We have had a lot of snow this winter. I would say "YAY!" as it is all very pretty but it has been an utter pain in the arse in terms of getting to and from work. This country seems to fall apart at the seams when it snows. I don't remember there being any weather-related problems when I was growing up in Germany and it snowed there pretty much every year! I wish our government would do some fact-finding stuff into how they cope with winter in Europe and Canada then maybe I wouldn't be losing money by not being able to get into work!! Grumble, grumble!
On 21 December the weather was so atrocious that it took FIVE HOURS to drive home from work that night... its usually about a half hour journey! I also had a few days where I just couldn't get in at all. This morning I tried for three hours to get in but gave up and came home to do work from here instead.
It is very pretty though. Here's some pics....
The view from my living room (at the back)
The view from my bedroom (at the front)
Talking of home, the house is lovely and I am all moved in properly now, however since I have moved in I have discovered that the windows don't close properly and that the under-floor-heating doesn't work properly either! Much grumbling and complaining was done to the estate agents who after a fashion did supply me with four panel heaters. All well and good but with drafty windows it was a pretty pointless gesture and the house was always cold, especially in the recent weather!
I spoke to the girl at the estate agents again as I'd not heard anything further about getting someone in to repair the heating. She let slip that the previous tenants had mentioned the heating not functioning properly and that the maintenance people had looked at it and said it was a very old system and may not be repairable! They are now trying to source another company to check it out before contacting the landlord to have the heating replaced. Also, the tenants association have decided that the windows are all being replaced with double-glazing this year! Yay! Maybe next winter won't be like living in a fridge!
Yesterday they sent round a handyman who draft-proofed all my windows and packed / sealed up the ones that don't close properly. There was an instant noticeable difference and although the house isn't warm, its not freezing either! I've stuck on a couple of the panel heaters today and I can actually feel the heat! Hurrah!
We had a great Xmas / Yuletide celebration. The best I have had in a long, long time. The 25th was lovely. Just me, Keith, Aaron and Gemima for the main meal. Jade was at her Dad's, Sophie at her Mum's and Sam decided to go to a friend's. Lots of cooking, which Keith helped with. It was nice not to have to do everything by myself. Jade and Pete joined us later on, where Jade had another dinner and a few glasses of Baileys and she and Pete opened their prezzies from us.
Jade made the most amazing gluten-free mince pies, which went down a treat. Most gluten-free stuff you buy in the shops is very crumbly and has little taste. Jade's were pretty much indistinguishable from the normal ones and didn't disintegraate into a pile of crumbs the second they were bitten into. Fabulous! Thank you Jade!
The 26th was noisy and fun. We were joined at my house by most of my family and some friends, including Jodie (who I fostered for three years), who Gemima hasn't seen since she was about 5 and was very excited about seeing again. Jade and Pete came over with Pete's parents and brother so Keith and I got to do the meet the parents thing for the first time. They seemed to enjoy themselves and stayed for a few hours so hopefully we didn't scare them all too much!
This was followed by an excellent New Year's Eve party at Dan and Laura's where Keith and I got thoroughly pickled and stayed over, sleeping on their living room floor.
Yours Truly all bunnied up and ready to go out
The Glitzy One with his unreasonably fabulous legs on display!
Uber-scrummy sparkly pink gluten-free cakes made for us by Laura:
Tomorrow I am heading off to SWF to go with Keith to have an ultrasound done. We think he may have gallstones. He has all the symptoms and has been in quite a substantial amount of pain on and off since 9th December. Fingers crossed that it's nothing more sinister and that its easily treatable. Watch this space!
1 comment:
I'm hurt you didn't mention my Gluten free mince pies that I made for you!
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