Christmas! oh no!

This is the time of year when I start to get in a Christmas panic. There seems to be so much to do, all in less than a month. I need to write Christmas cards and queue for hours at the Post Office to get stamps. I have to think about what presents to buy for whom. The weather is dull, grey, cold and damp, making me feel less inclined to want to do anything at all, save huddle up by the fire with a glass of mulled wine.
Mulled wine is one of the things that makes winter tolerable. Here is a good recipe:
2 bottles of red wine (if you have made blackberry or elderberry wine, use 1 bottle of either to give added fruitiness, otherwise a full bodied red will do nicely)
1 lemon, stuck with cloves
2 oranges, sliced finely
8oz demerara sugar
1 heaped teaspoon cinnamon (or 2 cinnamon sticks)
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Roast the lemon in a hot oven for about 30 minutes. Bring from the oven and mix with all the rest of the ingredients in a large saucepan. Heat well, then strain off the fruit and serve piping hot.

Getting Ready

Getting ready to go on holiday is both exciting and stressful. I have a recurring nightmare in which I arrive at the airport only to find I have left my passport and/or tickets at home. Because of this, I find it necessary to check and re-check that I haven't left anything critical behind.
This morning I did some packing and Mark the cat came and sat in the suitcase. He knows the appearance of the suitcase signals a change in his comfy routine, and does his best to disrupt the process.

Starting again

I'm posting an entry to this blog after over a year's absence. Sometimes it just seems there's too much going on to post anything, others that there is so little of any interest it's not worth it.
So what's happening in my life just now?
1) I'm having a bit of trouble typing as I sliced my right index finger open while drying a carving knife yesterday. Stupid thing to do. I know. The only good thing is at least I hadn't set up my laptop for fingerprint login.
2) Having yet again been passed over for a job I'd have liked due to living in the wrong part of the country, I have decided that now it's time to do something completely different. So when I get back from holiday I am going to embark on the process to become a driving instructor.
3) Digging the allotment today cured my backache. How weird is that?

new windows

I have four new windows at the front now, and another two to go. Also the front door, which will be a bit of a pain as I have to move all the books and shelves so they can get at the frame. Spent ages today filling in and painting and clearing up. Was too tired to go to tap, so sat and read 'A Spot of Bother' by Mark Haddon.
Why is it that when I am off work I always end up more knackered than when I am at work?

Everything loves broccoli

Is there any creature out there (apart from small children) who doesn't like eating broccoli? The plants I grew down on the allotment were devoured by rabbits, so I decided to have another go by sowing some more seeds at home, and only taking them down to the allotment when they were large enough to withstand attack.
The seeds were poking their little heads above the compost the other day. This morning they had vanished. Slugs must be the culprit this time.
Am I ever going to manage to eat any of my home grown broccoli?

I'm on holiday!

Finished work tonight at 7.15pm and drove home in the sunshine, feeling remarkably happy and full of curry that I'd bought earlier in Sainsbury's reduced section. Matt and I always compare our purchases to see who has got the best bargain of the day. Dan is bemused by it.
When I got home I painted over the bits on the kitchen window that had been wrecked by the sudden downpour, then noticed that the light was starting to get that luminous quality of late evening. All the red bricks glow, and the colours of the flowers seem to intensify as the sun slowly sinks.
I sat in the living room, enjoying my empty sky that may soon be blocked (see yesterday's post for details). Felt a bit depressed about the prospect. Of course, all because someone has planning permission doesn't mean it will actually happen. She may not be able to raise the money in the current financial climate. And if and when it does happen, will already have been through all the angst about it and it will probably not be as bad as I'd feared.
Last night I dreamed I was back in Barnet, and walking through the ruins of the Odeon, which was about to be demolished. Let's hope this isn't a premonition. I don't think it is - it's just my subconscious trying to deal with the prospect of change.

Planning Permission

I read in the local newspaper this evening that the hairdresser across the road from my house has been given planning permission to build a whacking great first floor extension.
This will make the building twice the height it is now - higher than the lamp post in the picture. (The pitched roof isn't on the shop - it's the roof of the house behind it. The shop currently has a flat roof.)
Myself and all the neighbours objected several times to the plans, on the grounds that it will cause huge parking problems. There is a free car park in the village only a couple of hundred yards away, but neither the customers nor the staff want to walk that far, and all park in the lane. The customers aren't so much of a problem as they don't generally spend too much time in the salon, but the staff cars are there all day. So parking will definitely get worse.

The height of the extension also means that where I used to enjoy the winter afternoon sun in the house, I will now be stuck in a looming blue shadow.
I always enjoyed the sunlight during those darkest three months of the year, and now it will be taken away from me. It seems as if building in the village is gradually caging me in - first at the end of the garden, now on the other side of the house too.