Burning the midnight oil

1st sunday in Advent and I had everything ready. My Advent calendar candelabre all polished up. Slight exageration off course, but it's the tought that counts, it was dusted and out of the cupboard.

But as tradition, well tradition in my household anyway, prescribes, something was missing, I had forgotten something... the candles. I found 2 purple and 2 green candles in my candle draw, slightly out of shape, but all non-used, which was a bonus.

We put 3 year old to bed, after he was almost falling asleep in his dinner. Opened a bottle of Chianti, threw a Swedish CD in the player, unwrapped some cheese and lit some candles. It was a true hippy experience.

After the redwine had finished we started on the coffee and cognac, on a 'schoolnight', and then, another tradition in our household, the phone rang.

Someone we know has a knack of allways calling just as we sit down for dinner, a good film starts on TV, or when we have visitors. Actually, said person has, not so far, managed to call when we have visitors, but 95% of his calls come at an inconvenient time.

I hate phones. What's wrong with email?

1st Sunday in Advent

The Liturgical Season of Advent

What's in a name?

Little children are great. They have absolutely no sense of politeness and what is PC (politically correct) or not.

There is a lady in our neighbourhood who is a double XXXXL. I suspect it is some kind of decease, but I don't really know. It is not as if you can just go up to her and ask, "why are you so fat?", or can you?

Our three year old wil stare at her and ask, "Why is she fat Mommy?"

Yesterday we went to a cafe for lunch, and a little kid was sitting at the table next to us with his parents. Little boy, "What am I having?", Daddy, "You are sharing Mommy and Daddy's sandwiches", Little boy, "but I want my own!"....in steps Mommy, "There is lots of food coming. We will all have our own".

Two plates arrive, and the Mommy gives the boy some of her sandwich, "this is your sandwich". And the boy is happy.
The name you give things can be very important. Just look at PwC when they tried to rename to 'Monday'. Monday representing a new start to a week, something fresh. I guess they forgot that most people are more likely to agree with Garfield when it comes to the Mondays; "I hate Mondays".

Animal fascination

Parcel Force drove up in front of our house this morning, just as we where about to leave. A giant box of presents in time for Christmas. Plenty of time for Christmas as to kill two birds with one stone. Box included early december birthday presents.

"Is that present for me?", "Is that for Christmas?", "Is he going to take the other presents to the other children?". Now my son thinks Parcel Force, and their red vans are the modern Santas helpers.

My so has two wishes for Christmas, lots of animals (I is convinced the box is full of toy animals) and a Christmas three. When I picked him up from nursery this evening he was playing with a toy grasshopper. Who makes toy grashoppers?

Snails not moving for months and giant centrepieds. Bat eating centrrpieds. Life in the undergrowth, by David Attenborough. The latest animal program to suit the modern micro photographer. Have you ever watched a snail eating a leaf, close up?

I rememeber my favourite bioligy assignment, the one and only where we ddn't have a set subject, was about the ladybug and it's relatives. Mostly about it's relatives. There is something weirdly facinationg about insects.

Just swinging by

Have you ever walked by an empty playground feeling the urge to go for a quick swing? Or maybe a go on the climbingframe?

Off course you have, but do you still act on it, is the question.

Late this summer we went to Legoland (Denmark) with some friends, and while my son and his dad where exploring the small climbingframe, our friends disappeared on the big climbingframe-come-activity-playground. Couldn't they make those things in adult size?

As the shoe advert used to go; Act your shoe size, not your age! (this doesn't work for most European sizes)

Wellington boots

Driving down the road, passing road signs picturing a tank, "Vehicles turning", and "troops crossing", you know you are nearing Aldershot, the home of the British Army.

I don't work for the army, and never have had much to do with the army, so I will stay clear of that subject. But something else which livs in Aldershot is the Wellington statue, and a Wellington roundabout, Wellington road, and with Britains well known wet weather, lots of Wellington boots.

When I was at school one of my fellow students, I would not call her a friend, but she came to my birthday party in a dress and green Wellington boots.

Wellington boots can be quite the fashion. Mine are very fashionable. Though not exactly green, or original Wellington boots, or boots for that matter. They are more like orange wellington shoes really. But very trendy.

Rocking Christmas

Are you ready for Christmas? Got all the presents? Wrapping paper and ribbon? What about food? Stop!

Since we have family abroad I suppose we at least need to start thinking about the presents we have to send with Royal Mail. Something which doesn't weigh too much. I refuse to spend more on postage than the presents are actually worth. But I am guessing my grandmother doesn't really want a big box of LEGO.

I'll figure something out... next week. And since shopping is not my forte I will do as I have done for years, let my better half do the shopping, the wrapping and the posting.

Meanwhile I will focus on my speciality, the atmosphere, which is why I bought a rocking chair for £3.50 on EBay last weekend.

Beats me why a rocking chair says Christmas, so please don't ask.

Silver haired estate

When I was 14 I wanted a Testarossa. Now I'm 34 and I still want a Testarossa. What I never wanted was an estate, of any kind. So why is it that so many company directors, who surely get's paid enough to buy pretty much any car they would like, drives estates? Usually silver ones, to make it even less desireably.

Does silver estate cars come with the titel, or is this why I have never been offered promotion to the big money... I don't drive a silver estate?

3 or 13

When you meet parents who have kids older than yours, you often hear the, "it get's worse as they get older", or, "just wait till he becomes a teenager". Well, I think sometimes my 3 year old is a teenager with the attitude he picks up at nursery.

Argh!!!

So to all you new parents, or parents to be... If you think it is bad now? It just doesn't get any better!

Life in Colour

It's always cold in our bathroom. Not because the window is almost permanently on a latch, but because the walls are blue.

It is said that blue is a relaxing colour, which is why so many offices has blue chairs, blue partitions, etc. For me it is just a cold colour, and what's so relaxing about being cold?

A friend of mine once asked me why I was always wearing black, so I went home and reviewed my wardrope... which was full of black clothes.

Now i wear red trousers to work, orange tops and I even own a pink shirt.

Where do you shop?

Queuing at Asda during my lunchbreak is not really my idea of a good time, so I don't really want to be held up by the customer service staff gossiping about what they did the night before.

Todays gossip did however catch 10 seconds of my attention. I know... I have a low attention span... but in my defence, I was at Asda.

"Last night while I was shopping at Tesco..."

Asda staff shop at the competitions store? What happened to loyalty? Loyalty rewards?

Where's the carrot?

Nightowls

I used to be a nightowl. Sleep all day and party all night! Well, sleep most of the day and work all night. I used to be a hotel night manager in London. The joys of dealing with obnoxious people who thought it was my fault if the airline had lost their luggage, or the ones who thought they where entitled to a free upgrade to a suite just because they could be obnoxious. I do not miss being a nightowl.

When people wandering the hallways, naked, becomes commenplace events. People who have picked the wrong door to the ensuite when going to the toilet during the night, and end up in the corridor, without a key. You find them hiding behind curtains and doors. When this is no longer embarrashing, but something you almost expect when you check the floors during the night, the night shift starts to loose it's appeal.

But coming up to christmas, and the christmas party season, I am even more relieved I do not work the night shift in a London hotel anymore. Picking drunk people up from the lobbey floor and wheeling them to their room in the hotel wheelchair, is one of the more memorable events. Everything else just becomes a blur after a while. And I didn't even have to have a drink. I miss being a nightowl, sometimes.

University of life

Now that I have my love life back on track and my career is going nowhere fast, but I am having lots of fun at work, I have decided to take a trek down the Humanity studies road. I have actually registered for a February start of home study.

I'm taking a slow (financially viable) start with just the one module. So I should get a degree some time before I pass 50, but they do say life expectancy is increasing, so I have time.


It all started with Yellow Pages.

Since the internet, who really uses phonebooks anymore? We still keep getting them though, so a few years back, this was when I was still single and living life in the fast lane in London, I decided to unwrap Yellow Pages from it's plastic before it went out of date. It's not a bad book.

I might pick one up again soon. If nothing else, to get myself back into the studying spirit of text books.

Patience is a virtue

Once upon a time... something about the Halloween ghost, which as a foreigner I know very little about. Something to do with witches and dressing up as dracula?

And not to forget about the pumpkin. This being the third year I have done a pumpkin, I finally got it right!

The first year I got a pumpkin it was so far from being ripe that it took me the better part of a day to get the top of. Never mind getting the pumpkin meat out, and forget about a face or anything else of any artistic value.

Second year I got a smaller pumpkin.

This year however, I got a ripe pumpkin, so it was all done in less than an hour. Which gave me the rest of the day to think of something to do with all the meat. Any ideas for next year?