'Tis the season to be jolly

Advent is upon us and the Christmas season is now officially here! I love Christmas – the fun of finding the perfect gift for family and friends, carol singing, wishing people all the best for the season (instead of being grouchy because it’s cold and wet and wintry), hoping that it might just snow, lighting Advent candles, putting up the tree (Michael brought home a big tree this year – our first proper-sized Christmas tree!), midnight mass – a moment in the hustle and bustle to remember the true meaning of Christmas – and being able to focus on the things that really matter.

Medieval banquet

Our work Christmas party this year took place at The Medieval Banquet in St Katharine’s Dock which was so much fun. There was entertainment between each of the four courses – juggling, singing, dancing wenches; we bellowed out “Wench!” to summon our serving wench whenever we needed anything, drank soup directly from the bowl, banged the tables noisily to show our appreciation of the entertainment, toasted King Henry, wassailed almost every time we raised our tankers of ale and finished off the evening by returning to the 21st century and hitting the dancefloor. It was raucous and rowdy and highly enjoyable.

A night out

Going on a night out involves too much decision making sometimes. What to wear? Suddenly my wardrobe which is so full that I have taken over half of Michael’s wardrobe seems to contain very little clothes after all. How can I have that many clothes and still have nothing to wear?! Then deciding what to do with my hair (so much easier when I had short hair!), which shoes to wear… Michael just walks in, grabs a clean shirt and pair of trousers, puts on smart shoes and is done. The male approach to these things is so much simpler!

Helicopter havoc

Michael has a new model helicopter. It looks pretty much the same as his other small helicopter but apparently it requires more skill to fly it. Judging by the fact that he’s just flown it into my leg and shredded my tights, clearly he has yet to perfect the art of flying this one. It’s just as well he has another helicopter flying lesson tomorrow. One day I might be able to sit in the lounge and write without having to dodge small flying objects or feeling the need to remove all breakable items. Oh well, I love him anyway.

The Last 5 Years

We went to see a production of “The Last 5 Years” this evening. I’d never seen it before but I’d been given the CD soundtrack a couple of years ago and really loved the songs so when I found out that the show was being performed locally, I jumped at the chance to finally see it. It tells the story of a couple who meet, marry and eventually separate but told from both perspectives – one starting at the end of the marriage and working backwards and the other working forwards from the beginning. It was a good production – definitely recommended.

Being useful

I’m generally at my most content when I feel that I am being useful. I remember deciding when I was a teenager that if I couldn’t be popular, then being needed was the next best thing. This thought has pretty much been my life’s motto ever since: it’s when I feel like I have no purpose that I start feeling low. I’ve been playing the piano for rehearsals lately as our rehearsal pianist left and the new one has not yet started and I’ve really been enjoying because I suddenly feel useful again. It’s good to be enjoying rehearsals again.

Moody blues

One of my biggest flaws is my mercurial temperament – I can go weeks being calm and rational and then suddenly the mood swings flare up again over something fairly minor. Often it is something to do with the flat being messier than I like it to be (which is the case most of the time, but it doesn’t bother me that much when I’m calm). Michael tries to help but then I get irritated because he is doing things his way rather than mine. I need to learn to appreciate the helpfulness and not nit-pick at the method of implementation.

Lazy day

There are some days when I feel really productive and get lots of things done, and others when I seem to come down with a chronic case of can’t-be-bothereditis and doing anything at all feels like too much effort. Today has been one of the latter days, although on reflection, it has been a little productive – I have ordered a couple of Christmas presents online and started making a couple more presents. I shouldn’t beat myself up over having the odd lazy day – I can’t be super-productive all the time and sometimes I just need to sit down and relax.

Tap exam

Today was the dreaded tap exam – so I started the morning at a last-minute tap class going over the steps one more time before the exam in the afternoon. Fortunately, it went reasonably well – I had a blank moment in the timestep and forgot how to do a reverse timestep (just as the examiner was looking my way) but fortunately the rest of the routine was ok, and the rest of the exercises and two solo routines (jive at five and the dance) went reasonably well. We won’t get the results until after Christmas – fingers crossed they will be okay.

Church quiz

Michael and I were involved with hosting a quiz night at church this evening – in charge of sound, projection (for the scoreboard) and doing the marathon (US states and capitals) and music rounds. It seemed to go quite well although some of the questions were a little surprising and not very appropriate for a church quiz (for instance, “Who was the author of Fanny Hill?” – it seems we’re a clean-minded bunch though as no-one got the correct answer!) One of our pub quiz team-mates came along and was in the winning team; hopefully the winning streak will continue into Tuesday!

Back to baking

We have been without a working oven for several months mainly because neither of us had gotten around to doing anything about getting it fixed. I finally decided enough was enough and arranged for someone to come and repair the oven – they diagnosed the problem over the phone, brought the part needed to fix it and it took all of five minutes to get the oven working again, which left me wondering why I hadn’t done anything about it sooner. It’s been good to be able to start baking again and Michael has been enjoying the home-made muffins and brownies.

Finished product

It’s taken me six years and many hours of hard work, but I have finally finished making my hooked rug. It nearly got destroyed last year at the three-quarters-finished stage thanks to a little mouse who found it whilst I was having a break from working on it and decided to chew big holes in it. Fortunately, the damage was repairable – I had some spare canvas with which to patch the holes and then had to re-do those areas. I’m really pleased with the end result, especially as the patches are barely noticeable even on the underside of the rug.

A close shave

The beard is no more. A day of meetings with important clients meant that Michael finally felt it was time to shave it off. I was actually a little sorry to see it go. First went the beard, leaving just a moustache which definitely wasn’t a good look (I took a photo in case he is ever tempted just to grow a moustache) and then my husband was clean-shaven once more. And looking so much better, it has to be said. It was a novelty experience but when all is said and done, I think I prefer my husband beard-free.

Pre-tap exam tension

Holidays are great, but you never manage to sleep quite as well in a hotel as you do in your own bed. Having a good night’s sleep is just so lovely, waking up in the morning feeling refreshed, stretching out and then… suddenly getting a really bad leg cramp. Not the best way to wake up and it has left me with a very sore calf muscle all day, which was not so good considering tonight’s tap class is the last before Sunday’s exam. Still, I managed to get through the routines but am starting to feel a little nervous.

Babblings on beards

It had to happen sooner or later – after being clean-shaven all his life, Michael decided that being on holiday was a good opportunity to try to grow a beard. My first reaction was dismay as I’m not a big fan of beards (apologies to all my lovely bearded friends) but to my surprise, I quite like the novelty of seeing Michael with a beard (especially now that said beard is looking much more beard-like). That said, I won’t be sorry when he eventually decides to shave it off – despite the novelty, I think he really looks much better without it!

Malta - day 8: Comino

Our final full day in Malta was spent on Comino, the smallest of the inhabited Maltese islands (population c.5). We took a ferry across to the island, and relaxed on the beach around the Blue Lagoon, one of the most beautiful bays on the island. The sea was a little on the cool side so I was quite happy to stick to paddling, but Michael had a swim (keeping an eye out for jellyfish as there were quite a lot around the island) whilst I took a wander across to St Niklaw bay on the other side of Comino.

Malta - day 7: scenic flight

Before I did a fear of flying course just over four years ago, my flying phobia was so severe that even the thought of getting on a plane would send me into a panic. Thankfully I’ve managed to gradually overcome my phobia (I’m now just a little anxious during take-off and landing but not panicky). Still, going on a scenic flight around Malta on a sea plane was a big step forward for me. The views over the island were amazing, and doing the flight towards the end of our holiday meant we were more familiar with the landmarks below.

Malta - day 6: Valletta

Our day exploring Valletta, the capital of Malta, started with a tour of the Standing Battery, overlooking Grand Harbour, led once again by guides in Victorian army uniform, where we watched the firing of the noon gun. We then visited St John’s Co-Cathedral, the cathedral of the Knights of St John before taking a horse-drawn cab ride around Valletta which was a nice relaxing way to see the city. Our afternoon was spent visiting Marsaxlokk, a very pretty fishing village on the east coast of Malta, before driving back across the island to Naxxar, where we visited the Palazzo Parisio.

Malta - day 5: The Three Cities

Our day’s explorations of the island took us to the Three Cities east of Valletta – Senglea, Vittoriosa and Conspicua, which are similar to Mdina in that they are all quite old-fashioned and quiet. We visited the Inquisitor’s Palace in Vittoriosa, the Maritime museum in Vittoriosa and then went for a guided tour of Fort Rinella, a coastal battery built in the 1880s, led by tour guides dressed in Victorian army uniform who treated us to a display of gun-firing, sword fighting and different types of signalling and showed us the 100-ton Armstrong gun that was part of the coastal defences.

Malta - day 4: Mdina

Mdina is a tiny walled city in central Malta which once was the capital city. The city itself is pretty and except for the occasional parked car, seems almost to have been frozen in time. Its maze of narrow streets is tranquil and serene. We had our lunch in a cafe in Mdina where we were served by a waiter who displayed a degree of sullenness previously only experienced in teenagers which slightly spoiled what otherwise was a lovely day; the Maltese have generally come across as very friendly otherwise. We also visited Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra – two ancient temples.

Malta - day 3: Gozo

The day started off warm and sunny and so we decided to take a boat across to Gozo, Malta’s smaller sister island and spend the day there. We started at Dwejra at the west end of the island with its beautiful natural coastal scenery, taking in the Azure Window, Blue Hole and Inland Sea, before heading to the Ta’ Pinu basilica and then back across the island to Calypso’s Cave and Ramla Bay. By the time it got dark a lightning storm was brewing across the channel between Malta and Gozo which made for a somewhat choppy boat ride back.

Malta - day 2: exploring the island

Our first full day in Malta has been spent mostly driving around the island. We visited Mosta Dome, where a bomb was dropped during mass during World War II but then miraculously didn’t explode. The dome dominates the skyline around Mosta and is the fourth largest dome in Europe. We tried to take a boat to Comino but there didn’t seem to be any running (probably because we are outside of the main holiday season) so we then drove to Wied iż Żurrieq on the western coast of Malta to visit the Blue Grotto – a natural arch in the cliffs.

Malta - day 1: first impressions

We arrived in Malta yesterday afternoon just before dusk which meant we didn’t get much opportunity to see much of the island on our way to our hotel in Qawra. The guidebook advised against renting a car on the basis that Maltese drivers are a bit crazy and don’t pay much attention to speed limits, give way signs or indicate – and it wasn’t wrong! I’m quite relieved that Michael is going to be doing all the driving particular after encountering some of the crazy drivers down narrow pot-holed roads! Still crazy road conditions aside, we are enjoying it so far!

Dreams

I often find when I go away on holiday to a French-speaking country that I tend to start dreaming in French as well. Normally this happens during my holiday, although occasionally it happens afterwards. I’m not fluent in French by any means, not even close, although I speak it well enough to get by without needing to carry a phrasebook around with me and well enough that I rarely have people reply to me in English. Clearly there is a part of my brain which has absorbed and is able to understand more of the French language than I realise.

Brussels - day 3

Our final day in Brussels was spent wandering around the area around the Palais Royale although once again we’d left ourselves too little time to visit any of the museums which was a shame as we’ve since heard that the Musée des Instruments Musiques (or Museum of Dead Musical Instruments as I nicknamed it) is well worth a visit. In fact, now that we’ve arrived back home, we’ve had a few recommendations of places to visit which would have been a little more helpful if we’d had them before going to Brussels. We’re off again tomorrow – this time to Malta.

Brussels - day 2

We are discovering just how exciting Belgium is – a quick perusal of the guide book left us wondering if there was actually anywhere interesting to visit (art galleries and museums become a bit same-y after a while) and so we ended up visiting Autoworld – a large aircraft hangar filled with vintage cars which admittedly Michael found more interesting than I did (the displays on how engines work failed to hold my attention for more than a couple of minutes). We then had a wander around the Place Royale but unfortunately arrived there too late to visit any of the museums.

Brussels - day 1

We’re now in Brussels and enjoying a nice relaxing evening catching up with friends. We’ve had a brief wander around to the Grand Place and surrounding area – buying chocolate and then relaxing in a bar serving an overwhelming variety of beer – the beer menu was about as thick as the average Yellow Pages and the sheer amount of choice somewhat bewildering but I eventually decided to try a mango-flavoured beer which was a bit bizarre and tasted more like beer-flavoured mango juice. The strawberry beer was equally strange and tasted more like a banana smoothie which was a little unexpected.

Pager-free and ready to relax

Three weeks of being pager-free are ahead of me! It is so nice to be off call and be able to completely relax and switch off from all things work-related. Tomorrow Michael and I are heading off on the Eurostar to Brussels to go and spend a couple of days with our friends Joel and Vik. We’ve been to Belgium a couple of times before (the last time being when we got engaged) but this’ll be the first time for visiting Brussels. I’m looking forward to spending time relaxing and catching up with friends but not to tomorrow’s 6am start!

Fireworks

I’m not a huge fan of fireworks – a fireworks night several years ago at Michael’s parents where a rocket came down landing about six inches away from my foot had made me quite wary of fireworks in general. Despite this, I agreed to come out to a local firework display with a group of friends this evening, which I actually quite enjoyed (probably more because I spent most of it trying to get some half-decent firework photos rather than worrying about stray rockets) and then we headed off to the pub afterwards to defrost in front of a roaring fire.

Family time

I’ve been able to get home to visit my family a little more often than usual lately which has been great. There are so many nice things about going home – spending time with my mum and dad and trying to catch up with as many brothers and sisters as I can fit into one short trip home. One of the nicest things about going home to visit my family is being able to be a part of my nieces’ bedtime routine – reading them a bedtime story, tucking them up in bed and singing them to sleep. It is just lovely.

Saturday night quiz

I’ve been spending the evening at a quiz night organised by the am-dram group that I’m involved in. To be completely honest, I hadn’t been all that keen on going but faced with the choice of staying in and potentially being harassed by trick-or-treaters knocking on my door all evening and going out to the quiz, the quiz seemed marginally the better choice of the two. Michael was working at an event so couldn’t make it. It wasn’t too bad an evening in the end (our team came third, but there were only four points separating the top four teams).