Project #366 week 50

Last week at work for 2012. My students are lovely. There are only Alan, Rudy and I teaching, and Vanessa and Helen in the office. The weather has turned bitterly cold, although it is dry- and the forecast is for better, warmer, weather towards the end of the week.
Sunday 9th December 2012

Having allowed the tree to acclimatise- and the cats to get used to the strange thing from the garden in the house, I decided to decorate it. First of all I worried that I had got the wrong size! This is an annual worry as I always forget whether we should order an 8 or 9 foot tree!. This year I went for the 9-foot tree, which just fits the bay window, which is about 2-3 feet lower than the room itself. The room looks cosy all decorated for the festive season. I used my new room spray and put on some winter music- lovely!!

Monday 10th December

 I really enjoy watching the tradesmen joining in the fun at this time of year. When I finished work, I saw this taxi as I was walking home. Doesn't it look great? I've seen it around since the beginning of the week.

             Tuesday 11th

Jules on Saturday

Today is really really cold. The wind feels like it is coming from the Arctic. This is the time I'm glad I decorated the house and can light the fire, and the candles, and curl up. Cairis was offered a job in China today. She had an interview on Skype, and liked the sound of the job, so she will be off early in the new year. When I got to work today, I heard that my boss and his wife had become parents last night. The baby is a little girl called Penny. She wasn't due for another couple of weeks, but everything is good, so Julia will be pleased that it is over. On Saturday she looked like she had swallowed a beach ball.

Wednesday 12th

The French traders from Normandy arrived to set up their market at the old weighbridge. M, Cairis and I went down to see what they had brought over to sell, and decided to have an onion saucisse in a piece of baguette and some mulled cider -yum! The decorations looked very cool and elegant!

Thursday 13th

Late night shopping in town tonight. I decided to wander down to watch the street entertainment as M was doing Border Morris dancing in the centre. The lights were attractive, and the ambience was good, as the shops had all made an effort to be festive- offering mince pies, hot drinks, music etc. Cairis and I did a little shopping and then drove home leaving the Morris men to go to the pub for a music and drinking session:-)

Friday 14th

Last day of school, last day of work for the year:-) My French students gave me a gift of the NOEL  wooden letters which go well with the ones I had which say SNOW. I have put them on top of the cupboards either side of my tv.

I saw these cheeky chappies in town when I was looking for a gift for a friend's little boy. They are really cute, and I couldn't decide which one to buy- so I got one of each!

Saturday 15th

A busy, busy day today! As promised, the weather had really warmed up and is back in double figures:-) I went shopping with my friend this morning, although we traditionally give ourselves a whole day to do it. The band had promised to play for Durell ( The Zoo) when they had their

 'Meet Father Christmas' afternoon . We headed out in time to start at 2.30, with the plan to do an hour and then leave. Of course, things don't always go according to plan, and we were so well received that they asked us to keep playing, if we didn't mind! We stayed until they closed, and then had to rush as the Ceilidh Band members among us had a wedding to play at in the evening:-). This was the wedding of the daughter of one of our musicians, and we had been booked to play for months. It was a fantastic evening.The venue was somewhere new for us, and very elegant! I think everyone had fun- and the bride was amazed when her father got up on stage and joined in with the band. I think he just didn't want to dance!!