it’s beginning to look a lot like…
Well after a couple of weeks which for a variety of reasons could only politely be described as fraught, virtually everything that needs doing is finally done and I’m preparing for this years’ Big Trip – yay! Presents have been bought/knitted and wrapped, cards are posted and Tesco.com have been issued with my Christmas demands (potatoes, mostly).
Most importantly of all, my response to Rhoda Grant’s Scottish criminalisation proposal has been written, rewritten, tinkered with and duly sent and I will post it here shortly – the closing day has just ended thus whilst there was technically a few minutes to go when I started typing, we’ve hopefully done everything we can for now at least, so fingers crossed. I should point out that upon sending, I almost immediately received a polite and courteous email from Ms Grant thanking me for my submission and double-checking whether I would like it to be public or anonymous and so forth. Which was nice.
My elderly (in it’s nineteenth year anyway) artificial tree was hunted down in the loft after a brief panic at the news that there were to be no deliveries from the Little Tree Company this year (virus?) and is proudly gracing the front room in all it’s sparkly and fabulous glory for the first time in five or six years, the side with a branch missing discreetly turned to the back. Proper gingerbread men (with currants, NOT bloody Smarties) have been mixed, trial-runned (ha) and the dough – at least that which wasn’t either baked or just eaten raw – stashed in the freezer for when I get back along with bread sauce, fishcakes and pairs of bacon rashers. Finally, the most hallowed tradition of buying the Christmas TV guide has been accomplished after two attempts, my having decided for the first time ever to skip my usual Radio Times at £2.80 and settle for a 90p one with people from soap operas on the cover instead, only to have to return it in disgust half an hour later. I wonder if people often take TV guides back to exchange them for another on the grounds that they are crap?
The Christmas availability blog page has been fine-tuned and posted (^^^look!^^^) and inevitably, the time has come and the ever-present suitcase is slowly filling up again (although sadly not under it’s own steam); yes, London awaits! Availability is dwindling but still there and I will be hoping to catch up with a good few regular callers and fellow ladies alike; the pre-Christmas week last year was one of my favourite ever visits and with a new patch in the Square Mile for a few days as a livener, a chance to get away for a stint of the usual organised chaos is going to be very welcome indeed. I can only hope that the weather is slightly more pleasant, having unbelievably drawn the living room curtains and switched on the lights out of sheer necessity before two pm yesterday, partly because of the near darkness, and also as a vain attempt to drown out the howling wind and keep the ambient temperature somewhere above that of the cheese drawer in the refrigerator. I won’t hold my breath, mind.
I will be back late-ish on Saturday 22nd evening and officially off the radar; the phone will be off for the coming four days before …Belfast! Yay again, and none more so than to the lovely gentlemen further south in Cork, where I will be spending the last few days of the year (including the last New Years Eve of my thirties; watching iplayer with the IP shield on more than likely as befits a virtual non drinker, although this is a still a step up from my usual MO at home which is being asleep). More of the Emerald Isle shortly – all dates are on the next page as usual.
So for Scarborough, that’s all for now! Incalls will resume on home turf at some point towards the end of next month, probably. I don’t actually know myself, but readers here will, as ever, be the first to know. For now, here’s to a stress free couple of weeks for all, particularly since a staggering number of people I know and like are badly in need of them at the moment.
More in the week. In the meantime, well, back to the gingerbread.
Subscribe to blog feed.
About the Author: