The Eve of The Eve

Nearly there. Off to Leeds tomorrow but for today its unpacking, washing and general preparedness stuff. And, oh, did I mention martinis at Sakura at 1830 with DD and chums? Ah, its good to be back! That's all. J x

Home Sweet Home

Back in the land of Northerners. An uneventful trip home. Quite foggy but traffic not too bad. Settling down for an evening of aloneness. Missing the Ageds but it is nice to be home. No idea what I'll do tomorrow but DD will no doubt feature in the evening... That's all. J x

Dull Day

Woke up this morning and the world looked dull - the rain had washed away all the pretty snow. Went to Cardiff and it was pretty dull with some pretty dull shopping (apart from mother who was able to exchange everything I'd bought her for Xmas). Came home again . Ageds watching cricket highlights - dullsville. That's all. J x

So Cute

Today was "family day" in the Lewis household. Its the traditional day after boxing day when we have my cousin and her family over for tea. Its always great to see Mary (my cousin) and her husband Barrie as they're lovely people and good company (despite being Man Utd supporters). We also get Richie, their son, who has some quite severe learning disabilities and consequently finds it very difficult to interact even with his parents much less with any more distant relatives. Having said that its always good to see him as he's part of the family and he was looking particularly well today. There's also Laura - their daughter - and her two children Ellie and Dylan. Ellie is your typical precocious 7 year old - who was particularly boisterous and exhausting today but Dylan, at 4 years old, is just the most gorgeous child in existence. He is blonde, beautiful and gifted with the sweetest nature. As always happens, when they go through for their tea I reman in the living room (there isn't room at the table and I don't eat anyway!) and the children, who always finish their food first come through to jump all over me whilst their mother and grand parents get time to have an adult conversation with my parents. i just love looking after the kids and, as always, feel a passing pang of regret at not having any of my own particularly when, as happened today, Dylan just falls asleep on top of me. However, it really is only a transient feeling. I couldn't (and wouldn't want to) cope with them 24 hours a day 7 days a week. And then finally, its a relief when they go home and that's it - Christmas Tradition - over for another year.

Weather has been mild today and we've had rain so a lot of the snow has melted. Fingers crossed we may get a trip to the Nat Bot Gdns tomorrow... That's all. J x

Nightmare

Its happened again. Bloody cricket. Where does it come from and why does it go on so long? Endless days of people throwing balls at other people. Anyway, so once again I am being left to my own devices so that the Ageds, despite seeing what happened this morning and knowing the outcome, watch the "cricket highlights" (a contradiction in terms if ever there was one - like "sports personality" (thank you Dawn & Jennifer)). So I'm spending time with you, dear readers, again.

No other news really. Looks like the weather is going to improve over the next couple of days so we may get a trip out to the National Botanic Gardens if I'm really lucky. Sounds as though the Ageds don't want to go to Portugal this year so I'm a bit torn. Do I go on my own or do I use the money to go somewhere else? Its the week following the wedding so, given the huge numbers of days off arising from Easter & the nuptials, it might be better to go away at another time. I'd like to go back to Valencia and try and see an opera at the same time. However, having watched the "Best Operas of 2010" on telly this morning I learn that Barcelona has the biggest (and best?) opera house in the whole of Spain so it might be good to go there too. We'll see. That's all for now. Hope you're all still enjoying it all. J x

Christmas Time

Sod the mistletoe, bring on the wine. Lunch has been consumed, Aged Ps are snoring on the sofa which gives me a bit of blog time. Had some fab presents - a display case (bespoke, made by a local carpenter and very very nice), a Gant scarf (which I purchased myself for them to give to me but I love it) and, drum roll, a bowler hat! How clever are the Ageds? I've wanted one for ages and not got around to buying one and they just went onto Amazon, casual as you like, and snapped one up. And it fits and it looks brilliant. Shall be wearing it everywhere from now on (I have it on as I type) and becoming a complete bowler hatted bore (as opposed to just the ordinary type of bore).

Also heard from one of my Team and he's proposed to his girlfriend and she's said yes which is great. Another Team member found out this month that his wife will be giving birth to a boy - trust me, it don't get much more heterosexual than life on my Team...!

And that's about it so far. Watched Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds in Singing In The Rain this morning and decided that I will have a birthday party in 2011 and the theme will be "Hollywood" so get your thinking caps on now. All blog readers are invited - even if I don't like you! That's all. Merry Xmas. J x

Whilst Browsing...

... YouTube I discovered this. Me, Bryn & Denise are actually in it! See if you can spot us...

P.S.

Loving the new blog look. Very cool, very 21st century. Very me therefore. Ha ha ha ha ha ha... etc. (Miss Gulch). J x

So Here It Is...

... well, almost. Hopefully you will find a YouTube video below. Happy Xmas everyone. P.S. Not killed the Aged Ps. Yet. That's all. J x

I survived (the snow this time)

So managed to make it all the way to Swansea. To be fair the roads were clear and the traffic seemed lighter than normal (usual delays at M5/M6 interchange of course). Good job I decided to stick to M5/M4 (and pay to get into Wales) though as there was an accident on the M50...

Aged Ps are well and there is an obscene amount of stuff under the Xmas Tree. That's all. J x

Film Night

A very enjoyable evening watching 12 Angry Men in the company of DD, Bryn & Michelle. Michelle had excelled herself with a vast array of canapes, Bryn gave us an expert's opinion on the film before we watched it and we had fun using up some of the left over alcohol from the party. A great night. Must do it again. Perhaps taking turns to choose and talk about a film?

Shutters were fitted on Tuesday and I'm really happy with them - one of those rare occasions where building (?) work has had an entirely satisfactory outcome. Suppose I shouldn't talk too soon of course as they could fall off the wall tomorrow!

3 days left in work before heading off to Swansea (weather permitting) and, as usual, I have a million things to do... So can't stay here chatting so, that's all. J x

The Return

Well she's in the air and on her way. DD lands at about 1145 and the plan is to be in The Midland for cocktails by 1400. I think she will be hideously jet lagged but she thinks not. Let's see shall we... Even if she is jet lagged I'm sure the lure of a cocktail will be enough to get her out!

Other than that things have been fairly quiet. Getting my shutters fitted Tuesday - they should have been delivering them Monday but they turned up yesterday - but I've taken Monday & Tuesday off work anyway. Will now spend Monday finishing off all my Xmas stuff.

Aged Ps are currently in London visiting my Mum's sister (the one who had the stroke) and will be back Monday. Hopefully the weather will stay good. That's all. J x

Damn Snow

So managed to make it into Warrington with minimum of fuss. Cecilia last night was fabulous (and running into Batey was just icing on the cake). Met some nice people sat next to me who regaled me with tales of Jessye Norman and other divas. They've recommended that I go and see Andreas Scholl in January so I've roped Michelle into that.

Nothing else planned for the weekend (this is me taking it easy Mum!) apart from some Xmas shopping. Looking forward to it immensely. Will spend the rest of my time watching and re-watching The Corpse Bride which I'm currently obsessing over. That's all. J x

Sick as a Dog

Well, I spent all yesterday afternoon and evening throwing up and running a temperature of 38.5 and generally feeling rotten. However managed to sleep for 10 hours last night and have woken up feeling like a new man. Have stayed off work today just to be sure (and its snowed too) but will go back in tomorrow if there's no change. Mother says its because I overdid things last week. She may have a point as I do seem to have been quite busy lately. Perhaps I should be slowing down now I'm nearly 50? But DD seems to manage it. We'll see...

In other news, the evening of Baroque music at RNCM was really good and me and Michelle went to Felicinis for soup afterwards which was really good too. Am off to Lincoln with work on Thursday & Friday and upon my return to Manchester to the Bridgewater Hall on Friday evening to watch Cecilia Bartoli. But nothing else planned at the moment. That's all. J x

This post was typed on Tuesday but posted to the wrong blog! Have stayed off work today again in order to rally my strength for trip to Lincoln tomorrow and Friday but that's now been cancelled on account of the weather. It even looks doubtful as to whether I'll be able to make it into Warrington tomorrow and so may have to work out of Manchester. No worries, I'm sure there'll be plenty of e-mails to catch up on and there's always networking to do...! J x