Wednesday, December 15, 2010

A quick update on several on-going stories:

1) C. came home from hospital on Monday. I spoke to her briefly that evening. She thought she would manage well by day, wouldn't need help, but wasn’t feeling strong enough to receive visitors. I’ll phone tomorrow to see if she would let my husband come for half an hour or so, just to sit. After this week things get pretty fraught with the approach of the solstice, for her as well as for us. And we don’t know how much time we’ve got.

2) A remarkable amount of snow removed itself from Edinburgh over the weekend. The city is now perfectly navigable. I haven’t phoned anyone in Kirkm*chael yet, but the roads up there usually get cleared promptly for the sake of the skiers. The forecast for tomorrow and the rest of the week is, however, pretty horrendous. We are poised with a Plan B for spending Christmas here in Edinburgh, as the Beijing Mileses need to exit via Edinburgh airport on the 26th.

3) I finished Matt’s socks. I may even face my final post office queue this afternoon, to dispatch them. And I’ve started some KF socks for Cathy, in a new-to-me colourway. I wouldn’t dare send them by post to Beijing, after the loss of that earflap hat. So I’ve got to finish them in the next 10 days, or hand them over in the summer. We’ll see.

The big news is that the Round-the-Bend DVD has arrived. There was no time yesterday to crack it open, and there may not be any today, but one can hope.

We had a good time in London. My husband keeled over with weariness or perhaps slight illness on Sunday, so we never got to see the Bulgarian treasures at the RA. A real disappointment for him, a lovely relaxed day for me. After Mass we went to the pub. James and Ed played pool while Rachel and I drank cider and watched. Ed is very good, but James didn’t disgrace himself. There is very little of that kind of off-duty silliness in my life, and it was lovely.

8 comments:

  1. So glad that your London trip was a success and included some light hearted fun.

    I love the colorway of the KF sock yarn. Just the ticket to chasing away the winter blahs.

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  2. Welcome back. That's a good reminder that we all need a little off-duty silliness. We have been buried under snow here, and more predicted tomorrow, I am glad we have no plans to leave town. Here's hoping the storm misses Scotland.

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  3. Off-duty silliness is great fun.
    Last week I went to my university's carols service with a friend from the Bio department. We sang carols with gusto and then after, joined the students for the open houses of the deans and president (each house had different food.) Like the students we sprinted from house to house, stuffing our faces with brownies, cookies and the like. When we hit the Provost's house he was at the door when we came in and seemed a bit startled at the sight of us in sneakers, jeans, puffer jackets (and me in a beret). He smiled and chatted and remarked on how he "almost couldn't tell us from the students." We ran into our students along the way and they seemed a bit startled by the sight of Dr. T and Dr. J just blending on in.... Good times and total silliness.

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  4. So glad you are back safe and sound after all that sillyness in London. I love it when our sons get together and we can just sit back and laugh at their banter.

    On another silly note - a brief clip on the radio this morning about relieving the stress of studying for exams - at Oberlin a 5 minute dancing break each hour has been delared for all students studying in the library.

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  5. I am glad you had a good visit to London, and that a bit of silliness was included! I think you are going to enjoy the DVD. I have yet to be disappointed by any of the Schoolhouse Press ones I have ordered. Making alternate plans for the holidays due to bad weather sounds much more Canadian to me than Scottish! :-)

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  6. Anonymous11:08 PM

    Yay! So you might be around for Christmas?! Hurrah!!!

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  7. Welcome back!
    Sounds like an excellent trip.
    I hope your husband can visit his sister even briefly soon.
    Lisa in Toronto

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  8. =Tamar4:03 AM

    R&R is always good. Hooray for cleared streets!

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