fifteen feet of pure white snow…
As some readers will have noticed, the great outdoors has once again caught everybody on the hop by – gasp – SNOWING IN WINTER and I have this week been enjoying the spectacle from the cosy warmth of my apartment, give or take brief sojourns to the gym (and especially, the sauna, where I have happily absorbed enough heat each evening after swimming to carry me through both the mercifully brief walk home and the post-arrival-coat-still-on fridge raid).
Havoc has predictably reigned appointment-wise, as I write (Friday lunchtime) the current record for lateness being one and a half hours and the average being around half an hour; to anyone who is planning a visit and (like most) travelling by road, please set off in good time while the snow lasts! I will be the first to admit that I would much rather a visitor was half an hour late than ten minutes early and since I do not work in the conveyor belt stylee, worry not about running into Eager Punter #7 on the doorstep, but please keep me informed as to your progress and I will be waiting with the kettle (and the heating) resolutely ON.
I will also point out that emailing me asking if I am ‘available for an outcall today?’ is utterly futile unless you tell me where (Scarborough, probably OK; Solihull, Bolton, Llanelli, no), at what time and how long for – I have now had three incidences of whatever we’re calling the ‘text tennis’ email equivalent in the last twenty four hours, and whilst at least it doesn’t use up all my mobile credit, it is tiresome in the extreme and I cannot be expected to agree or refuse an appointment on the basis of the aforementioned request (particularly when it arrives in the form of an impersonal forwarded message which does not address me by name – this one was actually the easiest, since it could be immediately be moved into the bin without fuss). Manners cost nothing, although it has to be conceded that not employing them will save you money in the immediate future, if you see what I mean.
Thanks to a couple of unfortunate but unavoidable cancellations I have had a gentle and more peaceful week after the chaos of the earlier part of last month, and have finally managed to get some new pictures organised! See Gallery for the first few; the rest will be uploaded as I get through the zillions I have to take to get anything like a usable image (one with me actually in the frame, for starters) but shouldn’t be too long. Thanks also to a charming and helpful gentleman who braved the climate to visit earlier today, I have been able to get all of the Christmas things out of the loft and will be spending tomorrow getting seriously festive prior to the main and most anticipated event that is Official Tree Arriving Day on Monday. Even more pleasingly, I can smugly state that I have managed to nail down my first choice Tesco Online Christmas delivery slot for the first time in a couple of years (and will not therefore be wandering the aisles at 3am on Christmas Eve. Again).
So first to the weekend; I am not available tomorrow, but may be able to fit in a couple of limited appointments on Sunday; there is some sporadic availability during next week prior to my London trip but I am already mostly spoken for, not in any small part due to reschedulings from the last few days. London is, well, busy, although there are still appointments dotted about and anyone who hasn’t already got in touch would be well advised to give it a go! I am heading out into the beautiful wintry sunshine now on a Christmas shopping expedition (having fortified myself physically with tomato soup and sausage sandwiches, and mentally with a listen to Phat Planet by Leftfield). Any upcoming changes of plan and I promise you will all be the first to know…
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