This Year and Next

It is now 6 full months that I have been here in London. That, and the fact that we are knocking on the door of 2008 has made me tres reflective. A bit of introspection never hurt anyone did it?

For a start, I have made for resolutions for the New Year. Your assistance with a couple of them is being solicited and actively encouraged.

1) I am going to learn to make a fantastic meat and potato pie - never fail crowd pleaser :-)
2) Further to the above, I am going to learn to make a kick-ass lasagna - given that as a child I repeatedly answered "lasagna" when quizzed on my favourite food, it is a little bit strange that I have never made one.

*I INTEND TO TRY A NUMBER OF RECIPES OUT OVER THE COURSE OF THE NEXT FEW MONTHS AND WOULD LIKE YOU TO SHARE YOUR BEST IF YOU HAVE THEM*

3) Learn to enjoy having a bath - many people would know that while I have no aversion to 'bathe-ing' generally, but that I have for some time loathed baths. I have diagnosed this as being directly symptomatic of my inability to relax, and therefore have prescribed for myself a new years resolution to force myself to get over this.

4) Finally and perhaps most importantly - in the new year I am going to stop not doing things, because I don't have anyone to do them with. There is a slightly melancholic tinge to this resolution I suppose, given that my occasional lonerism is due to my ongoing single-ness. However, there are many things that I want to do in this city while I have the fortune of living here, and so damn it, I am going to do them alone-or-no. Theatre, museums, galleries, even holidays - in 2008 I shall unleash my inner pal. :-)

So that's my resolutions. What do you think? I think they are achievable - there is no point making resolutions like 'in 2008 I am going to do the things that I have been resolving to do on December 31 for every year of my life in recent memory'. If ya ain't lost that 5Kg/quit smoking/been on that holiday yet - another new years resolution ain't gonna help.

There are other things I want to achieve in 2008 of course, another notable one being to do some semi-competitive running, given my new found affinity with the treadmill. I also want to travel more within the UK to cities like Bath, Norwich, Torquay, Leeds, Bristol, Manchester, Cardiff, Glasgow and Edinburgh. Realistically I might get to 3 or 4 of them, and I am starting to plan this now. For all it's flaws, this is a beautiful country, and I take great delight in observing the subtle regional differences that even a journey of 5Km can reveal. As someone once said 'there's nowt as queer as folk'. Meeting as many of them as I can, will if nothing else, keep life interesting.

So that's the resolutions. Now for the retrospective.

I think 2007 for me will over time demonstrate itself to be a fairly important year. I flew the coop, slogged my way to admission as a lawyer and moved countries alone. I think that I have also learned in the last year, but really in the last couple, to chill out more and enjoy life as it comes.

I was mildly alarmed when flicking through a book in a bookshop today, to read that Einstein believed that at 25 you have pretty much achieve most of your potential and have set yourself on your life's trajectory (your parabola of success or failure?). A bloody depressing thought don't you think? I am not sure that I agree, but then again, as a 25-and-a-quarter year old, I wouldn't would I?

But I digress.

I have thought quite hard about this, and have listed what I consider to be the highlights and lowlights of the year that was. I will probably re-read this tomorrow and kick myself for missing out some pivotal moment, but if so, I guess it's my prerogative to edit it covertly. So ner.

Highlights of 2007 (in no particular order)

• Discovering Balzac
• Discovering Sufjan Stevens
• Discovering the weird and occasionally unnerving joy of travelling solo
• The Adelaide Weekend
• Living in Norwood with Erina
• Visiting Eastern Europe for the first time
• The Car Man at Sadler's Wells
• My friends
• Living with Frilly!!
  
• The Labor election win in Australia (as sweet as candy!)
  
• Labour Party Conference, meeting fellow politicos and seeing David 'the dish' Miliband speak three times (I'm being slightly tongue in cheek for those of you who care...)
  
• The day in August where I fell in love with London while sitting on the balcony drinking wine and staring dreamy-eyed into the darkening evening sky
  

Lowlights of 2007

• Being homesick
• Having my handbag and camera stolen in Fulham (that was last night by the way)
• The British winter
• Men (though I remain hopeful...)
  
• Being in London for the Aussie Labor victory
• The flagging fortunes of the British Labour Party
• Saying goodbye to Erina's wardrobe of glory
• The times where I haven't been true or honest to myself
• That day in June where I had to say goodbye to all my dearest friends and family in one big fat soul-crushing hit.

Apologies in advance for my self-indulgence here. I do afterall, as a dyed-in-the-wool Virgo, find this kind of list-making quite cathartic.

Without question this next six months will be tough- make or break if you will. They will also be unfailingly interesting, busy, challenging and exciting. Beginning the year with four international trips ought to set the tone.

So for now I shall bid you adieu fair-readers. Please don't forget to give me your recipes if you have good ones. I shall at least succeed in two of my resolutions.

NB - As an addendum to this diatribe of self-indulgence, please be advised that I had a wonderful christmas spanning four equally welcoming homes, with the cherry atop the week being a night out in Blackburn, the neighbouring town to Burnley where I was born. Thankfully I uploaded a few pics to the photostream yesterday prior to having my camera, blackberry and scarf pinched from my handbag (they didn't want the bag, or my lovely new gloves, or my new perfume), so all is not lost. :-(

Mulled Wine

Mulled Wine
Originally uploaded by adelvice.

My toes were very cold at the point this picture was taken. My tummy on the other hand, was not. :-)

Tis The Season

I promised you that I would blog soon, properly. And here I am!

Yesterday. on a trip down to the German Christmas Markets in Kingston, I went into the computer shop and did what I should have done weeks ago. I bit the bullet and bought a new keyboard. Hurrah.

And for your sake, I wish I could say that a lot has happened since I last wrote on here. Alas it has not.

I have been working, sleeping, eating, going to the gym and preparing bit by bit for the next week or so of hysteria. You would think that being here and largely isolated from the majority of people with whom I have spent the last 24 years sharing christmas, my schedule might be devoid of appointments.

On the contrary, each night this week brings dinner with different friends, work functions of various stripes (bearing in mind that I have already had two work christmas 'do's') and then a frantic Friday night of preparation before I begin the pilgrimage in a northerly direction to spend Christmas with a combination of family, family friends, and new pals.

It's all rather busy, and nice. I do miss home though, and am rather homesick at the moment. The weather and short days certainly doesn't help (thank god for all the endorphins that I treat my brain to with my thrice-weekly gym sesh, otherwise I have no doubt I would be utterly depressed!). The upside to this cold christmas however, is the new and heretofore unexperienced christmas treats. For a start, people have real christmas trees. Yeah, like ones that grow in the ground.

But that is merely the beginning my friends. If I had a pound for every time I have drunk mulled wine in December, I might have actually be able to afford the Biba dress that I turned down (with great restraint) at their sample sale on Friday ;-). All the sandwich shops have various incarnations of a 'christmas sandwich' on sale which entail basically a roast dinner slapped between two slices of bread. Mmmmmm.

I went down to Kingston yesterday for the christmas markets, as I mentioned above, and they were cool. Kingston itself wasn't too bad either ( a bit of a shopping mecca....definitely contemplating a visit during the January sales.....). It does feel like christmas, but a different kind of christmas. I shall miss dearly on the 25th though, the annual seafood feast at Uncle Kev's. Moreton Bay Bugs. Crayfish. Prawns. Oysters. (Why does everything relate to food at the moment by the way?)

I shall remember my visit to Kingston forever, if only for the fact that I bought my first hat. I remember when I first arrived in London and was discussing winter with Frilly- who said 'oh yes, and you will need a hat Delly'. 'Pah', I said, 'Not I'. And yesterday I bought a hat. So that shows you who knew better doesn't it. It is cream, and wooly, and makes me look a bit like a baker boy. I tried on some berets but they do not suit my moon-shaped mug.

Today I was lucky enough to be invited to lunch with a friend from Adelaide, and a bunch of other people that I know from home plus new acquaintances. Anyway, snaps for Alice, who stuffed and cooked an entire turkey herself. And to Kate, who made a delightful sticky toffee pudding and apple crumble. And to Cat, for her M&M cookies. I contributed very little, apart from loaned crockery and cutlery, some wine, and of course, the privilege of my wit and company for the afternoon. :-) I learned today, that turkey apparently contains a natural sedative which (unsurprisingly) makes you very sleepy after you have eaten it in large quantities. I have since verified that this is true. Click here.

Perhaps predictably then, we all waddled home far earlier than scheduled. And so it is that I am wrapping some more presents, doing some washing, and planning the week ahead.

Fortunately, work isn't overly busy so i should be able to get out on time most evenings this week. January on the other hand, is looking like it will be an international odyssey of grand proportions. This is utterly exciting, apart from when I remember that I will be working in Eastern Europe in the depths of winter. I need to investigate the potential purchase of fur-lined boots, and some longjohns. Yep, I can hear you swooning.

My boss will be going on maternity leave shortly after I return from Oz (Feb 15-25th!!!) and so before she is banned from flying anywhere, we are squeezing in as much as we possibly can. The plan is about 4 trips in mid-late January, including Moscow, Bucharest, Prague, Warsaw and possibly Budapest. (I can just see those air-miles adding up........hooray!) So the first bit of the year is going to be madness. But very exciting madness.

Righto. You've all probably fallen asleep now and/or aren't even reading this in the first place because you gave up on me ever blogging again. But that's the state of things at this point in time.

I doubt I shall be on here before christmas, and perhaps not even before the new year. S o to entertain you until then I have uploaded some well-overdue pictures, including some of the Flat 93 Sexy Christmas Party which ransacked its way through my house last weekend. :-)

Hohoho. Bah humbug. All the rest. Eat a prawn for me, and think of me over here freezing, with the colour slowly leaching from my skin, but full of mulled wine, minced pies and turkey tiptoeing along the icy pavements whilst trying to keep my eyes open in spite of natural sedatives.

Until 2008. Mwah.

The Weather

It is -1 right now. There was ice on the ground this morning. I almost slipped.

On a brighter note, it is sunny. But because it is sunny, there are no clouds, and it is -1.

Nature works in mysterious cyclical ways.

And in December in London, they are cold ways.

Brrrrrrrrr.

(PS I will post properly soon I promise - my laptop is still lacking a spacebar, and it takes me so long to type and i have no patience, so as soon as i have a minute to go into a computer shop I shall be purchasing a new keyboard.....and there will be a new post from me.)