Christmas Day! Yay!

Yay, it's Christmas Day!
Olé
We have pressays and turkay
yay.

Er, crap poetry aside, I am now sat here with a slight headache still waiting for the drier to finish my bedsheets and suchlike, so I can go to bed :).

09:44: Well, after about 7 hours pleasant but restless sleep, and a good 5 or so incredibly powerful sneezes, tis time to get the Xmas pressies down :).

13:24: YAY! All pressies are open, everything assembled, all the things that need to be on charge are on charge, and everyone is happy :).

A complete list of my Xmas pressies (in the orer I pick them up off my bed, so no favouritism):

Ye Olde Xmas Pressie List

Gerber Recon LED Torch Mum/Dad

Visibledust Sensor Clean Solution (8ml) Mum/Dad

Visibledust Lens Cleaning Solution Mum/Dad

Visibledust Lens Cleaning Cloth Mum/Dad

Visibledust Sensor Cleaning Swab (12 pack) Mum/Dad

Toblerone Christmas Collection (hehehe) Mum/Dad

Official replica of The Sovereign's Sceptre Mum

The Crown Jewels Official Guidebook Mum

Bill Bailey's "Tinselworm" tour on DVD Sister

Official Formula 1 Wash Bag with body spray/shower gel Aunt/Uncle

Terry Pratchett's The Colour Of Magic On DVD Mum/Dad

Magic Garden "pour-the-solution-and-watch-crystals-grow" kit (I think this is a
replacement for my old Magic Christmas Tree) Mum/Dad

A large pillow cut jewel of some description, possible Ametrine (though it looks more like Citrine to me) Mum/Dad

A USB "Whack-a-mole" game Family Friend

Celtic Calligraphy by Vivien Lunniss Mum/Dad

Vellum Parchment - 20 sheets (cotton, not animal skin, so all you animal rights loonies can leave me alone and go back to your potatoes and 16 veg) Mum/Dad

Illumination For Calligraphy by Janet Mehigan Mum/Dad

A plastic tub containing: Burgundy, Silver, Gold, Green, Brown and Black 29.5ml Calligraphy Ink Bottles. Mum/Dad

New Slippers (A traditional Xmas pressie - my old ones are torn to shreds) Mum/Dad

Lexmark "perfect finish" photo paper (255gsm) Grandad

Remote Controlled "Firefly" UFO Mum/Dad

Milk Chocolate Creme Eggs (French Ones) Nephew

Do Ants have Arseholes by John Butler and Bruno Vincent Mum/Dad

Smart shirt from Burton Mum/Dad

Smart Trousers from Burton Mum/Dad

Socks with traditional risque joke Mum/Dad

Bench T-shirt Sister

Dozing Dragon Statue Mum

13:40: I've got to take the dog for a walk and give my nep-hoo the opportunity to play with his new RC/Car outside :). Back soon!

14:16: I'm back, but before I go any further, I'm gonna finish the list of pressies, up there^^. :)

14:49: I've been a bit busy trying to get this done along with helping to set the table, so I'm gonna sign off for a bit and go along and help. Sort of :).

17:41: Yikes! After a yummy scrummy christmas dinner (first course melon ("Mayon"), second course fresh-baked bread and minestrone soup, and third course, turkey (I had turkey, roast potatoes, stuffing, and some of those little sausages with bacon wrapped around them) I set my nephew's keyboard up.
What followed was the little guy making loads and loads of noise and generally having lots of fun :).

Christmas Eve! Again!

09:08: Yay, it's here!

We've just got back from our traditional Christmas eve christmas food shopping.
Having gone to bed at about 00:00, not feeling too great, I was fortunate enough to wake to the luxury of a warm bed and no reason why I had to get out of it.
Of course, 6:15 rolled around and it was time to get ready to go out.

On the way there, it turned out that we hadn't made any arrangements to meet my sister there, it seems that the whole idea of us going christmas food shopping as a family - as we have done for the past 20 years - has suddenly been dropped as unfashionable. I was amazed that no one seemed to be bothered about the fact that without my sis and nephew, this wouldn't be a family christmas shopping trip, it'd be me, at Morrisons, with mum and dad.

We got to Morrisons, noting that the place wasn't even open and already there was a sizeable queue outside, and the place hadn't even opened yet, but my enthusiasm wasn't really there.

But, my mum emphatically started saying hi to someone, and I looked around to see...
...a grinning beaming very happy looking ickle nephew (in a cute little hat). And his mum. They had come after all! :-). Apparently my nephew leapt out of bed this morning, he was so enthused about coming.
For my part, I was very happy to see them both. A family christmas afterall.

We were about to take my nephew on his little routine round the travelators, but the store actually opened early, and as the shutters went up, the crowd moved in. There's only so many ways to describe two hours of shopping for christmas food - I noticed we got about a quarter of the food we used to - but then another thing which has become fashionable in our family, is replacing everything as it gets eaten, so we didn't actually have a huge load to buy.

But my ickle nephew seemed to enjoy wandering around with me, looking at all sorts of things, and generally being sweet and cute.

After what felt like an hour in the canteen, It was time to go home and get the stuff unpacked, and so here we are.
The turkey's in the bedroom for some reason (the reasoning is it won't get as hot in there (eh?)).
And I'm here in mine, absolutely shattered, looking forward to having a little nap :).

Later folks!

15:27 Right, I've had my little nap and now feel a bit better, save for a headache and sore throat/nose. Time to get on with the xmas eve tasls (changing bed etc)

Yay! As part of getting my room sparkly and ready for Christmas, my dad has afforded me the privilege of using our new vacuum cleaner. Woopdedoo! Mind you, he did warn me to "go steady" with it. I'm not sure how you can NOT go steady with a vaccum cleaner, maybe if you run small rodents over, or accidentally vacuum up some diamonds or something like that, that would be NOT going steady, but other than that, I think my choices for misbehaving with the cleaner are a bit limited.

I remember last christmas, from somewhere, we managed to come into possession of a toy Dyson, that as you pushed it along, rattled all the beads inside it. I thought it was pretty funny and quirky and cute, and as I remember it was a Christmas pressie for my nephew.
I think I saved it from the bin at one point.

16:31 Well, tis nearly time for santa to come round on his van to distribute sweets to all the cute lil kids.
Dad's giong off on one about the violations of sovereignty of the back bedroom, who's sanctity must not be disturbed on pain of having a stupid unreasonable rant directed at you.
Still, I'm gonna leave them lot going off on one downstairs, me and my ickle nephew are gonna play Zoo Tycoon 2 :).

22:52: I don't know what my mum puts in her quiches but they're incredible.
My nephjew and I played Zoo Tycoon for a short time, even as the queues to see Santa mounted up. Eventually though, time rolled round, and it was off out to see him, so my nephew, my mum, and my sis all went out.

I'd been worried about doing this, as my shift at work started at half five. Now before I start getting paid, I have to get in, unlock the bike container, get out a bike, lock the bike container, do a bike safety checklist, get changed, and get my cash ready. Before I get paid. This takes about 20 minutes.
Now Father Christmas visiting our street is something I've gone to every year since I can even remember, and though the time was getting on a little, I was determined that I was not going to miss it.

Before long, he comes rolling down the street in his sleigh (for further details about this whole thing see last year's xmas eve blog here), much to the excitement of the local kids, especially one kid who was absolutely amazed.

Surprisingly the queue moved fairly quickly, and my nephew got his choccy bar from Santa. I got the whole thing on video which is nice, and then it was time to leave.

I got to work in a stinking mood, which as the evening wore on and the tips mounted up, improved considerably. Money can't buy you happiness, but it can pay the angst to lay low for a while. Out on my rounds, it was nice seeing all the houses with their decorations, and one of the local churches was even having a carol service, giving the whole place a very nice atmosphere.

I was amazed by how many people were out and about though, every single pub was full to overflowing, there was music in all the streets, and working tirelessly to protect and aid those who had fallen foul of the beer (why get pissed before Christmas, it just means you have a hangover on the big day, surely?) are legions of police officers, paramedics and ambulance drivers. I hope those guys have a merry christmas too, they've worked bloody hard tonight from what I can see.

I got back, not very long ago, to find my entire cousins' side of the family here, as they are each christmas eve, and we chatted for a while, before they too had to get on with their christmas preparations, and went.

And so here I am. I'm surrounded by bare blankets and uncovered quilts/pillows (the covers being in the wash as I type). Definite Article's on the TV, and I'm feeling rather headachey.
But hey, it's christmas soon :).

I think I'm going to nick another quiche :-D.

Christmas Countdown - 1: Amaro Monte Penice

Or "the water from Penis Mountain".

08:57: I woke up several times throughout the night, before falling back to a rather unpleasant sleep. I woke again later.
The morning light was illuminating the curtains, my throat felt like it was on fire, my head hurt, my mouth tasted like I'd gone to sleep with a soldier's sock in it, and I was cold!

The air felt like Ice, it was almost physically painful to be exposed to any part of it. I made what must have been half a dozen pitiful attempts to block all the gaps in my bed that were letting the cold air in, and fell asleep again. Eventually though, I accepted that I had work to do, and decided to get up.

I hate having colds, and now we're out of lemsip. Bleah, meh and crap.

22:05: Right, I've spent the entire day feeling crappy, but I have at last finished my dad's christmas present! After only six months!
Nothing went well, CD's wouldn't burn, manuals kept getting ripped up, scissors etc etc kept going missing and files became corrupted, but the damn thing is now done, at long bloody last!

With that in mind I'm going to get onto the Amaro shortly, but first I have a few things to do.

22:50

Right. Amaro is another herbal liquore, and is sold and drunk in a wide variety of ways. It's not rare, but it is popular, which I spose means that if I like it, I can get more :).

I don't have a lot to say because i'm freezing, dripping wet from the shower, and I still feel ill.
So let's make with the Amaro.

BOTTLE TEN (I think?): AMARO

I still don't know what's going on with the name (penis mountain?! :p), but the drink is a lovely rich brown colour. So without further ado, let's get the photos taken and let's get drinking.
22:58: Upon opening the bottle, I was greeted by the smell of (according to my temporarily partially non-functional sense of smell) Dental Mouthwash. The taste is something different though, as per the name, this drink is bitter. Very bitter, with a hint of sweetness in the aftertaste. It's like the Amaretto but in reverse. That said, it's pretty nice, not a drink I want to rush though. So let's get on with enjoying the Amaro, the last of my christmas countdown drinks, and reflect on the fact that in one hour, it is Christmas Eve. I draw my first paycheck for five months, in less than an hour. Woo! Well, I'm off to chill out, and educate my lil buddy Conory about the difference between Bitter and Bitters, and just generally relax and (insofar as it's possible to do so while ill), have a good time! Merry Xmas - almost!

Christmas Countdown - 2: Ferro China

Sounds like a scrap merchant's shopping list.

Right, I'm gonna have to make this quick I'm afraid, because I'm suffering from a double whammy of being absolutely knackered, and a mild but very annoying case of man-flu. That is, a cold.

I've been to Manchester and taken a few photos that I'm happy with, including this one (it's a little grainy, but I kept it because I'm still happy with it). Nick also very nicely got me some lowepro camera gloves as an Xmas pressie, on the basis that I'd kept him company at the airport for pretty much the entire year and he wanted to say thanks. Nice guy :).

The weather worsened, we came home, I went to sleep, I woke up, I chatted to my ickle pal Conor (he's 16 now) who I am making wise in the ways of the world, and then I carried on with my dad's Xmas pressie, which is almost, but worryingly, not quite almost enough, finished.

I wrapped my remaining pressies, so they're done now.

We also mixed up the christmas pudding, which is nice :).

Right. Alcohol.

BOTTLE SIX: FERRO CHINA

02:04: Opening the bottle, I'm met with a rather unusal smell. It smells kinda like port but a bit like sherry too. I'm not sure what this drink is, though some have told me it may be a kind of bitters. Other than that, I know absolutely nothing about the drink.

I have, on account of its old fashioned label and deathly black colour, looked on this drink with some concern, as I have worried occasionally that it might be unpleasant. That said, the last two drinks were not exactly an orgasmic taste sensation (actually that's an unfortunate choice of words) so this one may actually be some improvement.

Now to give it a go :-).
...
02:06: Despite the colour which had initially put me off (I'm not racist towards different alcoholic beverages) the drink actually seems quite pleasant. The best way to describe the taste of the drink is as a rather herb flavoured port. As with some bitters, this does leave behind a rather bitter aftertaste, but then so does Port.

But yes, it's much more pleasant than I thought it would be.

As with other Giarola products though, it seems to be impossible to find this online, so I doubt I'd ever be able to buy a larger bottle. Oh well.
Oh yes, I found the honest glass that did go missing yesterday... It was under my desk. Bleah.

Christmas Countdown - 3: Kakao

BOTTLE FOUR: KAKAO

I hope that the label refers to the flavour rather than simply the taste or general quality.

Nothing interesting happened today, so let's get straight to this rather strange drink.
Why is it strange? Because it says that on the label, the drink is zabaglione al cioccolato. Which i think is basically telling me that it's chocolate flavoured Italian Custard. Which by itself sounds like a euphemism for something extremely unpleasant, and even if this wasn't so, still sounds like an ancient weapon of war.

Centurion: "Captain, the greek fire is having no effect on the enemy lines!"
Captain: "Right then. We'll have to use the Italian Custard"...

Or maybe not.
Yes, in any case, I'm confused as to how zabaglione worked its way into this bottle. Isn't zabaglione a dessert?
There is nothing to do but drink it. A feat made slightly more difficult by the fact that I have misplaced the glass that is older than me, so I have had to get a replacement glass that is older than me. Note that this glass also lies. It seems we have a cupboard full of dishonest glassware.
So let's get with the drinking :).
...
22:24 The pouring of the drink was initially accompanied by a sharp alcoholic smell, accompanied by a smell that put me in mind of yesterday's less than fresh drink.
So lets see if it is any good, shall we? :)

Well, The drink definitely tastes of alcohol, and it tastes of cocoa. That is, unsweetened cocoa powder. This isn't a chocolate liqeur, it's exactly what it says on the label, kakao. A portmanteau of "kak" (italian for "cack") and "ao" (italian for "oh")

The only reason I am drinking this horrible drink, is because it as sat waiting for a special occasion. And I don't want to waste it.
If I was offered this in a pub though, I'd turn it down. It is thoroughly unpleasant, so much so in fact that I'm not going to prolong the pain by sipping it for the next half hour. I'm going to do the unthinkable and down this horrible horrible drink in one.
...
22:27 Right, I'm still alive. That wasn't pleasant, but what is, is the nice tingling in my throat to tell me that it is in contact with alcohol. Which can only be a good thing.

But bloody hell, to say I've been looking forward to it for six months, this drink was thoroughly, thoroughly unpleasant.

I'm off to read, eat some real chocolate (toblerone) and try to wash the taste (of the cack-oh) out of my mouth with a hot cup of tea.

Christmas Countdown - 4: Whiskey Cream

After yesterday's debacle of a first shift, I decided that today would be more successful.
I managed to get to work 30 minutes early and was ready to start 5 minutes before my start time.
All well and good, and when the first delivery gave me a tip it put me in a cheerful mood for the rest of the evening.

And the evening continued quite happily, there was no wind, no rain, not much traffic and not too many orders.

The only annoying incident was where some of the local lovable tykes, a little posse of 10 year olds headed by a kid maybe 14 years old, decided they'd like to examine my scoot a little closer while I was out on foot searching for an address in a less than salubrious part of town.

They scarpered when they saw me heading back, and even tried to engage me in conversation about the bike when I went to load back up, having been unable to find the house, and obviously not being willing to spend any amount of time searching for it with the scoot left exclusively with this lot.
Still, they helpfully directed me to the house, or at least to somewhere conveniently away from the bike, so they could have another look.
This time when I doubled back, one was sat on the thing and had managed to get the electrics going. Odd, given that you can't do that without starting it.
To my dismay, the remote control alarm that my scoot is fitted with, wouldn't go off despite me sneakily pressing the button, and it wouldn't go off when the kid sat on the damn thing (This is the same alarm that later spontaneously went off when a gust of wind rocked my bike gently on its stand outside the shop).

Still, having told the kids I hadn't found the place and was now going (to say they'd been trying to feck around with the bike you'd think I should have been angrier or more hostile or whatever, but hey, cats will scratch, dogs will bark, and kids will be kids, especially in this part of town)., I was surprised to actually be able to get on the scoot and get away, without any objections -verbal or otherwise - from them.

Of course, In reality, I went to the next car park on the estate and tried to find the house again. I did find the house - or what I thought was the house - with all its lights off and windows closed.
Thinking I'd been the victim of a hoax call, I got my gear on and fecked off.

So yeah, not a bad night really, was quite nice, and I'm feeling more at home with the place.

No sooner had I got back from work than my sis phones me, to ask me to go to the local 24 hour ASDA to shop for some christmas food with her. Fair enough, my nephew was absolutely nuts, and would not stop running around and (often literally) bouncing off things!

He enjoyed zooming around on the travelators though, which was cute of him.

As soon as we had him and the shopping back in the car though, he fell into a dead sleep.

Other than that, not much to report. Tess is still terrorising the cats (though they're getting wise to her, and Tigsy (the torty/tabby) has made it a policy to back into the corner and start throwing those little kitty-punches that cats do.

And that's about it. Onto the alcohol.

BOTTLE THREE: WHISKY CREAM

I'm led to believe that this stuff is identical to Baileys, which is good because I like baileys. In fact over the course of two or three days, I once had a whole bottle to myself for my ickle bedtime treat. A fact which its owner - a mutual pal of my then-flatmate was not particularly pleased about at the time.

We all know what Baileys looks like so I'm not going to go into that any further. I am however, going to go into the fridge, to get the bottle. Ha ha aha etc.

01:14 (yes, today is until I go to sleep, for those of you that haven't read my earlier blogs)
I opened the bottle to find a couple of things. Firstly, a very pleasant smell. Secondly, a congealed sludge - probably cream based - blocking half of the neck.

With some shaking and perseverance though, I've emptied the bottle, so let's see what the drink's like. Well, it smells whiskyish, but not very strongly. I don't know if cream has a smaell (a new word) so I'll skip that and go straight to the taste.
...
01:20.
Hmm. I can taste whisky combined with distinct undertones of what I suspect is sour cream.
I may be wrong, but I think this has soured.
Let me go and get a second opinion...
01:23. Right I'm back, having had the second opinion, and I apologise to the drinks manufacturers. I am told that the drink is in fact probably not sour, and the undertone of sour cream is more likely to be more whisky tones. My second opinion (my mum) was not 100% sure though, and the drink had congealed around the inside of the cap, but I'll try not to think of that bit...

Having got used to the taste, which includes a distinctly bitter aftertaste, the drink itself isn't actually that bad. It isn't as nice as Baileys, but it's not bad, and certainly isn't the labour-to-drink that the Alkermes was.

I've done some research and have found that Baileys, which has pretty identical ingredients to this stuff, has a shelf life of about 24 months. So it's probably just me then. I hope.

Anyway, I'm going to finish this drink so I can wash its taste away with fresh fairtrade orange juice, and then have a nice nap. I'm still not convinced it isn't sour.

Meh.

Christmas Countdown - 5: Cremovo

I woke up several times today, initially from a rather unpleasant dream in which I was on shift delivering pizzas, and I got into a fight with a rather unpleasant crack user who was evidently rather disappointed that I didn't have any crack, and didn't know anyone who did.

Serves me right for reading wikipedia too much. One of the articles I browsed last night (in response to Jeff Dunham's comedy dvd) was crack. Don't know why, I've no interest in that type of thing :).

Still.

I woke up again to the sound of my parents arguing. They've evidently got over it now as they've taken the car and fecked off somewhere. Christmas shopping hopefully! ;-)

I eventually got round to browsing the net, and realised rather slowly that I was in fact due to see the nurse at the local surgery. So with about 25 minutes to go I started getting ready. I'd get dressed and see if I could swap some household chores for a lift to the doctors.

I looked outside - no car - bugger!

So I ended up running to the surgery. Not a problem, apart from the fact that my knee just "locked up" several times. It's like when I'm running either everything in my knee (my right knee - i've got two! (two knees not two right knees - cows have got two right knees, centipedes have got lots and lots. I don't know how many knees interior crocodile alligators have. They're all elbows and ankles (I just checked, they have two elbows at the front and two knees at the back (I'm going for the biggest number of consecutive bracketed sentences in a single paragraph(have I done it yet??))))) moves as it should, and sometimes it doesn't. Initially, it didn't.

Ahem.

I managed to get to the doctors with about a minute to spare, and announce my presence to the receptionist.
I was still looking through the magazines for the "digital photographer monthly" or whatever it's called, when the nurse called me. Of course, being mostly deaf in my left ear had evidently robbed me of most of my ability to tell which direction sounds had come from, so I'm looking around at the various doors, before I do a 180 and see the nurse grinning at me with some amusement :).

Anyway, I had my ears checked, then she sticks this thing which I spose is like a medical version of those spray things they use in bars and pubs to spray soft drinks into glasses, into my ear.

And then turned it on.

Did it hurt? Well, no actually. You do get a very loud rushing of water, and you can feel the water sloshing around in your ear, but in the first few seconds I noticed the sound start as muffled, and quickly become louder - it was working!

A second burst, at a higher setting, and that was it!
One week's worth of deafness fixed in 30 seconds!

I walked home, noting how loud the world had suddenly become.

I also stopped into the chippy on the way back, and got myself my favourite junk food meal.
Now, if you eat these on a daily basis, you'll become fat, deranged, and unable to move under your own power. But as an occasional unhealthy treat (god I sound like one of those special K ladies) I can't recommend it enough.
Introducing [chippy's] "wrap special". Get some chicken ("chikin") kebab meat, some lamb kebab meat, modge it around in curry sauce, then wrap it up in a tortilla. Then charge the person about £2.60 to eat it. It's cheap and tasty. And about as good for you as getting your head stuck in moving machinery. I also bought large quantities of soft drinks (running makes me thirsty).

I got home, dished up, and shoved some music on to listen to with both ears, for the first time in a week. Today's playlist is:

Nirvana: Polly
Nirvana: Lithium
Andy Williams: It's the most wonderful time of the year (Cool christmas lights too!)
Oomph!: Traumst Du
Collide: Razor Sharp

I'm now sat munching my unhealthy car-crash meal and listeing to christmas tunes. I might wrap some pressies when I get back from work. Hehe I love saying that. For now, it's nice to have a job again.

The cremovo comes later. It's going in the fridge now.

14:48: It was a dark and stormy night. It still is too. It's raining and the wind is blowing around something fierce. I'm gonna have plenty of fun staying upright tonight, much less making a good impression.
I'm trying to get ready and as usual everything's gone to rat-poo.
Everyone is running around putting shopping away, which means that I can't get ready because they're getting in my way and generally being a nuisance. The bit of paper that tells me when I start/finish is in my coat, which has disappeared into the dark recesses of the universe's imagination, far away from me, it would see, because I can't find the bloody thing.

What fun.
Still, it's Christmas soon :).

22:51: Right.
What a mess.
I ended up getting there bang on five thirty,, and it went downhill from there.

First, the bike shed has been replaced with something that's basically a glorified shipping container concreted into the ground. These are generally very hard to open, and it took me about 10 minutes to figure out how to get into the damn thing.

Second, when I did get one of the bikes out, the fecking thing wouldn't start. No electric start, no kickstart.
So we got the second bike out, exact same thing.

It was only after 20 minutes of several of us trying to figure it out that I noticed that the keyfob said "meta" (a manufacturer of vehicle immobilisers and alarms) on it. Eventually after triggering the alarm several times, we managed to get the damn thing turned off, and get the scoot started.

And from there, it was okay. Apart from one occasion when I slipped on some muddy concrete and fell on my arse. Fortunately I was in a good mood so I was laughing even as I got up.

Second though, somehow I turned the bloody hazard warning lights on the scooter. And I could not turn them off. They're remote control only - so there's not even a button on the scooter to turn them off.

So I had to ride back with the damn things on. What fun.

Thankfully though, the night improved, and the rest of the night was pretty much pain free :).

So now, I think I'd like to drink some alcohol. It's time for the Cremovo.

BOTTLE SEVEN: CREMOVO

Cremovo, according to the information I've been able to find, is a kind of Marsala - a fortified wine. It has sugar and egg yolks in it as well apparently. That said, let's go and get it :).

23:30: Well, having poured the drink, it smells really nice, it smells like port. There's a reason for this. It is actually similar to port.
I spose it's time to give it a go and see if I like it :-).

Hmm, it's quite thick, very sweet, there's a strange, almost tangy undertaste that I can't identify, but all in all, the Cremovo is probably the nicest of the drinks I've had so far :).

I'm not going to go into huge amounts of detail about the taste, as Cremovo is basically Port.
But yes, as I say, it is very pleasant.

Well, I'm off to finish my supper and I suspect I will be going to bed soon. The presents will need wrapping in the morning I guess.

Have fun :).

Christmas Countdown - 6: Limoncino

So I woke up fairly late today and spent the rest of the day arsing about with my dad's Xmas pressie.

The day didn't really pick up until later when my sis suggested we go Christmas shopping. I need to get a few christmas presents so hey I went along.

First thing we managed to do was get myself one of those 3 foot long Toblerones. Not bad for what worked out as 2 quid, so hey. Onto Meadowhall. Admittedly the place is not as packed as I'd expected it to be, so it was cool working our way round, and pretty productive. Admittedly it took a while but eventually I managed to get pretty much everything I was looking for, noting with alarm that I was running out of money fairly quickly. I don't get paid (that's right folks, now I officially GET PAID!) until christmas eve. 00:00 hours on the 24th of December. Uh huh. What the hell do I spend my paycheck on? Santa's delivery service? Do I pay fuel surcharges or something? Import tax? Guess buying stuff in the shops in the UK is a good idea after all!

So what else happened? Well, my nephew spent the night like a strobe light, on, off, on off, flickering rapidly between "absolute little demon from hell" and "loving adorable cute lil kid". We had a good old wander round, and I spose "a good night was had by all" as I seem to be saying increasingly.

One other thing I bought myself was a kite. Yes, I paid money for a kite. Why? BEcause in my Twenty Three years, I've never flown a kite, seriously. I accept that perhaps a two-line stunt kite isn't a novice's best choice for a first kite, but it cost me £4 (down from £13) so I ain't complaining.

One other bargain that I managed to bag (Yes I know I went out scouting for christmas presents for the family, but this bargain was too good to resist and didn't impact my present gathering ability in any way whatsoever anyway) was Century Rain by Alastair Reynolds.

When this book came out it was about £15. There are places like Forbidden Planet selling the paperback version for £6.99 plus whatever the hell delivery is there - I'm not registering to find out.

I got my copy, hardback, for £1.
That's not a typo, I got this book, hardback for £1/1 GBP/1 Pounds Sterling.
How? You swallow your pride and go to the budget shops. I was surprised as hell to find this thing in there, but as far as they're concerned, it's on the shelf, it's £1.

So 500+ pages of Alastair Reynold's latest work are mine at about 0.20 pence per page. If it's as amazing a work as Pushing Ice, then that's bloody good value for money.

Still.

Anyway, moving onto the alcohol - not including the four cans left over from last nights anticlimactic (is that a word) celebrations. Tonight drink is slightly more familiar.

BOTTLE NINE: LIMONCINO

Limoncino as far as I can ascertain, is Limoncello. A not unpleasant (but not fantastic) lemon liquor made from the rinds of lemons. The resulting drink, while being completely lacking in sourness that might ruin it, still includes plenty of bitterness, which is less than welcome.

Still as I say, the drink isn't unpleasant, in fact, its popularity is increasing. Limoncello is being sold in the US, the UK and Australia, as well as some other European countries. Perhaps it's not as bad as I remember it. What's vaguely interesting in a boring kind of way is the fact that the drink itself manages to take on a yellow colour, even though it's basically alcohol with lemon rinds shoved in it. Maybe it's one of those mysteries of life. Maybe I don't care enough to research it further. Still, it's an atractive drink. One that makes me daydream about living in Tuscany, with a couple of ducatis parked outside my villa, heating up in the morning sunshine... ahhh.... Ahem. Back to the grimy reality. Time to get the photos taken I spose.

01:45 Yes, I admit it, I'm late again. Not to worry, remember, "today" ends when you go to bed.

The drink certainly smells lemony, and not unfamiliar. time to give it a go I spose. ... Well, I'm surprised, this drink here is actually more pleasant than the bottle of Limoncello my parents brought home with them. It's definitely Limoncello, but it's obviously from a different producer. There's less bitterness and the drink itself is sweeter. At 30% ABV it's also some 3/4% stronger than the limoncello my parents brought back from Italy.

I'm glad I opened this bottle, when its number came up I wasn't impressed, complaining that "I know what limoncello tastes like and it's not great". But yes, I've got to admit, this drink is pretty nice. So now I'm off to carry on watching Jeff Dunham on Youtube, and I'm going to enjoy the rest of my drink :). Here are the photos.

Christmas Countdown - 7: Alkermes (I got a job)

15:32. Right, new job starts in 45 minutes, and right now I'm running round like a mad loony trying to find all my clothes. tempers (well, temper - mine) are/is running high and I just want to get out the door and get on with it :).

Let's see how it goes.
We return to the christmas countdown later.

21:28. I'm sat here with my nice celebration beer, relaxing after what turned out to be a successful night at work. The long and short of it ist hat I was assessed on my ability to meet certain standards, and having met those standards, was awarded the job. So yay, after four months of being unemployed, I am now finally working again. Fantastic stuff.

My job? Well, I'm basically a pizza boy, but hey, it's a job, I'm working with a good team, the work isn't dangerous, difficult or unpleasant, and I don't have to worry about armed mercenaries storming into my house to steal my camera, and any goods I own that add up to it's total monetary value.
So yes, a good night was had by all it seems, as my mum is also celebrating - this time at a christmas party. I don't expect she'll be drinking though, as she has taken her car with her.

As for the alcohol, well, the random number generator has picked bottle number one today.

BOTTLE ONE: ALKERMES

I know very very little about this drink. It seems to be a local specialty. The only information I have been able to find about it is that it may historically have being arabic in origin, and medicinal in purpose.
In that case, I suppose much like tonic water and coca cola going from medical concoctions to popular drinks in their own right, Alkermes has made a similar transition. The label says that it has natural flavourings in it, which isn't very helpful.

It's chilling in the fridge now, right now, I'm drinking my celebration beer and working on my dad's Xmas pressie. I'll come back to this later.

23:27. Well, I've got a nicely chilled (but tiny) drink in front of me. Aside from the bright red colour, one of the first things that I notice is the smell. Sort of alcoholic, but the drink also smells of rose water, and something like cloves. This is good, because I've found some more information on the drink, and this is exactly what it is supposed to smell like. Alkermes is a drink invented in 19th century Italy, and contains among other things, rose water, cloves, orange oil, as well as alcohol. It's colour used to be produced by a particular insect, though I'm not certain if this is still true. If so, this might be the only glass of beetle juice I've ever drunk. While Alkermes itself was invented as a drink, it seems it was derived from an earlier, but substantially different recipe, that did have (purported at least) medical uses.
...
11:34: Wow. despite its delicate smell, the drink actually has a very strong taste, and I have to admit that it's quite pleasant. The cloves are very noticable, as is the rose taste. the drink burns on the way down as well, which I personally consider a hallmark of a good drink. However, like the Amaretto, this drink also has a moderately unpleasant aftertaste, and while I feel that it would be unfair to condemn the entire drink as unpleasant simply due to the aftertaste, I do think that the aftertaste is a big factor in deciding what I think to the drink.
All in all, this is a reasonably pleasant, interesting and very striking drink, with a very unusual flavour that while pleasant, still takes some getting used to. One word that describes the taste would be "Aromatic". It's almost as if that while drinking the drink, the taste fills not only the mouth, but the nose and even the sinuses. It's very striking. I let my mum have a little taste of this as I wasn't sure what to make it. She described it as "liquid cherry lips", which I think is a pretty good description.
So yes, it wasn't unpleasant as such, but I am glad to be back on the beer. :). Might go to bed soon. Have fun!

Christmas Countdown - 8: Prugna Liquore (The movie Idea)

Today has been a productive day. I've accomplished a considerable amount of work on my dad's Xmas pressie, I've not got very much on it left to do before it's done and ready to be wrapped, and I've had a fairly steady day too.

I've put another three presents in the loft, and to be honest, that's about it. The most exciting thing that's happened to me today is eating a yummy cheeseburger with some coca cola while watching Dracula: Dead and Loving It.

On a related note, I must really recommend TVShack, it's a fantastic site, and while it doesn't have everything, it does have a huge amount of tv shows (star trek, father ted, bab 5, etc etc) as well as movies, documentaries etc. I also recently watched War of the Worlds (the crappy version) just to see how badly Spielberg and Tom Cruise could mutilate it between them.

The thing that makes me grin is how Tom Cruise's character is a dock worker, but still knows how to use an Anti Personnel Grenade (no, it's not simply a case of pulling the pin). On a related note, anyone who attaches grenades to themselves by the pin is an idiot, for obvious - or perhaps not very obvious (with fatal consequences) reasons.
The tripods were scary, and pretty convincing, I can't decide whether they're scarier than the Darkwalker or not though. But Tom Cruise has just completely lost all credibility with me, for reasons that Pat Condell goes into here, in his usual Articulate, funny and succinct manner.

That said, thankfully Mr Cruise seems to be able to keep his beliefs and his work seperate (unlike an increasing number of our workforce who finds that their job now offends their beliefs, whenever they are asked to do anything resembling work), and so perhaps the blame for War of the Worlds being a poor film, falls at Mr Spielberg's feet.

THE MOVIE IDEA

Perhaps in response, we should take "Independence Day", make it substantially more realistic, less cheesy and jingoistic, and have it directed by a British guy, to even the tables, I don't know.

We can have Simon Pegg as a wine drinking Royal Navy pilot who wants to get a seat in the European Space Project, getting woken up in his bed by his wife, while the earth shakes around them, only to insist that it's only legions of former British heroes revolving in their graves, before going back to sleep.

Of course, Jeff Goldblum, er, Lloyd Grossman, working for the BBC, figures out that the Aliens are trying to transmit a countdown signal over the BBC's network, but of course, the aliens find that after having travelled all this distance, their attack plans are completely ruined by the fact that the BBC did in fact record the entire countdown before the aliens ever turned up.

Pissed off, the aliens unleash a full frontal attack, all over the carpet, (before getting arrested for indecency and then quickly released when they complain loudly that getting arrested offends their beliefs) and the entire free world hangs on the success of Lloyd Grossman and Simon Pegg flying an Apollo space capsule stolen from the London Science Museum (the only alien construction the UK ever caught was shariah law).

With this, they have to contaminate the aliens' high tech computers on their mothership, with strains of the deadly "British Gas Billing System" virus (the one that makes all the numbers add up wrong),before launching a small nuclear warhead borrowed from the Americans (this occurs in space, so the labour government can't have them arrested for it), while all the while, a pissed up cider farmer from somerset, defies gordon brown and the human rights commisions by running interference down here by flying his F-18, er, Sea Harrier, er, do we have any armed forces left Mr Brown? (Yes, but no thanks to you), his cessna skyhawk into the underside of the alien ship in a clearly antisocial and racially motivated attack.

Of course, the labour government catch wind of this act of wilful damage on Bill Bailey's part, and gift millions of Taxpayer's money to the Aliens, by way of compensation, and to apologise for the damage to their nice shiny ships of mass destruction.

The aliens are then invited to "integrate into our culture" (A British phrase that is best translated into "Come among us and demand handouts for you and your descendants for as long as you are distinguishable from the native (hereafter known as the "poor bastards") population). They do so, and completely take over the nation without firing a single shot.

We can keep the title of the movie, "Independence" in this case refers to the entire world building a giant wall around the UK and keeping this horrible mess on the inside, much to the benefit of the rest of the world, who, now the aliens are distracted by a lifetime of BMW's and free money, are quite safe.

I kinda like that idea, maybe I should apply for a government grant to get the movie made.
I wonder if saying I'm "ethnic" as in "ethnic Yorkshire" will make it any more likely that I get free money.

But, hey, it's been a decent day so far I've had my little flight of fancy, and I'm off to bed soon, so let's make with the alcohol.

Today's random number generator picked bottle 8 - "Prugna"

BOTTLE EIGHT: PRUGNA

"Upon close inspection, (and considerable research) "prugna" would appear to be plum schnapps. I've only ever had peach schnapps before, and have found it to be quite nice. I don't eat plums, but I seem to remember them being rather bitter, so this could be interesting.
I've also managed to dig out my chocolates that we bought from harrods (there's £3.50 worth of chocolate here!), so I'll be enjoying these with my drink. Assuming that I enjoy my drink.
I shall just go and get it
...
Well, I'm rather surprised to sat that this drink smells almost exactly like the Amaretto I drank last night, it definitely smells of marzipan, and it's not cross contamination because I cleaned the glass thoroughly.

09:56: And now to taste it.
Well, I don't think it's Amaretto, but it definitely tastes similar. I would say there's a fruity taste in there but it could just be the water from the ice, or could even be psychological.

It's very different from the Schnapps that I've had in the past (Archers), I'd almost swear that this is Amaretto. Of course, it's not unpleasant, and the bitter aftertaste found in Amaretto isn't present, so I'm really really not sure what to make of this one. I'll have to do some more research while I eat my chocolates.

Peace.

Christmas Countdown - 9: Amaretto

Well, after turning the alarm off, I went out to see a friend only to be told that "he doesn't live here anymore". So much for getting back in touch with people, eh? I spent the rest of the day doing christmassy things, including wrapping a huge christmas present, as well as one smaller christmas present :). My life is so exciting at times!!!

Really though, after going to my potential employer AGAIN to ask what I was supposed to be doing, I was advised that the manager who offered me the job had in fact left without giving any notice or warning whatsoever, and everything was up in the air. AGAIN.
So I phoned the new manager today, who thankfully was not only delighted to have me onboard, but gave me a starting day - this wednesday.

Tired of being completely deaf in one ear, I also phoned the local surgery. A very pleasant nurse phoned me back and arranged a doctor's appointment for me, where it turned out that my ear was - wait for it - completely blocked with ear wax.
Reassuringly though, the doctor pointed out that there was nothing to be overly concerned about, and some time with the nurse should fix it - if it doesn't fix itself. I'm due to go back on friday if the former is required.

As for my Christmas countdown, well, today the random number picker picked number 2. Amaretto.

BOTTLE TWO: AMARETTO

This is also an old drink, and its origins, while not exactly lost in folklore, are at least pretty interested in it and considering borrowing a book on folklore from the local library.

Amaretto is a versatile drink, which is why I know that it is very nice in coffee, though I have to admit that I've never drunk it straight up. It's supposed to taste strongly of almonds, though some Amaretto is also made from apricot pits.

It's a rather pleasing golden colour, looks quite like a darker whisky.

21:54 Upon opening the bottle, you instantly notice the intense smell of marzipan. Not surprising since Amaretto and Marzipan are both made of almonds. It's quite a pleasant smell, and with Ice, the tiny 30cl bottle also goes quite far. I liked Amaretto in coffee, let's see if it's as nice on the rocks.
...
It's very unusual, not what I expected, it's not thick like Sambuca, being rather thin like whisky or vodka, but the drink definitely tastes intensely both of almonds, and of alcohol. There's a hint of a strange bitter-ish aftertaste that I'm not completely fond of, but on the whole, Amaretto seems to be quite nice, and at only (only!) 23% ABV, it's not going to get you too pished either :).

I've been wanting to try Amaretto ever since I tasted it in Coffee. You could ask "if you had it in coffee why not just drink it from the bottle instead". Because it was Amaretto flavoured instant coffee. one of those expensive sachets from those boxes that come with lots of different flavours of coffee.

So yes, another day, another few experiences. I'm going to have a shower and an early night, I want to be up super early to carry on working on my dad's pressie.

Here are the pics. Funnily enough, this glass is ALSO older than me. I'm not that young, honest. It's just a big deal in our family when someone breaks a glass.

Nighty night, folks!

Christmas Countdown - 10: Sambuca

Most normal people have chocolate advent calendars to cound down the days to Christmas day.

Not me. See, when my family came back from Italy, they brought me a little "try all these" package of ten different small bottles of spirits, liquors, etc etc, that are popular there.

Having taken up space in my parents' luggage all the way back from Italy, through Switzerland, Germany etc, these little bottles were destined for more than simply being pissed against the wall or casually wasted. They officially acquired a little sentimental value, and so I decided that they would be drunk at the appropriate time.

A few months ago I decided that I was going to use them as a sort of alcoholic advent calendar, I would start drinking on the fourteenth of december and finish my last one on christmas eve.

So without further ado, let's get to the drinking. I lined the bottles up, giving them individual numbers, and used an online random number generator to select a bottle at random. Today's bottle, the first one to kick us off, is bottle number five.

BOTTLE FIVE. SAMBUCA

Sambuca seems to be a very old drink, and is distilled from star anise. Therefore it tastes strongly of - wait for it - aniseed. So, off I go downstairs to fetch the Sambuca. It is actually 12:09 AM on the fifteenth, so I have actually missed the countdown, but operating on the basis that "today ends when I go to bed and tomorrow starts when I wake up", I'm okay.
Sambuca can be served after being set alight, but I don't want to burn it all and waste it, so I think I'll just get a shot glass.

Well, it definitely smells of aniseed. And it smells very strong too.

00:19 And now to drink it :)

Yikes. That stuff is rocket fuel. It's thicker/more viscous than most spirits so it coats the mouth nicely, and it definitely tastes very strongly of aniseed.

Actually I think it's pretty damn nice. I'll have to get myself a bottle - I've found a spirit I like!

After having taken a few sips, I notice that the taste definitely sticks, it's the sort of drink where you'd need to wash the taste away. It smells incredibly strongly, and as a pleasant warmth pervades my upper body, I note that at 40% alcohol, it's relatively strong too.

It's probably just as well that the bottle is only a miniscule 30ml (1.05 imperial ounces) bottle. I'd end up pissed, else.

What else have I been doing? I've finally actually gone and got the present for my ickle nephew that I really really wanted to get him. Pics below. Remember folks, this blog is Nephew-Proof until he reaches the age where santa stops existing.

Which reminds me - the sign to say that father christmas will be visiting on his van, is now up. He'll be round at 16:55 on the 24th, and my nephew and his mum will be coming to see him! fantastic!

Here are some pics anyways. The shot glass says Cognac, but it lies. This is sambuca. Incidentally, that glass is older than I am.

Peace.

Way On Down South...

London Town...

Yep, as is normal at this time of the year, my mum has coerced me into going to London with her.
Nothing wrong with that, I like the place enough, so I agreed to going along.

So, having got all my stuff ready the night before, I woke up (before the alarm went off) at what must have been about 4am, and spent the next hour, pissed off with my fortune, before the alarm made it clear that it was now time to get up.

So off we went, and after only what, 45 minutes of sitting around waiting for the coach, the thing turned up. Against my protests we ended up sat right at the front. "But you get a good view" you might think, and you'd be wrong. Ish.
A large sunscreen covered the top part of the windscreen, and the windows ended just above shoulder level. The portion of window I could see out of was mostly covered with no smoking signs and "well driven?" stickers. The seat didn't recline, and my seatbelt took about 10 minutes to pull itself tight after I fastened it.

But, after a four hours journey (it didn't seem that long) we ended up getting into Central London. We disembarked at Marble Arch and after a few minutes spent wandering through a warren of underpasses, we ended up in Hyde Park.

At the wrong end. You see, the weather in London yesterday wasn't that great, It was raining and it was cold, about 6c. We walked from Speaker's Corner to Knightsbridge, and by the time we got to the Serpentine, approx halfway there, we were soaked through (even the books for the trip that I'd put in my backpack were wet). But onwards we continued, and arrived at "Winter Wonderland", a Christmas market kindly set up for the City of London by our German friends.

Yep, everything was on sale, from Finnish (don't ask how Finnish products ended up at a German christmas market, I don't know either) Reindeer pelts (nice way to spend a lovely christmas, relaxing on one of Ruldolph's slaughtered mates. No, the animals were apparently killed for food and the pelts were a byproduct of the hunting) which were very soft, to Glühwein, or Frankfurter hotdogs (cooking on a HUGE (approx 5 foot across) grill pan hanging over a pit of glowing orange coals (sounds better than "cokes"), as well as arts and crafts, stalls selling various handmade items, plus a fairground (including a ghost train that promised, much to our amusement, "an experience that will haunt you through eternity/you will pass on through the generations"), a couple of cafes, and an ice skating rink.

All that was missing was the snow, and it would have been really really lovely.
Unfortunately, we didn't have snow, we had rain, and lots of it. We squelched around as people wearing binbags for protection from the rain wandered round, looking at the half empty rides, and the efforts of some of the staff of the largest cafe there (for a portable building it was BIG - they had a bar and grill and sky sports and everything) to sandbag the entrances so they wouldn't flood.
I watched as one kid working there, trying to help, picked up the wrong sandbag and watched its erstwhile nemesis flow through the gap created by this movement, and down towards the doors.
I think it made it as far as the floor inside.
We also took the opportunity to watch a poor kid skating on the ice rink (which itself was an inch deep in lovely just-above-freezing water) fall on his arse and get his trackies thoroughly soaked.

Eventually we left for Knightsbridge, getting to the other side, frankfurter-hotdog-less despite my pleadings, and we got into Harrods.
Well, Harrods is world famous, so I'm not going to go into its history. Interestingly though, I note that its motto is "All things for All people". And I'm gonna have to take exception to that.

Yes, Harrods sells practically anything, and incorporates an HMV and a Waterstone's (both the same company), but despite its best efforts (and the more I think about it the more I am beginning to believe that its motto may actually be more accurate than I give it credit for)
the place stinks of money. It might sell Krispy Kreme doughnuts for £2 each (made before your eyes!), and Gelato for £2.50 for a small plastic container, but it sells them on the same floor as £16,000 urns of tea and £1,300 jars of caviar.
No, Harrods isn't the place for me, it's too upmarket, you can't even go to the bathroom without some member of staff demanding that you have a good afternoon.
Don't get me wrong, the staff are incredibly polite, the range of products is incredible. Everything from popcorn to Bosendorfer grand pianos, mobile phones to 102-inch (I am not kidding!) plasma TVs. The interior decor is amazing with lush carpets, chandeliers, themed decor in different sections of the building, they score top marks on staff, building, and range of products.
And yet, something still doesn't sit right with me. I wander round the place buying things, and I still half-expect half a dozen security guards to suddenly ask me and my fellow shoppers to "please clear the room as His Imperial Majesty, Grand Poobar Vizier Spritzer-Hussar du Schleswig-Holstein the Third, is visiting shortly, once we can get all his personal entourage out of their fleet of Bentleys.

I get the feeling that me in all my red blooded normalness, and those like me, and even those not quite like me (the majority of people) are in the place at Harrods' sufferance, and despite the staff's good qualities, the entire shop would rather we all piss off so that more rich Schleswig-Holsteins will visit and spend a hundred billion Megaswiss Buckazoids on some new tassels for their curtains, or spend the cost of a new ferrarri on some "choice" food for their dog, which is invariably an annoying yappy little shi-t (no "zu" here).

We wandered round though, spent some money, I went to buy a new cleaning cloth for my camera lenses (which had fogged up incredibly due to the weather) and ended up £5 lighter in my pocket. 50p for the piece of toilet tissue sized cleaning cloth, and £4.50 for the privelige of owning a Harrods receipt that confirms that I was graciously allowed to spend money there.

I managed to sample some of the Gelato, which was absolutely brilliant. The best Ice Cream I've ever had. Even if they did charge us £2.50 for what works out at about 150ml of ice cream, if that. I looked around enviously at those at the nearby Gelato bar, eating huge massive sundaes piled high with the stuff. And then with a smile I remembered that my wallet still had money in it.

We ended up leaving. I came close to hitting people after getting bored with people bumping into me (always ugly people, attractive sexy people who I WANT to bump into me never seem to bother) and off we went to the Tower of London.

Which is weird because the Tower is actually a fortress, or at least a group of buildings. We took the opportunity to go to the Jewel House and see the actual real crown jewels, (when I think about it, I'm amazed that these things are on display), featuring the biggest diamond in the world, the second and third biggest, the fourth, sixth, seventh etc etc etc. Harrods might have reeked of money, but nowhere did I see a single item with a value of tens of millions. Here they were lined up by the dozen. Absolutely incredible.

I wandered around the Royal Armouries and took some photos, as it started to go dark.
The rain abated a little, and as we left the Tower, we noted that the ice rink (another one) situated in the old moat, that had had an inch or so of water on it, still had an inch of water on it, but was now thronged with people and was buzzing with life.

Eventually we went to get something to eat. Garfunkel's, on the Strand. I had some nachos, and a huge burger, and it was pretty good. Nothing worth going into too much detail about, a burger and a beer, it was nice. Even if the beer was a genuine "Sold in London at London Prices" beer, which means it cost us (my mum actually) £7 for two normal sized bottles.

After that, we went to a pub opposite the coach station, had another drink in there, and then waited a short time for the coach.

Whats more to say? Another four hours journey later, and we were home. I had a quick shower, and then very gratefully dove into bed. And slept for the next 12 hours.

Of course, here are the photos (of my trip not of me sleeping).



And as promised, I also have the photos from my trip to Kelham Island, with my family.



Peace.

Can someone turn the Christmas music up please!!!

Because I can't bloody hear it!

Yes, I woke up earlier, decided my hearing wasn't fantastic and decided to try to clean my ears.
Not a smart move, as this only made it worse, resulting in an almost total loss of hearing in my left ear.

So I've been to the chemist and got some eardrops, and now as well as being temporarily deaf in one ear, I am temporarily deaf in one ear with my ears full of liquid.

Bleah. Still, hopefully I should be back on form soon.

Christmas Preparations! Actual real ones this time!

10:34 Yep, I'm just at this minute putting the candle arch in my window, and then I'm gonna put the sparkly "glowworm" lights around my room.

And for some reason my sister has just turned up. Oh well, she can help!

16:53 After something of a busy day, I have cleaned the landing, banisters etc getting the house ready for putting the decorations up, and I've also managed to clear out the bottom drawer of my wardrobe, which was originally so messy it was a no-go area.
After over 6 hours and about as many cups of coffee, I'm now finally ready to put up my Christmas lights.

As an aside, My sister and I are not long returned from the local vets, who have scanned the dog, now named "Tess" for a microchip. No chip was found, which I suppose makes the dog exclusively my sister's responsibility. The vet also estimated the dog's age to be 6-12 months.

She continues to be cute, lovable, hyper and sociable.

17:11 I've now finally managed to get my personal Xmas lights up. They consist of nothing more than a 7-bulb candle arch, and a string of 200 "glow worm lights" (their name for twinkling multicoloured lights).
Putting decorations up is funny. It's fun and infuriating in equal measure.
A bit like my nephew who is currently kicking me and doing the opposite of whatever he is told.

22:32 Well, we've had a nice wander round, we took the dog for a walk along with my nephew, and we decided to turn the dog walk into a trip to the "Magical Christmas Kingdom" - the next estate, which has loads and loads of Xmas lights up already. We went to see our grandad - he seems to be doing well and we're looking forward to his visit on Christmas Day - and while we were out, we went on a little christmas quest:

The Christmas Quest

From my bedroom window, deep inside the next estate, on the distant hill facing our house, I can see one very brightly lit house, lit with a huge array of Christmas lights.

Curiosity has led me to wonder which house it is, on which road, and what the view from that place must be like. So tonight we set out, and after about 30 minutes walking we actually found the exact house that I can see all the way from my bedroom window. Looking back towards my house, and yep, you can see the candle arch in my bedroom window, far off in the distance.

Call me easily amused, but I think it added a little purpose to our nice christmassy trek, and it gave my nephew something to concentrate on :).

Well, we got back to find that one set of christmas lights has stopped working (always always happens every christmas, apparently, to every family), other than that, my mum's been working hard to get the tree decorated.

Well, I'm relaxing with sponge and custard now, in my nicely decorated bedroom. Once that's done, I'm off to bed :).

Night :).

Christmas Preparations!

Not medical preparations, not preparation H or anything like that, and nothing herbal either, just generally getting ready for Christmas.

Having got up at the (for me) fairly late time of 9am, (having spent the past hour or so turning the alarm off every ten minutes - what is the point of having an alarm clock if you turn the thing off??) I looked out of the window to see a typical winter's morning landscape - EVERYTHING absolutely covered in thick frost, but an incredibly intense and bright winter sunshine already beaming down on everything.

First Christmassy job? Put the presents that have already been wrapped into the loft again. The loft ladder stores the cold from the night, almost cold enough to burn my hands in our otherwise warm house. The presents now in the loft, I go downstairs to chat to mum who's still wrapping boxes and boxes of the things - I've got another 3 that need wrapping too.

It looks like she's really made an effort this year, even more than usual. Now she's putting a sparkly garland round each present, and with this, a little christmas cracker. It looks really nice and I have to admit, seeing them all stacked up in their shiny wrapping with the little crackers and cards and nametags and everything, I seem to enjoy a private thrill of childish excitement, unbecoming for someone my age.

So what's on the agenda for today? Well, my sister is coming round with my nephew, sans doggie (I believe) and we're off to Kelham Island christmas exhibition thingie which they have every year I think, nothing spectacular but a nice family christmas morning out - imagine an English victorian Christmas market set in what used to be an old industrial complex (is now an industrial heritage site) and you're pretty much there.

Once we're back, I imagine it's at that point that we're gonna start getting on with the Christmas decorations.

10:23 well, it looks like my sister and nephew are here, and they are not sans doggie, they are mit hund! or avec un chien or whatever the other one is.

Hmm. How's that going to work. Dog's don't like Don Engines. This one would probably go and try to chase the crank wheel round and round and round and round and...

Well I'm off to say hello to them, I'll be back later!

10:29 Yep, it looks like we're off out :).

10:48 Well, due to my mum misplacing her keys, we've now had 25 minutes of my dad laying down the law to all and sundry, regardless of their role in the matter, and generally having a go at anyone who isn't on his side.
It's all finished now though, the arguing has stopped, and the keys are found. But, now I don't feel like going anywhere, particularly not with him.
He's quite good at that you know, he finds any bit of joy there is in the house and kills it quickly and expertly. You'd think Christmas would be different, but no, it never is, he has to be right, even then.

Oh well, my nephew and the doggie are here I think I'll go and enjoy their company for a bit :).

11:11 Right, my dad seems to have begun to grasp the fact that there's no point being "right" all the time if it sets everyone off against you, so he's calmed down somewhat. So it looks like we are actually going after all.

Lola, her cute self, is generally wandering around quite happily, eating magazines and having her tummy rubbed.

Still, I spose I'd best turn the computer off and get ready to go out :). Later.
14:41 Right, We're back, and we've had a pretty good time. I will go into more detail, but right now I have to go and walk the dog with my sis. We ended up leaving her behind.

Back soon!

16:05 Right, I've spent the past 20 minutes processing my photos from our trip, which turned out to be pretty nice. I'll stick them up when I'm done. Right now though, I'm dying for a cup of coffee so I'll go and get one and be back with you in a few minutes.

16:14 OK I was more than a few minutes, because I've been detailed to do some christmassy cleaning in the dining room, which I'll do shortly. Soo, where to pick up from.

After a short but uneventful trip we got to Kelham Island, and I noticed that what was once a lonely little industrial museum in the middle of a run down industrial complex, was now surrounded on all sides by gleaming (well they would be gleaming if they weren't built out of those reddish orangey stone coloured bricks that everyone seems to find so fashionable these days) new residential buildings, giving the entire place the vague air of that restaurant out of Batteries Not Included (the bit where this tiny restaurant stands in between two huge skyscrapers). I noted on the way in that the river had completely frozen over, which doesn't happen often here.

What can I say? If you like Industrial History then go for it, it's a fascinating place. What I will say, is that it made me proud to be from Sheffield.
"How can you be proud of something you have no control over?" Asks Mr A. Nobhead, director of joe public's stupid questions committee". I have to admit, it is a fair question, even while simultaneously being a trite overused platitude. I don't have an answer, because I'm not a psychologist, so there. Sod off.

We had a wander around, looked at all the exhibits, and bought some sweets for my nephew - these bring back memories, flying saucers! There was a brass band (if three people constitutes a band) playing christmas carols, which added a seasonal air to the proceedings, and the place was full of impressive machinery.

An internal combustion engine with a piston over 20 inches wide, driving a flywheel over 6 foot across, was one of the exhibits that had a room to itself, but there were even larger machines powering the industry, one of which, the main attraction of the museum, lay elsewhere on the site. We managed to hurry into the largest room of the complex, which contained the Don Engine itself, to watch the hourly demonstration, and while the demonstration of this huge machine was markedly short, I was still amazed, as I am every time I see her, by the noise, and sheer power of this machine.
Fifty-plus tons of flywheel flying round at 70 RPM doesn't sound like a lot, but when that flywheel is, at a guess, ten feet across, it's fast. The three huge pistons powerered up and down, and amongst the hissing of compressed air (the machine was powered by steam at 160psi but is now powered by compressed air at 6psi if i remember correctly) and the grinding of huge gears, was the rhythmic thump-thump-thump of the engine, that was more felt than heard.
Altogether, it was a noise that I've only ever heard while standing in the presence of that thing, and as it's officially the most powerful steam engine in Europe, and 40% more powerful than the more modern machines that do its job in today's industry, you'll not hear that noise anywhere else.

See a video of the engine in steam here. (Not my video)
Read more here.

So we had a nice time all in all, I bumped into a mate of mine, and although my ickle nephew started feeling a bit sorry for himself (a bit of a cold or something), we managed to have a pretty nice day.

Well, now it's 16:54, and I'm off to do some christmas tidying. We've got the decorations to do!
I'll add the photos later.

23:19 Right, I'm going to try to make this brief, because I'm going to Manchester at 6am tomorrow, and I'm very tired indeed.

I've been carried off by my mum to a concert I knew nothing about two days ago. It was one of those christmas classical things, with a choir and a classical orchestera and stuff, and I have to admit, while being incredibly different to the last time I went to town (and danced like a loony to very loud music) this was also actually very good. The lineup featured six very very good soloists, who in the manner of soloists everywhere, seemed exquisitely happy when they were performing. I don't know why.

But yes, a good night was had by all, and it was actually rather good, so maybe I'll go again sometime.

I'm not going to put the photos up tonight, sorry I'm too busy/tired, but don't worry I'll put them up at some point :).

Laters!