I managed to submit my essay a whole week before Christmas, and with even greater willpower avoided the temptation to look at it again just before it was due in this week! Finishing early meant that I had time to finish the reusable sandwich wraps I was making for people for Christmas and get them delivered in time. Christmas cards were a bit later, and subject to Royal Mail backlogs if they weren’t digital, but hopefully those have all arrived by now. Grace and I surpassed ourselves in choosing a Christmas tree that was even more impractically big than normal. In our defence, it was one of the smallest in the field and after quarter of an hour slithering around a wet and icy hillside, any tree that might fit in the car looked like a good option. Once home, after much wrestling and trimming, it still refused to stand upright, or even stand at all without a large rock to act as counter balance, and I was forced to admit defeat. However, once we’d bought a new stand (something I wish we’d done 15 years ago), Bert, as he was christened, looked very respectable. I even made a wreath this year.
Grace stayed home for Christmas this year, and we were joined by Kath and Mike. We did all the traditional things, for us at least, including a trip to the beach where the sun almost shone. Grace came into her own whilst we were out, not only setting the table beautifully for Christmas dinner, but doing the washing up from lunch, which she’d helped to cook. Despite rail disruptions, Grace took the train up to Loughborough to visit Dayy a couple of days later, and unfortunately got stranded there after she was unwell and couldn’t travel back before the latest wave of strikes. Hopefully she’ll make it back this weekend!
After Christmas Paul and I went to the Eden Project to see the Christmas lights, which were spectacular this year. The Tropical Biome was particularly incredible, I think my favourites were the fibre optic jellyfish. We also caught the live band in the Med biome, which was the perfect accompaniment to our eating our leftover Christmas dinner pasties. We then took a fairly spontaneous trip to Shropshire to see my parents, as they had been unwell and had decided not to travel this year. It was a bit of a flying visit, but it’s always good to spend time with them.
This week I finished my current plans to improve the insulation of the house, motivated by the temperature in the lounge dropping below 14 degrees during the coldest days of the recent cold spell. After adding extra curtain linings and draught proofing various doors, this week I completed a caterpillar draught excluder for the porch door. I also finally identified why a couple of the upstairs windows were draughty – Newquay Plastics had put one of the catches in the wrong place on them, so they didn’t latch properly. Now I’ve moved the catches, it’s both warmer and quieter. Shame they weren’t put in right in the first place, or fixed when I complained. Clearly we got the service we paid for.
Safe In His Hands 