'Tis the end of the year, etc

Various discussions recently have led to my considering taking out another flat in Milton Keynes, though ONLY FOR ANOTHER SIX MONTHS. Really. Because by that point, everything will be crystal clear re what to do moving forward re residence situ. As I find myself unable to face the remainder of the winter in Travelodges given impossibility of preparing hot food in the evenings, and (perhaps feebly) can’t face either lodgings or a room in a shared house, it seems currently the only option given Ruth’s continuing lukewarm attitude to moving to MK. Viewed five flats the week before last, four of which were perfectly nice, but have not taken one as yet, partly because dithering over locations. Have two more viewings booked for Monday 5 January so will see what those yield.

Had our Information Office Christmas lunch on Thursday 18 December, at The Black Horse at Great Linford. Turned out to be considerably more enjoyable than the previous two, perhaps partly because the recently-retired Nick came along and bought three bottles of wine for the table. Nick appeared in a good humour despite having been recently diagnosed with coeliac disease and severe anaemia. An amusing time was had with some cracker innards, leading to both Guy and Andy crawling under the table at one point though I forget quite why. Service was a bit sluggish but food wasn’t bad.

‘Broke up’ from work for Christmas at midday on 23 December. Went into Reading in the evening and dined at Chennai Dosa, an Indian restaurant opposite the library that I’d never been to before, apparently part of a chain. The place had a slight air of being about to close down: there was a paper sign on the door stating that it was not accepting card payments; the tandoor was not working rendering half the menu unavailable, and half the restaurant had not been laid and had the chairs stacked on the tables. Having said that, the food was very nice when it arrived, though Ruth’s Chilli Chicken was too hot for her. I had the Palak Mutton which was offputtingly green but very tasty. We didn’t have one of the dosa dishes (apparently an Indian crepe, and presumably the chain’s speciality) though did see others eating them. Picture pinched from this article in the local press from earlier this year when the restaurant was the target of a swoop by immigration officials.

After dinner we went for a swift drink at the Wynford, currently about Reading’s sole gay venue, and then made our way along Kennetside to The Jolly Anglers to join Claire and others of her friends for a Christmas music evening/singalong. In fact, to my relief, it wasn’t as much of a singalong as Claire had implied, with a group rendition of The Twelve Days of Christmas being about the only thing we were expected to join in on. The musician, Laurie, played both guitar and piano and Claire and another friend of hers sang.

Ray came round for an early breakfast on Christmas Eve before heading off for a couple of hours work and then over to Emma 2’s. Ruth and I set off mid-morning for her parents’ home in Norfolk, and, despite the best efforts of my car to turn off towards Center Parcs at Elveden, we arrived at I think around 2:30pm, having stopped at Birchanger Green services for a brief lunch on the way. Wood Farm looked about as dilapidated, certainly on the outside, as when I last saw it (which was the last time we went there for Christmas, in 2010) although a new kitchen is apparently due to be fitted soon. There were eight of us for lunch on Christmas Day, including the four friends of Mrs Millard who came on the last occasion we spent Christmas there.

Re Center Parcs: my colleague Jill has gone to Center Parcs with her family for Christmas. I am not at all envious. A new one has recently opened quite near Milton Keynes.

On Boxing Day morning Ruth and I drove out to Thetford Forest and followed a couple of its marked trails to make a welcome walk of 4 miles or so. We returned to Wood Farm for lunch in the company of Lucy, a dietician friend of Mrs Millard’s from her time working in the NHS. Spent the afternoon reading Five Get Into a Fix, as part of scheme to ease myself gently back into regular reading with some undemanding material, while Ruth and her mother went through some of Granny Box’s old diaries and other documents. We returned to Caversham on the non-motorway route via Milton Keynes on Saturday.

Lydia

Pets corner: Harley had another teeth-rasping operation a week or so ago, from which he appears to have recovered well. Willow is still adorable, still destructive and slightly less smelly than she was, although still seems to have something of a matted rear end. My parents' remaining cat Lydia has, as noted previously, become friendlier and more forthcoming since the death of Emrys, suggesting that a dominance hierarchy may have existed previously, unsurprising given Emrys’ tetchy temperament. I gather she is now much more willing to come into the sitting room of an evening and be friendly. She is, however, wary of little Nia, which is unfortunate given Nia’s keenness to befriend her.

Came down to Abergavenny on Monday morning, where I still am. Family get-together for lunch at Mum and Dad’s on Monday, followed by opening of more presents. Nia appeared pleased with her Mr Tumble outfit and accompanying spotty bag, and with this blackboard/whiteboard combination easel, which she did her best to play a part in assembling. Yesterday was initially very cold and foggy, but we still ventured out to Belgrave Park to attempt to tire Nia on some play equipment.

Went into Hereford with Mum this morning and breakfasted at Diego's, next to the former Left Bank Complex, sadly still empty. Walking from the cafe to the library, we received a shock on casually glancing into an estate agent's window to see a prominent ad for Annedd Bach, Michaelchurch Escley, for £425,000. So the chap who bought it from Mum and Dad has in fact barely owned it for a year. Hoping that it's bought by someone who actually wants to live in it this time.

Bike kit; London outing; keeling woodcocks

Only been searching for jobs intermittently lately, but my keywords on indeed would appear to need some tailoring. Recently got this job ad included among a list of supposedly information-related jobs in the Reading area.

Ray came up for a visit last Thursday evening, partly to equip me with some apparently essential stuff for my bicycle as a Christmas present. We emerged from Halfords with a neat little ‘essential bike tools’ kit and a pouchy-bag thing (may not be the technical term) which apparently gets attached under my saddle and carries essentials like tools and a spare inner tube. Or, am thinking, my phone and a bar of chocolate. Then went for a bite to eat at Nando’s at the Kingston Centre – hadn’t been to Nando’s for years but their chicken is really not bad. Took a while for either of us to remember that you have to go to the counter to place your order though – for a while we looked around for a waitress in crabby middle-aged fashion.

Pre-Christmas day in London on Saturday with Ruth. Started with a visit to the ‘Christmas Past’ exhibition at the Geffrye Museum in Hoxton – we had been looking around for something Christmassy and Mum has been to the Geffrye and recommended it. Lovely setting in some 18th-century former almshouses set around lawns – apparently there are gardens behind the museum as well but these are only open April to October. The museum was busy, perhaps inevitably, but its room displays were very interesting and were peppered with tidbits about changes in Christmas traditions from the 1630s onwards. The ‘Christmas Past’ exhibition is subtitled ‘400 Years of Seasonal Traditions in English Homes’ and is evidently an annual thing.

Bought a card in the Geffrye's shop showing 'Woodcock by Frozen Lake', by Angela Harding. Amused by angle of woodcock's feet and its listing dangerously to the right. But then, who am I to assess art.

After leaving the Geffrye we attempted to go for lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant Ruth has been to recently with the HCT crowd, but it was closed, as are many venues in that neck of the woods at weekends. As Hoxton seems to have a plethora of Vietnamese restaurants, we went to the Viet Hoa Café on Kingsland Road instead. Very nice interior with cunningly concealed door to toilets - in fact the two older gents who were sitting right by the door were probably surprised to see Ruth walk straight towards the wall next to their table. Food was nice enough - I had a beef 'pho' which is evidently a typical noodle soup dish.

Got bus back west to Tottenham Court Road for our inevitable visit to Heal’s and Habitat. Ruth bought a furry throw in Habitat, to drape over sofa to cunningly conceal bunny damage. I think I resisted raining on parade by pointing out that the bunny will probably just shred the throw. Stopped at Patisserie Valerie on Torrington Place to ponder what to do next – Ruth was keen to see a film and I reluctantly allowed myself to be forced to choose between ‘Paddington’ and ‘Penguins of Madagascar’ – plumped for the latter as the penguins do look quite cute, though I’ve not seen any of the rest of the ‘Madagascar’ series. Got another bus down Charing Cross Road and fought our way to Leicester Square, me gritting my teeth against the Saturday early evening hordes. On arrival at cinema, Ruth had second thoughts given the price of the tickets, and we ended up getting yet another bus (maximum use wrung out of Travelcard) back to Paddington. We thought about going out to dinner, but ended up buying some stuff in M&S and going home to try out the furry throw.

Got Christmas decorations down from attic on Sunday and dug out the little desktop tree I've had for years, which is now installed on office desk in attempt to create a festive atmosphere.

Curry; Mum's birthday; road confusion

First post since August due to a combination of: 1) idleness; 2) hotel room-induced fractiousness; 3) side effect of stress and longer hours due to workplace battlefield promotion. May produce backfill update later, but here’s a potted summary of the last week:

Clockwise from left: Matt, Rebecca, Paul, Galina, Victoria, Guy, me

Finally galvanized myself to do my bit for workplace socialising and organise a meal out last Thursday evening. Matt and I met for pre-dinner drinks and a nice chinwag at the Vaults Bar on Stony Stratford’s high street, before joining half a dozen or so others at the Naidni for a curry. Was determined to actually get a photograph taken of the occasion this time, so roped in one of the waiters, who was extremely helpful and in fact took about nine from a variety of different angles, while my colleagues developed rictus grins and I assured him that a couple would do, honestly.

Went swimming first thing on Friday morning, followed by treating myself to an entirely justifiable breakfast at Carluccio’s, rapidly starting to become a staple on days off. Had managed up until that point to barely take in the whole Black Friday thing, though did note that the restaurant seemed quite busy; while meandering back through the shopping centre I saw that a couple of shops – including GAME – had people queuing outside the door and that the shops appeared to be letting people in in small batches. Ray later told me that he had called in at Tesco around 11.30pm the previous evening to see people queuing to access the Black Friday bargains that went on sale at midnight. Quite bizarre. Selfishly, I enjoy sleeping far too much to be doing with any of that.

Returned to Caversham around midday to be greeted with another comprehensive round of sofa destruction from Willow, which in the spirit of sharing I left for Ruth to clear up. Attempted once again to persuade her of the merits of goldfish. Willow had skipped out of the way in the photo but was lurking under the coffee table like the evil minx she is.

Made an early start on Saturday to drive to my parents’ house for the weekend, kicking off with getting the train with Mum into Bristol to meet Dave and Hannah for a lunch to celebrate Mum’s 70th birthday on Sunday. Mum had been keen for the four of us to get together without any partners attached – something that probably hasn’t happened for over 20 years – and Bristol had seemed like a convenient option. We had a pre-lunch drink at The Berkeley, a Wetherspoons pub on Queens Road, before lunching at Bill’s, where Hannah had efficiently reserved us a nice booth at the back of the restaurant. Post-lunch we walked up part of Brandon Hill and sat briefly.

The train journey from Abergavenny to Newport was slightly marred by the crowds on board heading for a rugby international in Cardiff; the Newport to Bristol train was only slightly less crowded, this time due (apparently) to a Christmas market in Bath. On the return journey I balked at boarding the first Abergavenny train due to its stuffedness and my mild crowd phobia, though in fairness to Mum I think she would have been prepared to fight her way on; as we suspected the following trains would be similarly well stacked, she phoned Dad and asked him to pick us up, which, to his credit, he did.

Family lunch on Sunday coupled with Mum opening cards and presents, assisted by Nia. Ruth and I had a nice walk to Waitrose first thing to pick up a few groceries, and Nia as Fireman Sam had a frisk around my parents’ garden, assisted by Dad as Station Officer Steele. In the evening Mum, Dad and Ruth watched some of Mum’s new Miss Marple box set, while I flicked through some Rupert annuals and a Famous Five book.

Left on Monday and drove to Newbury as Ruth had an interview at Vodafone HQ for a possible contract. Disconcerted by the realization that I am no longer familiar with the exit from junction 13 of the M4 in the post-bypass landscape, though as I’ve barely driven that way in the past 20 years I’m not sure why that should be surprising. After dropping Ruth at the main reception I opted out of sitting in the car and waiting for her – largely because I couldn’t in fact find a parking space – and drove off the site, intending to wait for her at Chieveley services but actually heading towards Newbury by accident. Managed to locate Waitrose where I did some shopping, then to kill the remaining time I thought I’d drive out to Snelsmore Common, where we often used to go at weekends as kids, to see how it’s been affected by the new road. Unfortunately – again, as it’s been a while – took the wrong road and ended up going through Winterbourne and then onto a tiny back road to Bagnor. When I was about half way along it and hoping not to meet anything, Ruth texted asking me to pick her up, so I turned round and retraced my steps, having had an entirely pointless half hour or so drive around in the countryside.

Today went to another concert in the OU’s ‘Lunchtime Chamber Music’ series, this time by an ensemble called 4 Girls 4 Harps. Lovely sound; never heard a harp quartet before.

Surprised to arrive home a couple of Fridays ago to find a Corby trouser press in the hallway. Turns out Gail has bought it as a present for her husband, and had it delivered to Ruth's house to avoid Rob discovering it. Aside from the fact that it's taking up space in our narrow hallway, Ruth was in London when it was delivered so our neighbours at 51 kindly took it in for us. Fear Ruth's assurances that it wasn't actually ours may have sounded to them like protesting too much. The embarrassment.