I'm ill already and it's not even January! Wah!

Christmas was nice. I have a little silver frog strapu! Go me! Also hats, gloves, socks (v.imp), heat warmers, Wallace and Gromit and not one single book for what must be the first time ever - I don't have time to read the ones I do have!

Went sales shopping to Junction 10 on Monday, when there was a little bit of snow around) and got a nice pair of trousers for £5, as well as another pair of cords and a long skirt and a sparkly top. For some reason all grey. Next step will to be to buy things that are purple.

This outing finally finished me off and I have been deadonsofa pretty much ever since. I've been listening to Narnia on BBC7 and catching up with the last series of Doctor Who that I never saw. Then there's the tenth Doctor. Gosh. *swoon*

I have been having Ian-withdrawal as if several texts a day and some calling and playing plenty of scrabble online was not enough. Last night we stayed attached via the internet and watched TV (8 femmes!) and I extolled chunky jumpers. Me, dropping hints? Never!

I was going to go do New Year in Cambridge but my head wants to explode so I am going round the corner for invalid New Year's Eve with El and Stuart, as we all have the coughs and sneezles. Then I shall sit here patiently dying for a few more days until a knight in armour comes through on a shining white horse, or a tall man turns up in a little purple car, whichever comes first. Personally am hoping for man in car as it is less exposed to the elements. Also men in armour are not so very huggable.

* posted by nat 6:24 PM

Saturday, December 24, 2005

Tomorrow shall be my Dancing Day is on continuous repeat in my head, and turns up on the stereo in the house possibly a little to much for everyone else. Aaah.

Cries of "sherry for the cook" from the kitchen. It's nearly midday! I am about to gear up and go make nut roast, tiramisu and then work out what I'm making for dinner tonight. Sweet and sour bean hot pot is looking likely.

The last few days have been busy: Ian and parents survived each other (they have met before, but it's different going to their place rather than everyone being in my house). Then El came round for dinner and much sherry was consumed; mother finally met Ella; I have met Maxim (who pulled some of my hair out and drooled all over my shawl, but he is a very smiley bouncy baby and is thus forgiven).

We have a huge pile of newspapers and Christmas quizzes for tomorrow. In the meantime, my uncle and aunt are trying to work out why it is that even when I put my laptop right next to my dad's wireless box, it still claims it doesn't exist and tries to connect me to the neighbours' box instead. So I am currently connected to their net. Which is silly.

Off to loop Tomorrow shall be my dancing day in the kitchen until someone complains.

* posted by nat 11:46 AM

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Hmm. Ian is being rather Blue Team. This isn't good for my Red Team nerves.

*twiddles thumbs, watches bad TV, waits for chauffeur Ian*

* posted by nat 12:37 PM

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

I think I must just know people who are not the marrying type - at least of the people I grew up with, very few have got married, and those who have seem to end up divorced again rather fast. (What brought this on? Just another missive reporting a divorce. Argh! Thank goodness for not getting round to Christmas cards!) It's quite enough to put one off the whole idea.

I am wailing here so I don't phone up and wail to Ian about it, as he is still slightly freaked from our wander down Regent Street last Thursday when I said - okay, squealed - "Can we pleeeease look in the window of Boodles because I saw the perfect engagement ring in their window once?" (I was tired; my brain was not processing what not to say aloud.)

On Sunday we had friends-vegeterian-Christmas (I think we should call it Vanessamas really), where we ate too much and discussed new houses and business prospects and marriage plans and moving in with prospects - grown-up stuff - and less grown-up stuff, including a short Punch and Judy show, and also Jess amused us all with the story of how she lost her passport in Istanbul. Obviously she got it back again (and got the aeroplane to taxi back to the stand to pick her up late, as well - it helps if your boyfriend is flying the plane!) And she brought me cevizli sucuk, so I am happy, and well-fed.

This week I have three cheerful workmen in the house singing along to cheesy Christmas songs on the radio above the strains of drilling. Tomorrow I am attempting Christmas shopping (have done none so far, am dead) and quality time in the library, before I go home on Wednesday.

ETA: Oh dear, have just found the Boodles website *salivates*.

* posted by nat 12:11 AM

Saturday, December 17, 2005

Handed in essays; got a life.

Which explains why I am sitting here in the middle of the night, listening to an Uppsala choir sing English Christmas carols, with my head spinning pleasantly: having spent the night failing to get two dear friends to hook up (drat), and trying to get other long-suffering friends to speak Thai to me.

On Thursday I trailed Ian round shops (oh dear, he can shop) and in the evening we went skating at Somerset House. I just about remembered how to skate, and Ian - first-timer - had just about got away from the handrail by the time the hour was up. We got to know many of the ringside watchers! My ankles did not really survive the experience, so I clung onto him for the time it took us to get into Pizza Express (any excuse - the clinging, that is, not the pizza). We never made it to Glühwein, so that's my mission for next week.

Cannot believe I have only been seeing him for six weeks.

* posted by nat 1:27 AM

Thursday, December 08, 2005

Ah, life post-essays. It's almost normal...

On Monday I had a G&T before the lecture which went straight to my head, followed by a few of us going off to dinner in some Asian-type place on Charlotte Street, and had cocktails - I had a 'Tokyo Iced Tea' - like a Long Island one, bit with Midori. Yum!

On Tuesday I was feeling generally rubbish, but Ian and I went up to London and went on the London Eye. It's been a few years since I last went on, so it was fun. It's still just as disorientating the second time around! Pub dinner (alcohol before lectures again - shocking), and then after law we had a law party, down to bar room bar in Chinatown which had much wine and pizza and a lot of hysterically relieved students in a small place. Drank and ate too much. Everyone else went off clubbing, and I just made the last train home.

Today I dragged myself in, went on a small detour round the underground because the Northern Line wasn't working, and got in late only to discover that the lunchtime speaker hadn't turned up. So a group of us went off to lunch in this lovely veggie cafe which does vast portions for good prices. Hurrah! This evening we had the Michistan role-play exercise (too many hungover people, alas) and I got all teacherish and spent most of the evening writing out policy formulations on the whiteboard. Joyfully messy. Ate many sandwiches and have brought half the fruit bowl home with me.

Now you are all enlightened.

* posted by nat 12:10 AM

Sunday, December 04, 2005

Lo, it is essay crisis time again. Currently at 424/3000, but I have super-sexy detailed essay plan, so I should be way up there by 11pm or so.

Unfortunately I have carols on the brain, and it's not helping: Dzisiaj v Betlemu, currently superimposed on top of Elgar's Chanson de Matin. Gosh, but it's horrible.

Also I totally misjudged a Timtam and it disintegrated into my tea. Trauma!

Right, now I have a published deadline so I'm off to get on with it.

ETA: 20:50 - 1025/3000. Whee!

ETA2: 22:20 - 1757/3000. Over halfway (spent half an hour tracking down citations, sigh. Food time I think.)

ETA3: 00:20 Rah. 2675. Twenty-five more words to go and I'm in range. I can sort that out tomorrow morning, along with polishing footnotes. But right now I'm going to bed.

* posted by nat 7:20 PM

Thursday, December 01, 2005

I am having a useless Advent. So far I have failed on both an Advent calendar AND candles. I don't know where my little Advent calendar has got to, although I feel it should be around somewhere (so I've used the same one for the past x-thousand years, so what?) and maybe I can scrape some candles together in time for the second sunday.

Not to mention essay failure. Argh. 3000 words of beating Realism about the head by Monday. Well, okay, that is not the title of the essay, but that's what I'm going to do.

* posted by nat 11:09 PM