Saturday Archive 6 (on Sunday)

I was 28 and had only started working for the company about four months before. I didn't have a steady contract yet, but I did have my scrunchies! My hair was quite long at that time and in my opinion there was only one way of keeping it in check: make a bun and use a lovely animal scrunchie to pretty it up!

Unfortunately the mechanic at work didn't think it was much good and he ritually burnt it (threw petrol on it and lit it) the Monday after this party. He did give me money to buy a new one though, as long as it wasn't another animal one!

I've since had my hair cut short (not a good idea) and had it grow long again. I have never tried animal scrunchies anymore though...

Vibes

I am slowly getting a bit better. I am not coughing my lungs out of my body every three seconds anymore, my nose fluids stay where they're supposed to be, my eyes have stopped crying and I can hear properly again. My voice is still a bit raspy (someone described it as sexy the other day(?)), but all in all I am on the mend. At least I would be, if my body wouldn't have decided to show me I've got a woman's body this weekend. Giving me another headache!

Ah, at least all your vibes worked and the other thing will pass before I turn into a boy...

*****

The photo at the top of this blog shows you how my snowman looks after just over two weeks. Because the temperatures in Germany have been lower than they are/were in the Netherlands, he has survived quite well. And even though I had a sore throat and all the rest, there was no stopping me from having my photo taken with him. If you embiggen it, you can see the hats quite clearly!

Desserts

Panacotta and brownie

I love eating out, especially with family, friends or even colleagues. You get to eat things you wouldn't normally eat at home and the best thing? You don't have to cook it or clean the dishes afterwards! I think it's great more and more restaurants are also serving local and/or seasonal dishes. I love game and it really is an autumn/winter food. Salads belong to summer as does fish to a certain degree. That's my opinion anyway.

The thing I hate though is the fact that so many restaurants will offer you a choice of great starters and main courses, but when it comes to desserts: nope! Ice-cream be it 30 degrees above zero or 10 degrees below (on the Celsius scale people). I love ice-cream when the sun is burning hot in the sky. I don't want it when I can walk on iced-over ponds! It just doesn't fit.

My favourite winter dessert is hot apfelstrudel with warm vanilla sauce, cinnamon ice-cream (I know, I know, but it's part of...) and whipped cream. So, what's your favourite winter dessert and can you send me a recipe? I promise to try them all out, unless they are coffee or amaretto flavoured (sorry). You can find my e-mail address on my profile page.

Ooaargghh...

I need rum (for a hot grog), cough medicine, cough drops, tissues, aspirins and a week's rest.

Instead I have a very sore throat, a raspy chest, watering eyes, popping ears, a dripping nose, no voice and work to do tomorrow!

Please feel sorry for me and send good health vibes!

B is for...

Big Ben

The official name of this tower is the Saint Stephen's Clock Tower. Because that's what it is: a clock tower. And the name Big Ben doesn't refer to the tower, but to the bell inside the clock tower! There are several theories as to where the name came from: it could be named after a very famous boxer at the time the tower was built; or perhaps it was the builder. And perhaps both those theories are wrong and it was just someone being funny, we will never know for sure!

Anyway, the bell inside the tower was the second bell installed. The first one fell and after that couldn't be used anymore: it had lost its tone. This one also fell, but it didn't loose its tone and was hung in the tower.

It's said that the clock is always correct, however there were two occasions when the clock was late: once New Year started late, because the snow had weighted down the hands on the clock and on a seperate occasion a bird had found a nice perch on one of the hands, making the clock late as well.

If you ever listen to the BBC world service you can hear the bell at the start of the news, bringing London home to wherever you live.

Says the Leaning Tower of Pisa to the Big Ben: "If you've got the time, I've got the inclination".

For more B words from around the world, please check out ABC Wednesday and join in the fun!

Simple pleasure

This afternoon it flashed through my mind: I've not had any incidents so far this year! I haven't hit a car, a tree or a fence.

*Wow*

Best laid plans and all

Last November on Facebook, several of my former colleagues thought it might be fun to organise a reunion of everybody who had ever worked for the Manor House Hotel in Castle Combe, England. Before I knew what I had done, I had booked a flight over, leaving April 1st, coming back April 4th!

Fast forward to early January this year. My friend Pepperfly (and no, that is not her real name) told me where she worked. The same school I had been to London with last year. The teacher in charge remembered me as well and according to my friend his eyes lit up. I had had a great time then and because of that school I had had another trip to London offered to me as well. Smiles all round...

Fast forward to yesterday. My friends C. and Pepperfly were here for tea and brownies and chat. But when C. had to leave she said: how about Easter? Why not come together again for Easter? For lunch and such... I get my lovely home-made calendar and look up when Easter is this year. Good Friday is on April 2nd, Easter on April 4th. And my mind goes into overdrive! What about my trip to England, what about my trip to London, never mind about Easter, AAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!

Of course the first thing I needed to do today was to ascertain (don't you love that word) whether or not I was going to London in the week before Easter. I knew from last year that they left on Sunday to return on Thursday and they wanted to do the same again this year. I phoned the sales-office and lo and behold: I was already down to do that trip, returning April 1st. Which is the same day I am leaving for England by the way. I then phoned my direct boss and told him to change my days off to start on April 2nd, so I would be free to work April 1st (are you still with me?).

After doing all that, I needed to change my flight. Which cost me about the same the original flight had cost me. Ah well, it's a small price to pay...

By the way, the other school has optioned the trip to London as well and have me down as their preferred driver! So, my year is starting to look really good!

Friends

The weather (more snow) tried to do its best to ruin our second chance of a get-together, but fortunately my friends are made of sterner stuff and arrived on time! We had tea, coffee and hot chocolate, we had brownies and we chatted and chatted and chatted. About life, love, children, work , body and much much more.

It's always nice to see my friends. I see one of them quite often, depending on the job, but my other friend I hadn't seen in a year and a half! But we always continue where we left off the last time we met, so that's always good. Unfortunately one of them had to leave early due to work, but we've already agreed to get together soon again (probably next month) and go to the sauna. Hopefully then we will be able to spend a proper afternoon together...

Till thaw do us part...

Last week was a busy week. Not so much hard work (hardly at all), but more long days. And those long days then ended with a night in yet another hotel. Sunday night, Tuesday night and Thursday night my cats had to cope all on their own, while I tried to get comfortable with strange pillows and single beds. I managed though, having learned to take my own pillow wherever I go!

The last night of sleepover was in Germany. The same hotel, even the same room as last time I was in Germany. It was the 'snowman' hotel. The one where I braved snowflakes and cold, comments from my colleagues and lack of good snow to build myself a snowman. But as I arrived on Thursday afternoon, the snowman looked ready to depart this world and become mole drink! His nose had fallen off his face and was hanging next to his chin,  his eyes were barely visible. But he is a sturdy snowman and was hanging in there for all he was worth! And now the cold was returning, he was ready to face the world anew! If only his nose weren't so low...

Mmm, I might need to get a life!

Joke!

The other day a colleague of mine told us a joke. Some got it, others didn't or thought it wasn't funny. I thought it was hilarious and nearly spat out the water I was drinking at the time. I then asked you, my faithful readers and followers and people who happened to pass by:

What do you call a Martian playing the piano?

And the answer is: (drumroll, suspense is mounting, will you hurry up already!!!): a pianist!

However, the answers you came up with were brilliant as well, especially Alien Brody! That one gave me another fit of giggles, causing my monsters to look up from their sleeps. Thank you Jay!

Ladies' Room

De Cantharel, Apeldoorn, the Netherlands

Question

Well, it's not really a question, but more of a joke. I will give you the question today and the answer will follow when I get back home again. Please think of the funniest answer yourself as well. I would love to hear you answers!! Here goes:

What do you call a Martian playing the piano?

Hotchpotch

Old hat

Tuesday morning, quarter to nine in the morning and my phone rings. My boss, asking me whether he can change the planning for today? And if so, please take some spare clothes and a sponge bag with me! So last night, in stead of coming home, I stayed in a hotel. I came home tonight, but will be off to work early again tomorrow morning and not return until Friday night. Ah well, another hotel, who's keeping count?

Today still proved to be the least bit of work this week though, despite a different location. In the morning I had to drive to the trainstation, pick up some people and drive them to the airforce base. In the afternoon I had to take them back. I wasn't alone though: seven other drivers were there as well. Doing nothing! Fun fun fun...

*****

New hat

I've had quite a few comments about my hat, either the old one or the new. Now, I believe them to be jealous, because they make do with boring black or navy hats and I have this spiffy brightly coloured one. But there were some questions out in blogland concerning my hat, so here goes: I left my old hat in Germany when I built a snowman last week. It was a bit big and not a very good hat, since it was really loose. In other words, my head was still getting cold. So, I knitted myself a new one! And I used the wrong needles (four sizes too small for you knitters out there: hard on the hands) and for once managed to knit quite tightly. I have a lovely new hat now, which is warm as well. And apparently the cause of much merriment.

A is for...

Alba

As you can see from the photo, Alba means Scotland. There are three languages in Scotland: English, Scottish and Gaelic. Alba is the gaelic word.

Gaelic is a language (and a people) that originated in Ireland and spread to the Isle of Man and Scotland. The three languages are different from each other now, but they do have the same roots and a practised speaker of either of the three should not have too many problems with any of the other. The language spoken in Wales originated in France probably and has therefore much more in common with the Gallic languages spoken in France. So, anybody speaking Scottish Gaelic would not be able to understand Welsh, unless he learned the language!

For more A-words from around the world, please check out ABC Wednesday and join in the fun!

Eventful or not?

I don't seem to have too much inspiration lately. My job is keeping me busy and off the street (so to speak) and I am mainly driving up and down to Germany with soldiers. It's quite fun and I do enjoy myself, but it doesn't really mean a lot of stories to share. Unless you want to hear about my totally uneventful trip yesterday. If you don't, you had better click the little x in the top right hand corner now. If you do, please keep on reading...

Yesterday I had to pick up a group of soldiers to take to a training. Departure time was 1pm, I left five minutes early. I stopped halfway through for a short snack and arrived on time. I then drove to the hotel where I was supposed to be staying (the only guest). I had dinner, chatted to the owner, chef and bartender (one person) until about eleven and went to bed.

Well, hey, you wanted uneventful, you've got it! However, today proved a bit more eventful, since I had to kick a few boys off the coach. They had misbehaved towards a girl, trying to put a plastic bag over her head, punching her, pulling her hair etcetera. She came to me crying and I then wanted those boys off. And if they wouldn't I would phone the police. They didn't go, I phoned and they then realised I was serious and wanted to avoid further problems and got off.

The life of a coach driver is such an exciting life!

I told him specifically...

Driving a coach for a living is great fun. You go places, meet people and you make long hours. If the pay would be better, it would be the best job in the world. At the moment the best job would be taking care of that island off the coast of Australia. Anyway, moving on...

I drive one coach in particular. I know its problems, its quirks, its idiosyncrasies (yes, I do know big words, just don't know whether I spelled it right). But to be honest, even despite knowing all that, I never have any major problems with it. It never stalled on me. Well, apart from the fact when I had the inside lights, the heating and the radio on full, without having the engine running. But that was just stupidity. Over the last few months there have been several problems building though. A light that would come on more and more and more (until it wouldn't go out anymore). A bit of hesitation while trying to start it. But, nothing else.

Today a colleague of mine had to drive my coach since I am off. He phoned me about two hours ago: "ehm, I broke your coach. And it's not the batteries, it's the starter engine (?). I am being towed as we speak!" Now, this is a colleague who will break everybody's coach. If there is a problem lurking, give the coach to him and it will not be lurking anymore. It will be right there, in your face! He even says so himself! Yesterday we had to go somewhere together and where I had a silly light burning all the time, he didn't have any problems. But I still told him last night: 'Don't break my coach!'

Fat lot of good that did!!!

News

New hat is finished and looking better than the first one.

Temperatures are on the up over here.

I am tired and will go to bed now.

Just so you know!

Z is for...

Zeven Provinciën (Seven Provinces)

This photo was taken at the Batavia Wharf several years ago. I was there with a friend of mine who is really interested in anything you can build. Since my parents had free tickets to enter the museum/wharf we decided that it would be a great visit.

The first ship to be built at the wharf was the Batavia (hence the name of the wharf). Several years of volunteers, people learning a trade or craft and unemployed people later and a beautiful ship emerged. It was sent to Sydney, Australia for the Olympic Games (the original had perished on her maiden voyage off the coast of Australia). After they had succesfully built that ship, they decided it would be a shame to let that great wharf do nothing anymore. So, plans were drawn up for the next ship: the Zeven Provinciën.

Again it was a ship that came without any plans, since apparently they didn't use them in the olden days. Which has caused quite a bit of problems already. Everything you see in the photograph had to be taken down again, because the measurements were off! So, when I was back on the wharf last year, it didn't look as if much more had been done. However, once it will be finished, I guess it will look as fantastic as the Batavia.

For more Z words from around the world, please check out ABC Wednesday and join in the fun!

The inner child

So, when was the last time you just let your inner child out? And I don't mean playing with your (grand)children. I mean for you. Just enjoying yourself and behaving like a big kid! The last time I did it? Aha, it was yesterday...

Yesterday we had to take a large group of soldiers to their training camp. I felt a bit sorry for them, because of the weather, but then again, if they can't fire a gun when it's snowing, what good will they be if we ever get invaded by green and blue strangers from farawayistan in the middle of winter? After dropping them off at the train station to wait for their trains with their vehicles (remember Friday?), the four of us drove towards one of the army camps where four others were already waiting for us. We all piled into one coach, leaving the others at the camp and then drove to our hotel. Where several coaches were busy trying to park. So glad we didn't take ours as well...

After dinner that evening, I decided I would go ahead with the plan I had hatched before dinner: I was going to build a snowman! Everybody thought I was nuts, but I had my heart set on it. One colleague came out to help me with a snowshovel (it wasn't good snowmanbuilding snow) and after half an hour I got a carrot and some coloured mushrooms (thank you magic marker), a broom and my own hat.

My inner child was very pleased!! Now I just have to knit myself a new hat...

How to deal with handcuffs, angels and husbands

So, Debby wanted to know what films I watched over the weekend. Here's the lowdown.

I had bought the following: Unlikely Angel (with one of my favourites: Dolly Parton), The Christmas Card (with a very hunky John Newton), The most wonderful time of the year (with a funny Fonzie), All I want for Christmas (from 2007) and Holiday in Handcuffs (with a very ditzy Melissa Joan Hart). What did I think?

Unlikely Angel is a story about a selfish singer (Dolly Parton) who gets killed in a carcrash and can only get her wings if she changes the lives of a family on earth. The catch is she's only got until midnight on Christmas Eve! Does she manage to do it?

The Christmas Card is a film about a sergeant in the US army serving in Afghanistan who receives a Christmas card from a young woman stateside. After his tour, during which one of his men dies, he is sent back to the US for some leave and decides to find the woman. She works for her family's lumber company and is engaged. But she and the soldier both like extra crispy curly fries and feel an instant attraction towards each other. So, will he leave and do another tour or will he stay and cut trees?

In The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, Henry Winkler is visiting his niece and has to fly to get there. He doesn't really know where to go in the airport and is helped by a young man (who is not bad-looking...). He invites him to come and stay with his niece and grandnephew and over the course of the next two days the young man proves himself to be the perfect man. He snubs the neighbour by adding one red light to all the white lights, he pretends he is Santa and nearly kills himself as he falls from the roof, he can cook a turkey and is generally a good guy. But then the niece's fiancé comes over. He is not too happy about him being there and takes him back to the airport. Will he get to Denver?

All I want for Christmas is about a contest organised by a toy company. A little ten-year old boy wins and all he wants is a husband for his mum! In order to save her community center, she agrees to the toy-company finding her a man, if they cough up over half a million dollars! But what about their neighbour Ben. The man who has been there for both mother and son for the last 8 years?

Holiday in Handcuffs is a very funny film about a kidnapping. When Melissa Joan Hart gets dumped by her boyfriend on the day they were supposed to go see her parents, the only way out she sees is by kidnapping a man from the diner where she works. She convinces her family he's insecure, just so they ignore his complaints about being kidnapped and holds all car keys and cell phones. However, he gets the chance to phone his girlfriend anyway and then decides to go along with MJH's crazy plans, just to see the look on her family's faces when they realise exactly what is really happening. They do start to really grow closer, but then the police have finally found them and the whole family is arrested. Will it be prison or love?

I know it's probably a bit late for Christmas films, but I don't care. I liked them all.

Beautiful Blog

Debby at Just Breathe has left me with another award: the Beautiful Blogger award. Thank you so much. One of the conditions is that I have to tell you seven things about myself. Things that you might not know already. That of course might prove a bit problematic, since I don't particularly hold back on information here. But, I will give it my best shot...

Well, it's taken me over an hour and a half to come up with nothing! Absolutely nothing! Nix, nada, zilch. Of course there are things you don't know about me, but those are also the things that I would like to keep to myself. Like my pinnumber (anyone Dutch will nod in agreement now). But, perhaps it would be a good idea to give you a few insights into my younger years. So, here goes (again)...

1. I wore a wedding dress once.

2. I ate an ashtray full of cigarette buds when I was very very very young.

3. I didn't like to play with dolls, I preferred to play outside.

4. In primary school I managed to bag a seat on the 'cool' side of the classroom, even though I never was one of the cool kids.

5. I started naming myself Mara from the age of 15/16 onwards, but only in letters. In real life it took until I was nearly 19.

6. I can only do the most basic of swimming strokes, due to me being quite afraid of the water for quite a while.

7. I used to read after bed-time and did get into trouble several times on account of that.

Well, seven things you might not have known about me (unless you're my parents or my sister, in that case this is all old hat!).

The other condition to this award was to pass it on to seven others! Knowing that other people don't always want to accept awards (due their hair and stuff), I will tell all of you who read my blog: take the award. Please!

Not good!

This is so not good. So wrong. So very very expensive!

My sister was here for a few days at the end of last year and she fixed my laptop to now play region 1 dvd's. You may or may not know (or care) that the world has been divided up into several regions concerning dvd's. The USofA and Canada are in region 1, Europe is in region 2. This means that whenever you want to watch a dvd meant for the USofA in Europe, you have a problem. But since I have a clever sister...

After she'd 'fixed' my laptop, I immediately bought 5 Christmas films that are really hard to come by in Europe (ie not at all). And today they arrived! So, full of anticipation I got one out of its casing (and even they are different) and slid it into the slot of my computer. I got myself a cup of tea while it was loading and when I came back: nothing!

Yes, you read it right: nothing at all! Apparently I needed a decoder as well. So, I was about to get my credit card out of my purse, when I realised I had inherited a really cheap dvd-player from my sister when she moved to abroadistan. No point in paying if that dvd-player might actually work. I went upstairs to try it out and lo and behold: it did!!! I unplugged the whole thing because I so wasn't going to watch a great film on a small ittybitty screen when I have a large fantastic screen downstairs. I plugged it in downstairs and it still worked.

One down, four to go. Not counting the others that will surely be coming soon to an address right here in the near future. I had better win something in the lottery tomorrow!

A hard day's work!

The first jeep makes it way on the wagons

Sometimes my job is sooo hard! This morning I had to get up real early (07.30am), so I could start at 09.00am. I got to the pick-up point a little before ten and almost immediately found out that they were running late. By about an hour or two.

Now, I've already told you we're having a wintery spell in the Netherlands. And last night the frost was severe: minus ten to twelve (Celsius). Which in turn caused the points in the tracks to freeze over. Which caused problems for the train to be put where it should be. So, by the time I arrived, they were already running over two and a half hours late, just getting the train in place. Then they had to sweep the snow off the train and de-ice it. At a quarter past ten the first vehicle finally made its way onto the train.

Just a milimeter to the left. LEFT I SAID!!

It was a slow process though. The driving on was easy enough, but the tethering of the vehicles was a completely different matter. I saw measuring tape coming out to measure the distance between the right wheel and the edge and left wheel and the edge. If the difference was 5mm, it was too much! Painstakingly slow the wagons filled up. I thought everything was on, when all of a sudden I see all these lorries arrive! They had to get on as well, but the train was already full. So, the train needed to be changed. A new lot of wagons arrived and finally (after a visit to MacDonalds) we were able to leave at 4pm!!

Now, I was supposed to do another trip as well, but that was transferred to a colleague, since I would never have been able to do it. And in the end I was home at the original time of 6.30pm.

I love my job!

Truth

First of all I want to say that I am not bashing religion here. Or the bible. I have been raised a protestant and my parents read from the bible after dinner (to this day) and pray before and thank after every meal (regardless of where they are). I had to go to church every Sunday, Christian primary and secondary school, Sunday School during primary school and Bible classes during secondary school. I respect people who believe, even if my own beliefs have shifted somewhat over the years.

So, what's this all about? Today I had to ferry lots of children between school and PE-building. The children go to a strict protestant school, where about 99% of the girls wear skirts, where some children to this day do not own a television and a school which (in my opinion anyway) is not teaching the children properly, despite their so-called Christian background. Respect for one, is very low on the list! But this post is not about the teachers or their teachings.

During one trip there were two little boys and two little girls seated almost directly behind me (two on either side of the coach). They were probably about 7 years old. One of the boys kept saying the world was going towards some really bad times. The two girls were just laughing. The boy kept saying it over and over and over, while the two girls kept laughing. At one point, the boy was almost in tears, because the girls were making fun of what he said. 'It says so in the bible', he said. 'You shouldn't take everything in the bible so literal', said one of the girls. 'But the minister said it too! Because of the greed of everybody, we will all become really poor!' said the boy again. He then proceeded to tell them that they (his family) weren't buying: they were selling and had just sold some doors for over 1500 euros!

I am happy my parents didn't raise me like that!

Y is for...

Youth Hostel

Have you ever stayed in a youth hostel? In a castle, an old school house, an old pub or a purpose built hostel?

I have been staying in quite a few youth hostels over the years. And as a matter of fact, if it wasn't for Mr Schirmann and Mr Münker, two Germans who founded the very first youth hostel, I think I would be right in saying I wouldn't be here today, since my parents met in a youth hostel! And when I grew up, especially from the age of 14 onwards my parents took me and my brother and sister to many youth hostels.

I stayed in a dilapidated old castle in Germany, the former Athletes accommodation for the Olympic Games in Innsbrück, an school child overrun purpose built one in Germany, several funny named ones in England and Wales (Boggle Hole, Woody's Top to name but a few) and many many more.

And the fun thing about youth hostels is that you get to meet so many different people from so many different countries. I spent a day with a Japanese girl, a South African bloke. I had to sweep in Winchester, pick flowers in Wales and do the dishes in Germany.

I prefer to stay in nice hotels nowadays, but I will always hold a special place in my heart for youth hostels.

For more Y words from around the world, please check out ABC Wednesday and join in the fun!

Open wide!

This morning I had my yearly appointment with the dentist. Last year I had a scare since he wanted me to see the dental surgeon (turned out to be nothing), but this year was supposed to be good again. Supposed! Because after I had sat in the waiting room long enough to read my yearly supply of Donald Duck cartoons, the dentist called me in. He poked around a bit and then he told me 'there's a cavity starting to form'. A CAVITY???? ME??? I've never had a cavity in my life! So, now I really have to floss...

Snow monsters

There's nothing else for it: I have to show you some photos of my monsters in the snow! After all, this is the second time in such a short period that we have so much snow and the chances of that happening again soon are pretty slim. The first one I want to show you is of Linette. This was her first time out in the snow. Last time I kept her indoors, but this time she was allowed to experience the white stuff as well. She didn't like it one bit! She cowered underneath the garden chair and she would only step on the snow free zones!

Sophie had been out before, but didn't much like it. This time however, she made her own way out and even walked into the garden a bit. It was really funny to see her though, because after every step she would shake her leg to get the snow off...

Wuppie loves being outside and takes the snow in his stride. He seems to be thinking: 'Hey, I'm outside, who cares what the weather is like?' He doesn't seem to mind the cold, or the wet. If he could he would probably be out there for ten minutes every hour! (You have to snooze and sleep and rest in the warm as well don't you know)

Even though Mathilda is quite an easy-going lady, she did feel the cold at one point. So, there was nothing else for it but put her on my shoulder. Of course it made it hard taking a photo of her, but I think we managed reasonably okay. The reason I am holding her is not that she would otherwise fall off, but to keep her in the shot!

PS: there was 8 centimeters this morning (about three inches). But it's still snowing now...

Snow

Guess what!? It's snowing again! We haven't seen snow in years and now it's the third or fourth time this winter!! I'll stop with the exclamation marks now. But, as I said, it's snowing again.

I like snow. It makes the world look friendly and calm. It makes the world look pretty. Until the salters have been that is. Then it only looks like grey slush and not nice at all anymore. But for now, it looks good. I wonder how much snow there will be tomorrow morning...

New

New Year's Eve 1993: fancy dress party in the local pub

I missed it! I missed the change from the old into the new. I never heard the fireworks sound in 2010. I didn't have a glass of champagne to celebrate. And the reason?

Over the last two days I have been feeling a bit under the weather. A headache that had taken up residence in my head despite several attempts to flush him out with aspirins. Normally I visit friends of mine on New Year's Eve Eve (December 30th if you don't want to do the maths), because their eldest daughter and my sugardaughter V celebrates her birthday on December 31st. I was glad I didn't go this year, because I was nearly looking cross-eyed! And I cannot look cross-eyed!!

Yesterday I did make it to the shops, my sister wanted proper knitting needles instead of those awful British ones which are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too short to knit with properly. I wanted leggings so I wouldn't freeze in my uniform and I wanted to get home again, because it was cold and I had a headache!

Fortunately the headache finally decided to leave after getting attacked by yet more aspirins: enough was enough. I then watched 'A Carol Christmas', yet another take on the classic tale by Charlie D. And I have to admit, it was a good version. After that I zapped a bit, saw Minnellium by the Dinnerladies (Victoria Wood is just brilliant!), caught a film and had some nibbles. But at a quarter past eleven, I had had enough. So, I went to bed!

2010 has started...