Happy new year everyone

.....at least, I hope it is.

Less than 2 hours to go.

Dad, can you help me?

I never usually mind him asking, although I'd prefer it not to be 2.30am.

A little car-hedge interface needed separating, courtesy of icy roads and insufficient caution. No harm was done apart from the permanent severing of sleep continuity for both Chris and me. But being awake in loving company is better than being awake alone, and does have it's compensations. Sleep did eventually reclaim us, and today has been good so far.

I even managed to rack off the sloe gin. Funny how much the bottles varied: one was really quite a pale pink while most were ruby-dark. They're settling now, awaiting second sediment removal and then storage for drinking. Almost 3L, and from the little I tried it should be a good year this time round.

Plans are those things you make

.....before life comes along and decides what you're going to do.

Unfortunately my mum isn't well enough to come over tonight, so we have a (already oversized) piece of sheep that is simply huge for 3 people to eat. I like a challenge, but this is beyond even the wildest optimism of my meatetarian desires. Looks like cold meats are the way to go for the next few days.

Roast lamb with rosemary and garlic - yum.

Be careful people

Very cold ground coupled with temps a couple of degrees above freezing makes for a layer of ice lubricated with liquid water. Calling it a skating rink doesn't cover the half of it, particularly on roads that *look* clear and safe.

Adapted from a facebook post

At Christmas time we eat, drink and make merry.
Carry on too long and you'll be round as a berry.

This morning I mention to Chris that I'd trimmed again (beard that is) and she said that she didn't want me any smaller. I then commented that if we carried on eating like this I'd be quite a lot larger. Right now the idea of fasting early next year seems quite a good one.

The weather is odd today.

Came downstairs at around 7.30 (already shaved, showered and dressed) and the outside temp was -3.4'C. By 7.50am it was -3.9'C and still dropping.

Weird.

I suspect there's a mild breeze, and it's blowing cooler air from the garden under our porch where the sensor lives. Everything is a pretty white outside right now, and the air has finally dried down so although indoor everything is full of static, outside the cold doesn't bite so hard as it did a few days ago when it was less cold.

An odd winter in England.

8.25am - down to -4.3'C.

One thing we noticed last night was that, as happens very occasionally, a pocket of 'warm' air was trapped below a blanket of colder air, so that as we drove out of the valley the temperature went from -2'C to -5'C. Maybe the bubble 'burst' and all that cold air is now filling the valley.

It's pretty much daylight now, and it does look lovely. Hope the roads aren't too exciting: we're driving to Cheltenham this afternoon to see another of our God children.

*edit*
8.50am, temperature showing as -4.9'C. The car thermometer read -8'C, which is pretty chilly, and probably the lowest I've seen round here for about 10 years. The house is 'just right' at the moment, and I'm grateful we aren't having to chop and dry logs like we did when we first moved up here.

Amazing

It's snowing hard enough to settle on the road.

I got home about 5.25ish and it was fine. Chris was back at 6.10 and had found it slippery. We're debating whether to attempt to drive to circuit training at Upper Heyford so that we qualify for the Christmas social at Katriona's (the trainer's) afterward.

I've a feeling that mulled wine stiffens resolve in an anticipative sense.

How devious is the heart and mind.

I had a facebook friend request today from someone I know from round here. Now those of you with functioning memories and the experience will remember that I'd mostly backed out of facebook friendships with effectively everyone local, and was reserving it for those who I'd not normally contact through other means. This means that some good friends who I might otherwise have linked are not part of that network, including a certain Dr. Tim who some will know.

So the friend request that arrived came from one of the most lovely women I know (that's no exaggeration - she's quite stunning to look at and both very kind and clever too - pretty sure she doesn't read this blog!). And so *of course* I moved toward the 'confirm' button, when Tim's eye caught mine, looking out from his image on the friends request page.

How devious is the heart and Mind.

It's an interesting experience, seeing how one reacts to certain things when you're not watched. I'm under no illusions as to whether I'm 'safe' and 'strong' - not that being 'facebook friends' is in any way wrong, but it was very revealing in how I can justify certain things without thinking carefully first.

In response to a comment about prefering traditional Christmas.

I keep oscillating between tolerating and disliking 'christmas'. Traditional has an appeal, but in an 'it's all about me, as if i should do things your way' manner. I've found carols become much more bearable through a fine haze of alcohol too - it stops me thinking about the words.

Bah, and indeed, humbug. ;-)

But I also don't want to become another one that decries 'crimbo' and sucks the Christ out of Christmas. Tricky balance, and one that's never likely to be quite right for me.

Yesterday Chris and I discussed the heresy of not having a tree next year. For the last few years it's made me very grouchy (and a bit sad sometimes remembering those we won't see) and although this year was better, the desire to put it all up is missing.

Maybe later I'll get an image up.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it sn......

Oh, it seems to have stopped.

Temperature a little below freezing, at least it won't melt for a couple of hours.

Feeling old this morning.

Did circuit training last night - felt OK to begin with, went for it, didn't make it.

How I miss being 30.

Sorry things have been lean round here the last couple of weeks.

They'll probably get leaner though: I'm just not wanting to blog right now.

We have a mystery

A mystery card, that is.

Reddish orange image of the '3 kings' in silhouette, tall thin card from the leprosy mission. It was sent to Toni, Chris and Ben Ertl.

It has no writing inside.

We'd like to know who else out there loves us enough to send a nice card.

Thanks.