Season's Greetings

This was Birmingham two weeks ago, Sunday morning about 11am. We had a fantastic weekend of ballet and shopping at the wonderful German market and it was very pretty in the cold frosty air. The church in the centre of this picture is St Martin's in the Bullring - and they've built the shiny new retail complex of the improved Bullring around this Victorian gem. It's a very special place with a very unique atmosphere and it is one of my ten favourite churches in the world.

Well, we managed Christmas. Gifts finally arrived on Christmas Eve, everything got wrapped, food was prepared and we celebrated - although our Christmas night party was a little depleted by illness. My Christmas presents were largely of my favourite shape this year (Hint: Codex!) and I'm planning on spending the remainder of this week reading them!!! Although my cough is still alarming, I don't feel ill any more and I seem to have stopped bursting into tears for no apparent reason. I'm typing this sitting by the Christmas tree (which still looks and smells fabulous), and I'm eating chocolate for breakfast! (don't tell weightwatchers!!) The snow and ice stayed over Christmas but it is starting to go away slowly now - it's raining today. I'd forgotten it could do that!

The 'Snoo-Tappit' extras page is finally up and running - I found time to do that last week! - and I hope you enjoy it! There's plenty more of that sort of thing floating round on the web: I've just tipped the ice-berg. I'm totally in awe of anyone who can get a note out of a beastie that big!

What happened to Ho ho ho?

I'm ill. Chest infection/cold type thing. Started on Friday, two hours after leaving work. And of course, it couldn't have come at a worse time. There's more snow outside and temperatures were down to a ridiculous -11 degrees C last night, my kitchen sink is blocked inexpicably (washing up in the bathroom isn't much fun), and half my gifts haven't come yet: orders from Amazon placed weeks ago seem to have disappeared into a black hole. This week was planned like a military operation - but I hadn't factored in the fact that I was going to feel so rough. I'm supposed to be out there now Christmas shopping. All I want to do is go back to bed and pull the duvet over my head until I feel a bit more human. And to stop coughing...

Just read back over my blog entries and realised: if Starbucks had done Dark Cherry Mochas this Christmas, NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED!!!! It's all their fault...

The twilight zone

This photo has no relevance to my post - except that it is one of my favourite places in London (it's the entrance to the tube station, next to the Medici shop and a brilliant remainder bookshop!) and tonight I feel as if I need the comfort of looking at somewhere I love!! Tomorrow is the second of the 2 big interviews and is potentially the much more significant of the two. The first one went really well and I was very pleased with the outcome - but then again, I was on the other side of the interview table, asking the questions not worrying about answers!!! It's not that I feel nervous, or apprehensive - just numb! I felt like this the day I got the keys to my house: I should've been excited, but I wasn't. I wasn't anything at all! And I'm not again! Is it a defence tactic? Who knows!
So I'm sitting here, putting off the early night I know I really need, listening to the great thaw drip-drip=driping away outside and wondering how many of my roof tiles are being ripped off with the great canopies of snow which have started to avalanche off the roof. I'm also trying not to think about the fact that I'm far from prepared for Christmas and that we've only got 5 days left at work till the holidays. If you could sent a warm supportive thought drifting in my direction at some point tomorrow I'd be so grateful...

PS It's now Friday - and I wasn't successful. Am disappointed, but just grateful for the interview. Back to the drawing board as it were...

The deed is done...

This is the cover of the print version of the new G&P Christmas story. It is stored safe in Lulu's vaults and will be unleashed on the unsuspecting world in the very near future. As always, it will be free to download. Print copies will be £2.50 (and p&p of course, which with lulu is sometimes rather steep!).
I must admit I rather enjoyed writing this one, although as always I've spent most of today flapping around trying to get Lulu to do what I wanted it to do! Just got my fingers crossed now that the print copies I've ordered are okay and come in time for Christmas! Let's face it, with snow turning to ice - the glassy clear sort as well - it may be the only present anyone gets from me!
Still facing the 'double interview' scenario this week, as one was postponed because of the weather. Forecasts are grim for early in the week: the North East of England seems to have its own personal snowcloud on the weather maps! Snow coming off the roof has caused serious guttering issues at the back of my house this weekend as well as decapitating a laurel bush - but at least my bay window hasn't collapsed under the strain which is what happened to a house nearby!! Off to dig out the wheelie bin now - haven't seen it for a week!

The weather outside is SPITEFUL...

...and the fire is sooooo delightful! It's still snowing here. It's been snowing all week. And as the song says, 'It doesn't show signs of stopping'. I've struggled into work each day, never managing to make it on time but desperately trying to show willing. Every morning there's been a fresh layer of white stuff: the pavements are several inches higher than they were last week. The world has turned completely white and painfully cold. I'm already dreading my fuel bills...

And I'm beginning to think I can't do Christmas!!! With only days to go, I've done nothing so far which will have any impact. I'm totally devoid of gift ideas, and rather than go and do post-work shopping, I'm just dashing home to get into the warm as quickly as I can! It's mad!

Grouse and Partridge Christmas Tale is just about complete, however: a few tweaks and it'll be ready to go! I've put the last three on lulu as free downloads and the new one will be joining them in 2 weeks time. I'm donating money to Crisis again this year and making a smaller donation to the restoration of a rather lovely musical instrument - again, details will be made available once the story 'goes live'. Considering a special 'extras' web-page with a few links on as an added bonus... time willing!!

This is the second of my Winter's Night pictures...

In the Night Garden...

Winter is most definitely here! This is my garden - and the one next door - taken at 11.45 on Friday night. It's not a 'sepia-ized' version either: this is an ordinary colour photo taken without flash or other lighting, just the usual streetlights. It was an experiment and I wasn't sure if it would work, but I'd just walked back through this scene and the light was so bizarre I wanted to try and capture it.

It hasn't got above -1 C today and there's now about a foot of snow outside. It isn't snowing at the moment, but the sky is the same colour as the ground - greyish white!- and there are another 8 inches forecast for tonight.

As a traveller by public transport, I'm starting to worry already. I have a trip of 23 miles to work, followed by a one and 3/4 mile walk when I arrive at the station. The police and authorities are urging people not to travel unless it is an emergency - but I can't see that going down well as an excuse for not getting there tomorrow! Last time we had snow like this, there was no suggestion that we close.

Now don't get me wrong: I don't just want to 'skive off' - in fact, at the moment, given the way my job is, being off work would be very inconvenient - I have two impending interviews at the end of the week (one on each side of the table, as it were!)and I really want to be ready for both of them. But going to work in this - and it is much worse now than it was when I took this photo - just seems mindless madness! As I've said before, it's great when you can sit on the window-seat and watch it swirl down, knowing you don't have to brave it. Tonight, however, I doubt I'll be feeling quite as kindly disposed towards it!

On a lighter note, Drover and Bolph did build a snowman yesterday...but you'll have to wait until Dec 17th to find out where!

Reindeer time!

It's that time of the year again. And even if Starbucks are not going to indulge my needs at this festive time of the year, the other good thing about Christmas is the reindeer.

I love reindeer. Not the cartoony red-nosed variety (think the others let Rudolph off lightly, to be honest - he is unsufferably smug!) but the real ones! This chap was waiting to pull Santa's sleigh through my town on Sunday, just having a chomp on some lunch as he waited in the (quite frankly depressing!) rain.

We discovered a couple of years ago where they go for their r&r before the parade begins and it does mean you get a chance to see them 'up close and personal' before the crowds claim them! And I got better photos this year with a proper camera.

We've had a bit of snow here today, although it didn't stay, and it is FREEZING, so I suppose that's the official winter start. Of course it also means my heating has packed in - it doesn't do cold weather! I've done nothing about Christmas yet, (although I did buy some cards in London a couple of weeks ago - with reindeer on!).

HOWEVER I have made a start on the NEW Grouse and Partridge Christmas Tale which will be available to download on December 17th. After struggling with 'Harry', it's been lovely to get back to the old team. So far there's no reindeer in it... but there's still time!!