailey’s flavoured ice cream. It was delicious.

Having stopped off at Lidl, Valerie and I had another hot tub session m this time with gluhwein. The thought has just crossed my mind that I told mum yesterday that I barely drink alcohol, and now I’m making it sound as if we had a truly boozy weekend, but it was a lovely moment and the gluhwein was very reminiscent of Norwegian gløg. All it needed was some chopped nuts and raisins.

We went to the Christadelphian church service in Stirling on Sunday morning, where I was made to feel very welcome, as I have been on the other occasions I’ve attended. We stayed for a shared lunch and afterwards I rolled up my sleeves and did some of the washing up. I can feel a real sense of community there, which has been lost in many places, following Covid.

We headed off for a last coffee at the River House in Stirling. Valerie had promised me Christmas decorations and it didn’t disappoint. I love the contrast between the classic beauty of the Courtyard Cafe and the exuberant British, Nordic style decorations here below.

Back to work on Monday and a feeling of nervousness as I went out to blood sample some sheep that had moved from parts of England that are now under restrictions for Bluetongue. It’s too cold now for the mosquitoes that carry it to become infective, but the two sheep both came up a few months back, when the weather was warmer and before the restrictions were in place. Tracing a disease that isn’t spread by direct contact, and which may not show up for some months is a complicated business.

So far, it hasn’t been found up here, but we are staying vigilant. It had been a long time since I had taken blood samples from sheep, but the two visits went okay and I sent all the paperwork in by the next day. I haven’t heard back yet from the debriefing team, even though I spotted an error in one of the forms, so it will doubtless come winging back to me at some point. There are now confirmed cases of avian influenza down in Norfolk, so there could be busy times coming up.

Tuesday was an easier day; I visited a couple of vet practices. Most mixed vet practices in Scotland do some work for the government, checking for notifiable diseases like anthrax, brucellosis and TB. As part of my job, I go out and visit them, partly to check they have suitable equipment, but also for outreach. They are routinely out on many more farms than I am, and if they see anything that we could help with, I hope that they would feel that reaching out was possible. Vets used to work for the ministry for years, but now there’s a constant churning of staff and that continuity has been lost. Changing that will require the political will to improve and invest, so I’m not holding my breath, but in the meantime, I try to present a friendly face.

I also stopped off at ReadingLasses in Wigtown for a lunch of coffee and cake, with a good book to read. The cake was delicious, and this time I bought the book too.

And now, it’s the last weekend before Christmas and I’m going to spend some of it painting. The work on my house is progressing and, having painted the new shower room, the joiner came yesterday to fit the waterproof boards behind the shower. I made a start on one of the bedrooms last night. It still astonishes me how much of the paint sinks into the new plaster. It’s much harder work than normal painting, but also important to do a good job. Hopefully, in the not-too-distant future, I’ll be ready for visitors.

Anyway, I wish you all a peaceful and happy Christmas. Thanks for reading.

Food and Festivity

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This week I’ve been out for two Christmas dinners! Last weekend, despite Storm Darragh doing its best to keep me home, I made a run for Yorkshire on the Friday. Mum had booked us a meal at the lovely Middle Studfold Farm on Sunday and I didn’t want to miss it. Middle Studfold is a farm where they do bed and breakfast as well as meals at weekends. Set in Ribblesdale in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales, it’s a gorgeous, stone farmhouse. The attached tearoom was tastefully decorated and wonderfully cosy.

We were soon pulling Christmas crackers and enjoying the Christmas music. I had chosen field mushroom with goats cheese as my starter and it didn’t disappoint.

Then came the traditional turkey with trimmings. The parsnip was particularly delicious, mashed and flavoured with horseradish and the stuffing has inspired me to experiment with adding chestnuts to my usual recipe.

I had to head up the road soon afterwards, but it would have been wonderful to have lingered over dinner and perhaps stayed overnight. I would highly recommend it for a lovely warm Yorkshire Dales welcome.

It was a good week at work and I revisited one of my welfare cases and found no further problems, so I was able to close the case for now, which was a good feeling in the run up to Christmas. Because of the way the algorithms are set up, there will be another inspection, likely within the next year, which is also good as we will be able to monitor whether the changes are continuing. I hope they are as it felt like a positive visit with real progress being made.

There was a second festive feast for me this week with A Novel Approach, the writing group I am involved with in Lockerbie. We’ve had a couple of mini writing retreats recently, which I have enjoyed enormously and now it was time to celebrate. I decided against the turkey this time, though everyone else’s did look very good. I had a beef collop on clapshot with a haggis fritter. If that all needs translating, a collop seems to be a slice of meat and the word is thought to be derived from escalope. It was circular and I had wondered whether it was from the cheek, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Clapshot is mixed potato and swede. The haggis fritter probably speaks for itself and it was all served with a whisky infused gravy, so there was a lovely Scottish flavour to the whole thing.

Regular readers might remember that I am using the Second Nature app, kindly provided by the NHS and despite all this food, I am still following it. The principle of having half your plate filled with vegetables, quarter with protein and quarter with complex carbs is actually quite easy to fit in with meals out. Even though I don’t follow it perfectly, it’s far easier than having to weigh everything at every meal and I have lost one and a half stone so far, but that is why there are rarely cake pictures on here these days. That’s not to say it never happens, but it’s now a rare treat and most of the time I vote for the healthier option.

Somerton House Hotel where we had our Christmas meal was also decorated. I love the whole build up to Christmas. It lends such cosiness to the darkest days of the winter.

And now I am at Valerie’s for the weekend. I fear there may be cake in the near future as she has proposed a visit to Fintry and a garden centre today. Last night I was greeted by various gardens and houses crammed with lights and illuminations and I was reminded of walking round the village at this time of year, when the children were young, searching out the “crazy houses” with their wonderful light shows. Yesterday evening’s soak in the hot tub with hot chocolate was a relaxing start to the weekend. Now I can hear people outside scraping ice from car windows, so maybe tonight, I will have the hot tub on ice experience.
Have a lovely weekend all and thanks for reading!

Missing Norway

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I don’t have many photos this week. Though I was out and about a couple of days, the weather has mostly been grey and uninspiring. Now we are in the midst of Storm Darragh (though where I am, in Yorkshire, it doesn’t seem to be windy) so I’m not likely to rush out and get many pictures. As you can see from the picture at the top of the page, I have made myself an advent crown and have actually bought the proper purple candles that are common in Norway.

I am enjoying the advent calendars from Jacquie Lawson I was given last year and the year before. The Sussex one is particularly lovely. One thing I didn’t notice the first year was that the snow in the pictures gets gradually deeper as the days go by. I only realized when it reset last year, because it happened gradually. I took a couple of screenshots for comparison.

I’ve also just realised that I took the pictures at different times of day as well. It actually gets dark at night in the calendars. They really are beautifully detailed and I love looking at them in the lead up to Christmas.

There are Christmas programmes starting to appear on TV as well. Last night, we watched Susan Calman take a Christmas trip on Hurtigruten (boats that travel up and down Norway taking goods and passengers as well as tourists). She stopped off at the North Cape and at Finnsnes to visit Senja and it brought back so many wonderful memories. Though winter was very long, it was stunningly beautiful. I was rarely short of photos to share with you.

I am often asked if I regret coming back and it’s a difficult thing to answer. There were things over there that I loved. I enjoyed working for Mattilsynet more than I enjoy working for APHA, though the barriers thrown up by my imperfect grasp of the Norwegian language were always an impediment. I miss the magical feeling when the aurora lit up the night sky in its slow, endless dance. I miss my friends. I contacted Trude a few days ago when I was investigating a welfare referral from the slaughterhouse and just that small act brought me joy, as do the messages and photos from Shirley.

I feel incredibly blessed in the friends department though, as since returning to Scotland, I’ve also reconnected with many wonderful people, as well as meeting new ones. I guess the answer to whether I regret coming back is, mostly no. The reasons I returned are still there and I have some incredible memories to look back on. I guess my main wish would be that I could travel more and spend time in both countries.

I entered a Christmas card competition at work. They asked for winter pictures, which I have plenty of. The one I sent in was taken on a wonderful walk on Senja with John and Triar. It was taken in 2020, our first year there and our first Polar night. An icy cold day in December, with the sun, just below the horizon, casting amazing golden light through the bare branches of the trees. I expect the competition will be stiff, but hopefully they will enjoy my entry.

I don’t know if I mentioned it, but I’ve already booked another holiday in Shetland for next year. That’s in May, so something to look forward to. I’ve booked a pet friendly cabin, so Triar will be able to explore Shetland with me this time. I mentioned it last night and Mum asked me last night when I would be going to Norway, which is a difficult question. Not because I’m not intending to go, but because I’m finding it hard to know what time of year I should visit. I’m very tempted to go up North during Polar night, but that won’t be this winter. I feel like a holiday hoarder, saving up the days and calculating how many I can spare for all the places I want to go!

Anyway, the rain is hammering against the window and it feels like time to go and make a nice hot coffee. Today is probably going to be a day for huddling inside. I hope that, wherever you are, that you stay safe. Have a good week all!

Tractors and Turkey Dinners

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Last weekend, despite the storm, a group of us gathered at Donna’s for an afternoon of gin tasting. My favourite was a Marks and Spencer Clemantine gin liqueur with bits of gold leaf in it, that had a light bulb in the base of the bottle so that it lit up with a kind of snow globe effect. Happily, we were pouring our own drinks, which is good for me, as these days I am a lightweight when it comes to alcohol and a taste really is enough. Unfortunately, I didn’t realise the bottle lit up when I took my photo.

As the light faded outside, Donna told us that the annual Christmas Tractor and Truck Run would be passing by in the early evening. It’s an annual event, started by farmers, in aid of the neonatal unit at the local hospital. Every year, farmers and truck drivers decorate their vehicles and drive them from Lockerbie to Dumfries. So at around six in the evening, we braved the drizzle and went outside to watch as what seemed like hundreds of agricultural vehicles trundled past. It was an incredibly cheery event and lots of the drivers had brought their children along, so it felt like a lovely family occasion. It was also a wonderful reminder of how strong the farming community is in our area.

I had booked Thursday and Friday off, so it was a short working week. I worked mostly from home as I had some studying to do for an examination in Veterinary Public Health, which I sat (and happily passed) on Tuesday. The main reason I had planned the time off was because I belong to a writers’ group, which had a mini writing retreat booked for Thursday, so on Thursday morning, seven of us gathered in the library in Lockerbie to work on our stories. I don’t often mention writing any more on here as it’s been so slow in recent years, but I am approaching the half-way point of a novel about a vet on the west coast of Scotland. It’s set in the lead up to Christmas, so I’m working on it more-or-less daily right now. I know, from experience, that writing about Christmas in May is oddly discombobulating.

Progress is finally being made on my rooms upstairs. This week the plasterer has been in most days and now, one of the bedrooms is really starting to take shape. It’s been very cheering to have him in the house. He’s obviously happy at his work as he plays music and sings along to it as he’s working, which Triar and ai have enjoyed. His rendition of How Much Is That Doggy In The Window was a real blast from the past! Later today, I shall go and buy some paint. It really does feel that things are moving along.

My car went in for its MOT yesterday and happily, it passed with no more work to be done. I had booked to go out for lunch with Donna, who drove out to The Boathouse at Glencaple, which is couple of miles outside Dumfries on the bank of the Nith. The setting is stunning and, with the winter sun being low in the sky, despite the clouds, there was a real golden glow over the landscape.

I had hoped for a Christmas menu and wasn’t disappointed. Having quickly convinced Donna that a sharing platter of festive goodies was the way to go, the waiter somehow or other managed to persuade us that what we really wanted was a sharing platter each! Despite the fact that it somewhat missed the point of being a sharing platter, we were soon tucking into turkey, stuffing, roast potatoes, pigs in blankets and sprouts, with cranberry sauce. We had to ask for more gravy, but the waiter was fortunately very obbliging. Of course, there was way too much food, so the eventual outcome was that I brought home a good sized box of leftovers, so yesterday evening, I had my first turkey sandwich of the year and today, I still have another full Chrismas dinner to eat.

And as a final note, I should mention that Triar has also been getting ready for Christmas. Every year, he gets a new Kong bear as a present. In the old days, he used to destroy these relatively quickly, but at six years old, he has learned the art of toy preservation. I was starting to be concerned that we might get to Christmas with Bear still relatively intact, but I should have known Triar was merely becoming a master of timing.

So thank you for reading. Have a good week all!

A Cosy Dales Weekend

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I had a lovely break down in Yorkshire last weekend. As I mentioned last week, Triar and I went down to Mum and Dad’s on the train. It’s getting dark earlier now, so it was lovely to arrive and warm ourselves in front of the fire. Triar’s rug was already in place and he was soon sleeping beside the warming gas flames.

On Saturday, we walked into town to buy food for Sunday dinner and on the way, I saw some small bedside cabinets in a second hand furniture shop. We went home to fetch the car and returned to buy them. Not that my bedrooms upstairs are close to being finished yet, but when they are, I now have somewhere to put the bedside lamps I haven’t bought yet!

After a fish and salad lunch (I stole some chips from Mum and Dad, but stuck to the Second Nature principle of ordering something a bit healthier) we went home. I had suggested to Mum that our main task for the weekend should be making Christmas puddings, so she had bought in most of the ingredients. We stopped at Booths (surely the cosiest of supermarkets?) and added some chopped roasted hazelnuts to the list, as well as the raisins that had been unavailable when she did her main shop.

I used my own Christmas pudding recipe (here) though as usual these days, I substituted the alcohol content for whatever was available at the time, which this year was spiced rum!

Everyone had a stir, then we left the wonderful spicy mixture in the fridge overnight, and Triar and I went out for a walk to enjoy the autumn sunshine. It was a stunning day. I had perhaps missed the absolute height of the autumn colour, but it was beautiful and I was glad to capture it before all the leaves had fallen.

Another evening in front of the fire and we watched some early episodes of Shetland on the TV, back when Perez was still in his cottage in the centre of Lerwick. Another sleep with Triar curled up on my feet, then it was Sunday. It had been a little cloudy overnight and there was a heavy dew, but no frost.

Triar seemed to be enjoying looking out as much as I did,

As well as steaming the Christmas puddings, I prepared a chicken and vegetables for dinner (which my parents eat at lunchtime) and we sat down early as Triar and I had a train to catch.

And then we were on the train back to Scotland, with a two hour wait in Carlisle, when Triar used his charm on everyone he saw to pass the time.

And showed off his favourite trick.

I’m not sure where I picked up the virus, or whether it was that chilly two hours in Carlisle that tipped me over the edge, but by the time I walked and drove back from the station in the evening, I was starting to feel ropy and by Monday morning it was obvious I’d come down with the lurgy. I’m now much better, though bored of coughing having finally succumbed to taking time off to rest on Thursday and Friday. Had I still been in Norway, I would have taken the whole week off, but I worked from home Monday to Wednesday and at least all my paperwork is now up to date.

Yesterday evening, Donna invited me round for pizza and some of Aldi’s Christmas range which, with Halloween over, they are beginning to launch. She welcomed me despite the coughing, for which I am very grateful. Today, Triar and I are joining Donna and Will and their dogs in a Doggy Field for a good run, so I’d better go and get ready.

Thank you for reading. By this time next week, I’ll be on holiday and preparing for our journey to Teeside. Hope you have a good week.

A Long Week

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I almost forgot it was blog day this morning. It feels like ages since last weekend. I took the astonishing photo at the top of the page last Saturday after dropping off the man who sold Anna his car back at his house. The intensity of those iron grey clouds, brooding above the sunny Yorkshire Dales landscape was so arresting that I had to try to capture it.

I worked from Yorkshire on Monday, then left Anna, Lauren, Andrew and Triar at Mum and Dad’s to head back up to Scotland. I was sad to miss Anna and Lauren’s last day, but my furniture was due to arrive on Tuesday (at last) so Scotland beckoned.

I started work early on Tuesday morning at Donna’s house, which is only a ten minute drive from the house I’m renting. Having heard nothing from Pickford’s, I called them, getting through at about nine-forty, only to be told my slot was between ten and twelve. Grabbing my work bag, I rushed out to my car and drove over, arriving only moments before ten. The only furniture in the house was a single kitchen chair and I set it by the living room window, thinking I’d try to get some work done before they arrived, but before I could open my laptop, they arrived.

Regular readers will remember the awful day back in October when the removal men arrived a day early, causing chaos and doing an appallingly bad job in general (Last Post) so I was very pleased that this time, the (different) crew had arrived right on schedule. The contrast continued as they unpacked my sofas and beds, working hard to find all the parts of the beds, as they were worried I wouldn’t have anywhere to sleep without them.

They eventually found the three metal barriers that hold the mattress in place and the remote control for one of the beds in two random boxes, but when I assured them that I had somewhere to sleep that night, they gave up on the search for the legs and the parts for the other bed (both are adjustable) and carried on bringing the remaining furniture in. Their willingness and communication was such a contrast with the firm at the Norwegian end. They worked for a company called Bee Smart and I found myself musing that, if I move again within the next year (the rental house is temporary) I would probably call them.

Donna had offered to help me unpack on Thursday and so, having taken the day off work, she and I headed over to start to get my new house into some kind of order. Like Shirley, who helped me to clean the old house, Donna worked so efficiently that, by the end of the day, the kitchen was cleaned, all my kitchen equipment was found and washed and both beds were assembled. We had a bit of a laugh over some of the packing. As I said in my October post, the removal men had run out of boxes and complained I had too much stuff. Donna, who was going through the boxes, brought two of them to me to show their contents, or rather, the lack of them. This kitchen box was only half full.

Perhaps there was some excuse as that one was heavy, but this was the most sublime:

Top tip: if you’re moving in Norway, don’t use Vinje’s!

The landlady (Lorna) unexpectedly arrived, just as as Donna was finishing up the kitchen. As I brought Lorna in, Donna was standing in a cloud of steam, sleeves rolled up, placing the last of my bowls onto a towel she had placed on one of the worktops, having run out of space on the drainer. All the cupboards were washed and standing open to dry. For a first impression, as a new tenant, I couldn’t have hoped for better.

We had discovered the night before, that the toilet flush wasn’t working properly, so within minutes, Lorna was on the phone to a plumber. They gave a tentative promise that they’d try to pop in at eight the next morning. No mean feat two days before the weekend before Christmas. Then she left and Donna and I went back to sorting through my stuff.

There were a few broken things, but fortunately not too much. Donna had offered to wash some bed clothes, so that when Andrew and I came up there would be beds all ready to go and anyway, I was beginning to feel tired, so we headed back to Donna’s at about three.

To top off the day, Donna had friends coming round, and again, I was included in the invitation. We had wine and Chinese food and plenty of friendly chat. I slept well overnight, but had to get up early to go back to the rental to meet the plumbers. And so, I now have two beds, ready to sleep in, a kitchen full of clean pots and pans and a working toilet. It was sad to leave Donna’s yesterday, though also lovely to be back at Mum and Dad’s. This will be my first UK Christmas in over ten years and I’m really looking forward to it.

Third Sunday in Advent

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It’s been a lovely, festive week. Anna, Lauren and Andrew are here for a festive weekend, with plenty of food and goodwill. Earlier in the week, I was in the tyre centre, where they had this cheery looking snowman.

In addition to a lovely tree and fabulous Lego village, Donna and Will had something to make me feel properly at home!

This is a very British sight! A red pillar box with a knitted snow scene cap.

This gorgeous wreath was on the door of The Folly in Settle.

Here’s Andrew, Anna and Lauren, getting into the Christmas spirit as they check out my mum and dad’s Christmas tree.

The end result!

Thank you for reading.