Day 192

Level 2 Chi Kung.

I was thinking that I might have to work quite hard this year to make Christmas special for Katie: she got gradually more downhearted as all her friends departed for Christmas in France, Italy and Finland, all saying how dreadful it must be not to ‘go home’ for Christmas and to spend it instead in boring old London. For me, I have always found Christmas in London rather wonderful – a little less so now than when we lived in Bayswater, but still. Everyone leaves, and those of us left suddenly have the city all to ourselves. Anyway, I needn’t have worried. Having done the clear primer coat yesterday, today we began applying the first top coat to the log cabin. We gave Katie a paint brush and she was happy as a pig in mud, and a genuine help, taking care of all the awkward low bits! Unfortunately, young Sherlock was also very excited about the painting, eager to resume his in depth examination of my ear canal every time I bent down to do the low bits! As a result his beautiful chocolate brown coat now has a number of attractive blue highlights.

The photo below shows the cabin with it’s first coat mostly complete. The door, window and door frames, and sofit will eventually be white and we will put some pavers down on the concrete out front.

Log cabin 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sherlock with highlights

After we finished painting, I had a nice hot shower and then got onto the baking again, and made a triple mixture of spice biscuits. It is one thing that seems to find favour with everyone – so they don’t last very long. Tomorrow I might make some slugs or ginger crunch (which only Nick and I like) to ensure that there is something available to give any visitors over Christmas.

Da 191

Level 2 Chi Kung.

I went upstairs at 7pm last night to do some bits and pieces on the computer and immediately came down with a bad case of QWERTY-face. Felt so tired that, instead of going downstairs and attempting to be sociable (i.e. falling asleep on the sofa) I just put the electric blanket on and was washed, flossed, brushed and in bed by 8pm. Woken at 1:30am by Nick finally coming to bed, I thought that might be it for the night, but no, I went back to sleep and, give or take 15 minutes, pretty much slept the clock round. I did have a strange and rather sad dream. I was attempting to fly out of Singapore but was finding the airport confusing. This in itself is strange as Changi, in spite of being large and busy, is so well designed it is actually one of the world’s least confusing airports. But in the dream it was more maze-like, and Chinese people kept pressing boxes of luridly coloured sweets on me. In the dream I kept myself going with the thought that I just had to get on the plane and then when I got to NZ, I could relax and be looked after. Then I arrived and got off the plane, only to discover that, in the dream as in life, my parents are dead and there isn’t anyone to look after me.  🙁

Performance day for Katie’s trampolining class. Parents aren’t normally allowed in the room so I haven’t seen Katie in action before. She has only been going a couple of months so I was impressed with how well she performed her routine. When she came over at the end to show me her certificate and get a hug, I couldn’t help noticing that there was nothing under her leggings that she wasn’t born with. I don’t know what it is with that girl, she’ll go commando every chance she gets! I asked her on the way home what she has against knickers (not her bottom obviously) and she said she just can’t be bothered. Hey ho.

It is a matter of some urgency to get the log cabin painted before bad weather sets in, and the paint can only be applied when the temperature is above 8 degrees. In practical terms, this means we need to do it in the middle chunk of the already short winter day. In view of this, I had said to Nick that I would help with the painting. However I was really nurturing a secret hope that he would take care of it, allowing me to get on with other stuff. So when I got home from trampolining and saw that he was out the back, painting the cabin, I went out hoping that he would say that he had it under control and there was no need for me to help. I have no idea why I thought this might happen – we have been together for 27 years and he has never once said anything remotely like this, or turned down an offer of help with DIY (no matter how tentative or insincere that offer might be!) – but I guess hope springs eternal! So the rest of the day was spent applying a clear primer coat to the log cabin and plans to get more Christmas baking done (everything other than the Christmas cake itself having been either eaten or given away) went right out the window.

Day 190

Level 2 Chi Kung.

Distracted from getting on with the long list of things I needed to get done during the children’s last half day of school, by the arrival of the builders to erect the new log cabin. A large parcel of timber had been delivered by HIAB last Monday and we had been informed that it would be put together like Lego. The guys arrived as I was about to leave to take Katie to school and introduced themselves thus: ‘Hi, I’m James, and this is my brother Jay.’ I’m not sure what possessed me to reply ‘Goodness, your parents didn’t have much imagination!’ but I’m afraid I did.

As I left, I was on the point of asking Nick to photograph progress, but then I thought that they would hardly have time to carry the timber down the back before I got back. However by the time I got home – about 9:30 – it looked like the first picture. Another half hour or so and it looked like the second picture, and by 1pm, it was finished.

Log cabin 1

Log cabin 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

Log cabin 4

 

I was further distracted by another, rather wonderful, early Christmas present: an email from my boss, saying Merry Christmas and attaching confirmation that our directorate will indeed be offering voluntary redundancy! Yippee! It won’t be nearly as much cash as I would have got if they had let me go back in 2007 when they were supposed to, but hey, given that I don’t want to go back anyway, it’s better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

Given the distractions, it is a miracle that I managed to get all but two of the remaining presents wrapped. One (for Nick) I have lost (he was about to come in when I was trying to wrap it a few days ago and I tucked it away somewhere safe… except now it isn’t in the safe place, or anywhere else I’ve looked. The other merely requires bubble wrap – which I didn’t have to hand at the time.

Went to pick up Katie from school and was surprised to find her utterly miserable – very downhearted now that Elias has departed for Finland! She cheered up a bit while telling me how the teachers had performed a panto for the children. Mr Roach, the short, plump and rather camp head teacher, apparently played Widow Twanky dressed in a pink wig, a frilly pink dress with sequins and a jewelled tiara. I would have payed money to see that!

Day 189

Level 2 Chi Kung.

I have always believed that, while most of humanity may well be ape-descendants, I personally have bear DNA – as evidenced by the fact that, at the start of winter, I want to eat a lot and then sleep until spring. I decided to have a ‘quick nap’ after dropping Katie at school – didn’t wake up until 12:45!

One the way to collect Katie, I checked my phone and discovered 4 missed calls from Elias’ father. I called him back and he explained that, as Elias wouldn’t be trampolining this week (he twisted his ankle earlier in the week) he had told Elias that he would be going to after school club instead. Unfortunately Elias was really upset about this and insisted that he wanted to go to Katie’s house. I of course said this would be fine, but Tomi said that, when he couldn’t get hold of me, he had arranged for Lena to take Elias. Of course Elias didn’t know this. When the children emerged from class, Elias promptly attached himself to my side like a little Moomin-shaped limpet. I explained that he would be going home with Lena but the normally ebullient Elias moaned piteously, on the verge of tears. This was awkward. Lena (Russian and famously always late) was nowhere to be seen and I didn’t feel I could abandon Elias, on the other hand, we were, as usual on a bit of a timetable to get home in time for Dash. I also didn’t want Lena to end up feeling offended if she had to drag a reluctant Elias home with her. She finally arrived and I explained the situation, saying (truthfully) that I thought Elias’ preferences might be something to do with the increased likelihood of obtaining ice cream at my house! Lena, who looks after Elias a lot, seemed happy enough to send him off with me, so we raced home, just managing to get to the gate at the same time as Dashi’s bus.

Nick had made fabulous raisin bread the night before, so I offered the kids raisin toast. Elias, looking crestfallen, said ‘Will there not be pasta?’ I said, that yes, of course there would be pasta, but I thought they might like a quick snack of raisin toast first. In that case, Elias thought raisin toast sounded just fine. I lost track, in the flurry of toasting and buttering, whether Elias put away four or five slices of raisin toast, then three of the cupcakes that Dash had made at school. He and Katie then repaired to the living room to watch a DVD. I went in at 5pm and asked if, given how much they had already eaten, they would like fairly small servings of pasta? Elias replied that, no, he would definitely like a large portion. I am beginning to think that, with Siniqua away in India until after Christmas, the poor wee moomin might be finding his Dad’s cuisine not quite up to the standard he is accustomed to! Still I was quite prepared for him to push his pasta away half-finished – but no, every scrap was cleaned up. After trampolining, we went home and the children managed to fit in an ice cream while we waited for Tomi to arrive – though Katie only had a couple of bites of hers before asking me to put it back in the freezer for later. Then Tomi arrived and, to everybody’s consternation, Elias refused to go home. I had offered Tomi a drink but, understandably given that they leave for Finland tomorrow, he wanted to get home and pack. Elias is usually a very obliging little boy and poor Tomi was clearly unsure how to proceed. I retreated – saying I would let him deal with his child his own way – and a very disconsolate Elias was eventually persuaded to leave. Missing his mummy very badly I think.

Day 188

Level 2 Chi Kung.

Presented Jack’s driver and escort, and Dash’s escort with tins of baking, and sent Dash off on the bus laden with tins of baking, and wine for his teacher and teaching assistants. Dropped Katie at school with alcohol for her teachers, then had a blissful 45 minutes drinking coffee and reading a magazine in Gail’s, the new cafe in the village, before Katie’s year 3 assembly at 10am. A short and tasteful affair in contrast to the lengthy and over-elaborate pageants of key stage one. Went straight from the school to do the last of the non-food Christmas shopping. The shops were mercifully quiet – the only queue was at H&M (where I wasn’t even buying anything – just changing a pair of Jack’s track pants for a smaller size) which I think was more because they only had one person serving in the whole enormous shop rather than because it was particularly busy.

All of which was great so long as it was just because everyone else was still working and not a signal that the economy is heading for hell in a handcart once again.

Slightly embarrassing experience on the way home from collecting Katie. We often struggle – particularly if Katie’s class is a few minutes late coming out – to get home in time for Dash’s bus. A few times, having called at the house and got no response, they have spotted us walking down the street and stopped and let Dash off. This saves them having to return at the end of the run, and avoids us being told off. So, when Katie and I spotted the characteristic white bus coming towards us, we both attempted to wave it down – me for some reason resorting to the gesture used for hitchhiking in Africa (where sticking your thumb up is regarded as rude). As the bus drew alongside us with no sign of stopping, the bemused bus driver gave us a feeble wave, clearly wondering what the hell we thought we were doing. Wrong bus.

Feels good to have all the presents dispatched. I used to do it on the last day of term, but discovered the hard way that it only takes a lost hair brush, a missing school shoe, or a bus or taxi arriving early and the carefully prepared gifts are left sitting forlornly until January.

Day 187

Level 2 Chi Kung.

More cleaning. Preparing tins of baking to give teachers etc. Climbing the laundry mountain.

Nick went to Jack’s Christmas pageant – I couldn’t go as there was no way to be back in time to collect Katie. I had hastily wrapped tins of baking for Jack’s teacher and teaching assistant, and for Sylvia (who runs the school office) and Steve (the caretaker). Jack was the school’s first pupil – one of only two attending in the first week – and they literally finished building it around him. As a result, all the staff adore him and Sylvia and Steve are particularly devoted. As this will be his last Christmas at the school, I wanted to make a bit more of a fuss.

In the afternoon I got the rest of the tins of baking wrapped up and cards written, and prepared the mulled wine kits for the teachers who drink. I printed out copies of Jamie Oliver’s mulled wine recipe and prepared little bags containing all the necessary spices: a cinnamon stick, a whole nutmeg, a couple of star anise, and some cloves, and tied the recipe and a bag of spices to the neck of each bottle of red wine.

Day 186

Level 2 Chi Kung.

The glacial cleaner is back on deck today and, since it is beyond frustrating to be in the same room with her, I had a range of alternatives planned to stay out of her way. In the end, I didn’t do any of them. The midden that is Jack’s bedroom had reached the stage where I could ignore it no longer… I gritted my teeth and started to tidy. Four hours later, I realised that I just had time to shower the smell of 15 year old boy’s room off my body before it was time to collect Katie from school.

So a bit of a dull day – except for a totally wonderful early Christmas present. A dear friend, who has been waiting for a new kidney since before Jack was born, texted this morning to say that he had a successful transplant op on Saturday and his recovery is going well. Such wonderful news. I would love to visit him but I have a very slightly runny nose and would never forgive myself if I jeopardised his recovery.

Day 185

Level 2 Chi Kung.

It was only when the doorbell rang at 0930 that I remembered I was meant to have Kate dressed and ready to go to the cinema with Elias and his father. When I explained that I had completely forgotten and would need a few minutes to get Katie ready, Elias and Tomi said that they would go to collect Sam and then come back for Katie. She washed her face and got her clothes on while I made her breakfast, then she scarfed down a toasted hot cross bunand a glass of milk while I brushed her hair. Together we had her ready and waiting at the gate by the time they returned.

After the boys had finished breakfast, I cleaned the kitchen and then began the production of industrial quantities of spice biscuits to supplement the shortbread made (on Thursday) to give away to the 7 teachers and teaching assistants, and sundry others who require gifts at this time of year. I was just rolling out the very last of the mixture when Katie arrived home nearly six hours later. The doorbell rang and there were Katie, Sam and Elias – with poor Tomi struggling down the road way behind, looking utterly knackered. At that point I, quite by accident, managed the perfect domestic goddess moment. The house was full of the scent of around a hundred freshly-baked spice biscuits, and there am I, in (I kid you not) my best pinny with the roses on it, with just enough mixture left for the children to have a little roll and stamp out a biscuit each. At which point I hear Sam whisper to Elias, ‘Wow, Katie’s got a nice mummy.’ Aww, give that kid a biscuit!

Tomi eventually staggered in and declared, all wide-eyed, that the biscuits were just exactly like the ones they have at home in Finland. Aww, just like mother used to make! The kids demolished a huge pile of biscuits and then hurtled out to the garden to run off some of the sweets they ate at the cinema. I made Tomi a cup of strong tea and he confessed that he really had no idea how exhausting it was going to be taking 5 seven year olds to the cinema. He said Katie had behaved beautifully throughout but the boys had been pretty extreme. Apparently he left the film at one point to go to the loo and, when he came back, the people in the row in front complained that Sam had been swearing and throwing popcorn at them! Yet to look at wee Sam, you really would think that butter wouldn’t melt…

Is it normal for freesias to be blooming in mid-December?
Is it normal for freesias to be blooming in mid-December?

Day 184

Level 2 Chi Kung.

Nick took morning shift and I had a lovely sleep in – the electric blanket really makes a difference. Katie returned from her sleepover very happy and lively. The highlight of the evening was the night-time walk through the school’s small patch of forest, culminating in toasting marshmallows over a bonfire. The scandal was that Sam (a tiny child with the face of an angel, but allegedly the naughtiest child in year 3) took his onesie off and displayed his three piece suite to the assembled company. Katie, who was looking in the wrong direction (poor child takes after her mother!), would have missed the entire incident if she hadn’t heard the deputy head shouting “SAM, PUT YOUR ONESIE BACK ON RIGHT NOW AND DON’T YOU DARE TAKE IT OFF AGAIN’.

I joked with Nick that, in a few years, the parents would no doubt be wanting to send the children to sleepovers sewn into their onesies! And of course that made me remember the Knight in Rusty Armour (Every suit of armour ever made/ has a chink/ chainmail pants with a missing link.). I was astonished that Nick had never heard of it – I guess it is the difference between being the oldest (and growing up in a small town with only the National Programme), and having lots of older siblings playing their records in the background.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STNtH-orVpE

Day 183

Level 2 Chi Kung.

Finished packing for Katie’s sleepover (having had to wash and dry her robe and slanket) ending up with an unfeasibly huge and heavy amount of luggage for one small child to be away from home for 17.5 hours. Cleaned the kitchen before embarking on production of near-industrial quantities of shortbread. Filled six tins to give away, replenished the tin in the freezer that I had bandicooted in desperation to produce a present for the guitar teacher, and left a dozen or so pieces out to mollify the family.

At 5:30 I went to collect Katie from after-school club and took her out for pasta before dropping her, and her mountain of luggage, at the school sleep over. The large hall was a mass of excited 7 year olds and the entire stage was covered in luggage, with many parents hauling even bigger bags than Katie’s.