Cold cure

This morning was much brighter, and the sun was shining while we had breakfast. My cold was much worse, so bad in fact I thought it time for desperate measures. Mason's father had a remedy which I thought I would try although it seems very gross, to put it as Mas describes it.

Basically you have to suck up some tepid salty water with your nose using one nostril while shutting the other one, and spit it out when the water comes down the back of your throat, then you do it with the other nostril. You keep doing this until you have used up a mug full of saline, being careful not to swallow by mistake. ( It is essential to do this while completely alone)

Although this took some doing, I felt immediately better afterwards. I did this two more times during the day and am convinced I have almost killed the cold.

In the evening we watched a rerun of Pie in the Sky, and an episode of An Island Parish which I really enjoy. It is set in the Scilly Isles showing the islanders going about their lives. While this sounds boring it is not in fact it is very interesting and endearingly funny sometimes too. It is so refreshing to watch something informative that is not as formulaic as most things have become.

A morning tea party

While we were having a very late breakfast Maheena called in to ask us to come to her house at 11am for tea. I mentioned that I had a bad cold, but this was brushed aside in a Que Serra Serra manner. After rushing about briefly we went to her home and found that Margaret and John were there too. We chatted and ate interesting snacks that Maheena had produced, and drank Indian tea made with milk and spices which was really nice. After a few hours we left as Mas was expecting a phone call.

Going to our house we saw Ben and chatted for a moment, me keeping my distance as my virus was probably feeling friendly; I really hope I have not passed it onto any of my friends.

While washing up later I saw a new cat in our garden sharpening his claws on a tree. It was a smallish pretty tabby cat and I noticed he was wearing a magnet on his collar. It is good our cat door will now only let Salty in otherwise I could envisage a team of cats romping through the house at night.

We watched a Jackie Chan video called Tuxedo in the evening. We are looking at lots of videos as Barry has given them to us as he is trying to make space in his house. We will pass them on to Margaret and John later.

Zombified

I felt ill all day, coughing and sneezing with a bad cold, it is a pig, but luckily not a swine. Monika phoned briefly to touch bases which was nice. I read most of the day, clutching a hot water bottle. We watched a Sherlock Holmes, with Jeremy Irons, which is always worth watching because of his characterisation. We started a dismal film called The Sin Eater with Heath Ledger, but I soon gave up on this and went off to read instead.

On Tuesday still feeling like a zombie I made myself go for a walk, and changed my library books. Walking back I came across an attractive long haired, thin faced dog who followed me for a while. I thought he might be lost and tried to read what was on his collar, but he would not let me touch him. Thinking he was probably not lost at this point I walked away from him, and he remained sitting on the pavement. A car sped past, and the driver waved at the dog (who took no notice), and I thought it was funny he should wave at an unknown dog and ignore a human, but on reflection though why not?

In the evening we watched another video called Hope Floats with Sandra Bullock in it, who did a robust job of acting, but I did not like this film either. I seem to be getting very hard to please.

The next day passed in a sniffling sneezing blur.

Walking and watching

The weather is still grey and depressing, but I thought I would go for a walk to oxygenate my brain. I walked around on the Harrow side of Edgware looking at the different architectural styles of the houses, eventually I came out in Canons Drive by the small lake. There were ducks of various kinds swimming around and black coots, which I don't remember seeing before. The black coots were diving, submerging and popping out of the lake like champagne corks.










I also read, on the notice board, the history of the house at the end of the Drive. This house eventually became a school, but had originally belonged to the Duke of Chandos. I went to this school for a year, and that is where I met my friend Diane.


Once home again Ben telephoned Mas to say that our cat was meowing and wanted to get indoors. This made us laugh as he can do this independently, but when Mas called him he came in, but it probably was not him making such a ruckus outside.


Toby phoned, and Pete too as he will be off to Guernsey tomorrow, lucky thing!
In the evening we watched Slumdog Millionaire, which although a good film left me feeling depressed.

A few feasts

Yesterday we went to Borehamwood for some shopping and then went to out usual fish and chips cafe. We had a tasty lunch there, and our friendly waitress told us that her pet white ferret had run away, and now she has a little big cat, looking a bit puzzled she explained that it was young and little, but would grow into a very large cat.
As we were leaving she bought us a huge cooked cold fish that she had carefully wrapped up for Salty. Salty feasted on this for two days, and sent prayers of thankfulness up to cat heaven at each meal.

Today we went up to St. Albans and met Robert in the Waterend Barn, which is another excellent J. D. Weatherspoon pub. Tania joined us before long, and we had a nice chatty lunch during which I had two glasses of red wine. Later Mas drove us home as I was feeling vertiginous despite taking the new medication for it, and had a bad sore throat too. Once home I felt rather peculiar so rested and read for a while. Later I found that I should not drink alcohol while taking the medication, so drank lots of water in the hope that I would soon feel better.

Dog's dinner and tunnel vision required

Today I had arranged to meet Diane, after her appointment at The Royal Free Hospital. When I got to The George Pub she was already there waiting for me. We had a drink, then decided to have lunch at the pub. We ordered a platter of nachos, salsa, guacamole and melted cheese. We ate some of these rather tentatively as unusually the meal looked rather unappetising. The more of the limp nachos we ate the more the platter looked like a dogs dinner, or worse, so we abandoned it and went off to have a Costa coffee elsewhere and finish our catching up chat session.

Later I went back to Edgware, and had to call in at the doctors to see if they can give me anything to control the vertigo. Luckily he gave me some antihistamine based pills which will hopefully help. The vertigo is not too bad, and is bought about mostly by eye movements, so I will have to try not to roll my eyes too much otherwise I feel floaty and tend to lurch around. I am painting a mental picture of myself, and it is not pretty.

Cat conumdrums and virus mysteries

On Monday after breakfast, Poppy called, and we walked with Lilu in the park, then down to Edgware as I had to buy something from Rymans. Mas spent a lot of time fitting the cat door today. Poppy also gave us an unusual dessert she had made from rice, cinnamon and lots of saffron; it had an subtle and rather perfumed taste, and it is fun to try different things.

Today the cat would not come through the cat door, and we found it had somehow got jammed open with the tunnel partially blocked. Salty refused to go near it, so we had to remove the whole contraption and just leave him a clear tunnel to run through, and gradually he began to use it again. I think somehow the door had snapped onto him as he was going through before.
















Joan sent this picture of a Sharp-Shinned Hawk, as he arrived in their tree so all the small birds wisely left; they must have known he thought they were breakfast.

I watched a Horizon programme about viruses on iplayer which I found fascinating. If they can be said to be both dead, and alive, when the conditions are right it sounds very much as if they have resurrections, and is it possible that they set up the life and death pattern that humans follow? Later Mas and I watched a Taggart together.

The London Art Fair

This morning I called in to see Barry to keep him company for a while, but Wynford was home too. We chatted for some time, and then I went home for a hasty lunch with Mas as we had decided to take the day off, and go to see the London Art Fair, which is held at the Business Design Centre.














We took the train to Angel, and having collected our complimentary tickets went in to see the exhibition. There was a lot of familiar work there, but these two pictures were my favourite ones. Sadly I cannot remember who painted the yellow one.

This picture was by Rebecca Hossack, the sale price was £13,000.

This picture was made with slices of burnt toast set in a resinous material to protect it.

The Sesame Gallery did a solo show for Henrijs Preiss in an installation called The Black Lodge, inspired by Twin Peaks. His work is full of symbolism of variuos kinds.

This large blue picture was priced at £75,000, but of course who paints the picture makes all the difference.

After a while I began to feel the vertigo that I have, quite badly, and to get a bad headache. Sadly if I move my eyes too much it brings on the vertigo, and I had probably had my eyes on stalks for several hours.

We got a train easily, and when we arrived in Edgware it was dark and cold, so we thought to save time we would have something to eat at Nando's.

This restaurant is always busy, so we thought the food would be good. Admittedly I was already feeling quite nauseous, but when I looked around at the meals all I could see was piles of burned chicken carcasses hacked up. At this point I almost became a veggietotaler.

Toby called in the evening, and explained to me how to watch TV on iplayer which will be very useful as we are unable to programme our video recorder.

Family gathering followed by a thaw

I wrote a few letters, and as I walked to post them, passed Barry and Wynford's house and saw that the family were home. I called in to see them briefly on the way back, and we talked for a while, and I had a chance to talk to Lynda who had travelled from Monaco for the funeral, and to Darran and Anita and see their lovely children. After a very large sherry I went home; it had been nice to see everyone, but sad it was in such circumstances.

Mas feeling somewhat better had been trying to sort out the new cat door which had arrived as a kit with two booklets of instructions that made my heart sink. Mas had been trying to assemble it and get it wired up. This took a lot of doing, and needed more patience than I possess.

Pete called briefly to talk of colours.

Today I woke up to the sound of rain, and gradually all the snow melted away. Mas continued with the cat door business, and he also had to enlarge the original cat door tunnel in the conservatory which meant that the place was soon covered in grey dust, and my mind seemed to be filled with it as well.

Glen' s funeral

As Mas was still unwell, and his cough rather exhausting I planned to go with Poppy to Glen's funeral at Hendon Crematorium. Ben hope he would be free of his commitments to go with us too.

I went across to Poppy's house at 3 pm, and we drove carefully off to the crematorium on the icy roads. We arrived rather early, but sat in the chapel as it was getting dark and very cold outside. We talked quietly as the organist practised. We talked of various religions, and Poppy explained some of the beliefs held by Zoroastrians, which I found that I also shared. The family and friends soon arrived. The touching short service was given by the Reverend Michael Clark and it bought some comfort to the sad and grieving family.

As we left the chapel everyone greeted each other and talked for a while. It looked rather sad and depressing as it was dark, there was still snow on the ground and there were plenty of fresh flowers around denoting lots of recent deaths. Eventually people started to leave, and Poppy and I drove home in stages.

Coffee and crumpets

We ventured off to Stanmore before the predicted snowfall, to get some shopping, and had a coffee while we were there to break the monotony, and this was the highlight of the day. I am beginning to feel stir crazy.

Today we awoke to the predicted fresh snow fall



















We invited Poppy and Ben to come over for coffee and crumpets, and they did come over. We all chatted for a long time. We tried a different home made damson jam, and I suggested it should be called Park Jam as I had gathered the plums from the park. This was not considered a good idea generally. The jam itself was quite difficult to prise out of the jar as it had set rather too well. It was nice to have the cheerful company though.

In the evening we watched an episode of George Gently with Martin Shaw. We had seen this before, but it was a good story.

It's snow fun

Today was our day to go to St.Albans, but Robert phoned and said they would drive down to us, and we arranged to have a pub lunch together. Tania has somehow managed to keep working during this snowy and icy weather, visiting her clients during the evenings, and in one case she had to borrow a shovel from one of them to dig herself free of snow so that she could get home.

It was really nice to get out of the house for a while, and we had a really chatty fun meal together.


Joan sent this lovely picture from her Canadian forests.




















Later in the day I got a really bad headache, but nevertheless watched an NCIS in the evening.

Today with the snow and ice still around I took the bus to Edgware and got some fruit and lots of cough sweets for Mas as his cough has got much worse. We watched 'Ello 'Ello, and Murder she Wrote and generally got rather bored, but kept warm indoors.

The sadness of the birds

Today was another day when we stayed indoors, and I spent some time half heartedly clearing up, but mostly filled with lassitude as the skies seem permanently grey.

Looking out of the window at Glen and Barry's bird table next door, and thinking how the birds used to come down daily for bread that had been put on it for them, and watching them hanging round the garden where there was not the usual food, it made me think how when someone dies there are all kinds of ripples that spread from the event, not only the effect that it has to the bereaved family and friends. In this case the birds were not being fed which on the scale of importance is rather low, but was important to them, and no one would even know.


It is still very cold, -18 in some places, but luckily not here. We spent the day indoors, and caught up with some correspondence. Manu phoned, joking about the weather and chatting for a while. Mas worked out what has been going wrong with our TV setup; the scart cables at the back had worked loose! Once they had been plugged back securely we were able to watch Ghost Whisperer and Silent Witness, and Mas felt more cheerful!

Salty has had his chips

We have ordered a new microchip cat door from this company in Guernsey. http://www.petport.com/about3.htm It is expensive, but if only our cat is eating the cat food it will probably pay for itself eventually, and we will all have more peaceful nights as the only animal that can come in is the one whose chip number has been programmed in.

We went to Stanmore, and paid bills and got more provisions as the snow is coming! We had lunch at the Man in the Moon. Mason managed to get an appointment at the vets, so now Salty has a readable microchip.

I saw Wynford and chatted a while, and when walking down to the library met Poppy and Ben with Lilu, and we chatted before going off in different directions.

In the library somehow I lost my glasses, but just as I was going to panic the librarian luckily found them on the floor. I got several books out, including an Alexander McCall Smith book called The World According to Bertie, which I am looking forward to reading.

It began snowing in the evening, and snowed all night.

Sunday, the weather still cold. Pete phoned, and I spoke to Lorraine too who liked the picture. Margaret phoned and chatted for a while, and both she and John are also feeling under the weather. I walked down to Edgware and got more medications for Mas, and marvelled at the shoppers out for a bargain still.

Monday, with frost thick like snow. Made a warming soup for lunch followed by a vitamin laden salad. I spoke to Diane for a while, and she was waiting at home for her radiator to be fixed. In the evening we watched a Poirot, but not a very good one as it did not have Captain Hastings or Miss Lemon in it, and it went on for too long. Mason also watched Michael Portillo talking about Guantanamo. The TV was being temperamental, losing sound, or not showing anything half way through a programme.

Salty has been going up the chimney again, and once more we have an attractive paw print pattern decorating the neutral carpets. Later noticed the paw print motif on the white dining room walls, no doubt Salty had been trying to catch the small rainbows thrown by the crystal hanging in the window.

The end of the year and new beginnings

The last day of the year, and emails from Jana and Joan, who sent this picture from Ontario of Toby and Dick walking in the snow, having cleared a pathway through it first.















It was very frosty today, and we stocked up with shopping before the snow comes. Mas also filled the car with petrol as the price is due to rise tomorrow. After this Mas began to cough more, and feel rather worse; both of us were feeling tired too. Despite that we stayed up till midnight and watched the firework display on TV, and local people were also setting off fireworks.

January 1st 2010!
A bright cold day, and a holiday. We stayed home all day as Mas had been coughing all night, and both of us still felt tired. To add to this Mason's keyboard stopped working, and we spent a long time charging up batteries without success, then the TV got stuck on one channel and the video and CD player would not work. Somehow it seems as if the programming needs to be reset.

January 2nd
We awoke to a thick frost, Mason feeling very under the weather with an incapacitating cough. I walked to Edgware and bought some batteries for his keyboard, and magically it worked again. Pete called while I was out. Having randomly pushed all the buttons on the three necessary TV remote controls the TV worked again until bedtime when it again gave up the ghost. Toby phoned during the evening which was cheering; they are back in Toronto again.

Birthday visit

We were expecting Pete to come to stay, so Mas got in some shopping, and I made up the bed and generally tidied up the house in readiness. Mas lost his voice, and when Pete arrived he briefly joked that we had found Mason's mute button, and when his voice started coming back and he was whispering Pete said he sounded like a Mafioso.

We exchanged presents, then we had a sloe gin (courtesy of Pete, but next year I resolve to make some too,) before having a tasty meal of roast ribs and all the fixings. We later watched 'I love you to death' with Kevin Kline which Pete had not seen before, and is based on a true story, but is funny. After this Pete and Mas began to watch 'Batman Begins' while I cleared up.

It had been a nice day, apart from Mas having a sore throat.

Today we got up earlyish and had a relaxed breakfast together, listening to the music CD Lorraine had given me, which is very peaceful. Wynford called around bringing me a present that Glen had put aside for my birthday today. He told us the details of his mother's passing, and was extremely upset and sad.

Pete and Mas finished 'Batman Begins', and we had a nice turkey dinner together before Pete headed off home, taking the subdued painting I had done for Lorraine with him.

Not long afterwards Maheena called in bringing me a birthday present, and I had the chance to give her Varun's preset as it is his birthday today as well. We stayed talking for quite a while, Maheena very sad about Glen's passing too. When she left, Florence called and chatted too, and Diane as well. By this time I was feeling very tired, and Mas was feeling much worse.

Shocking news

After another poor nights sleep we thought we would take it easy today, and Poppy called to see if we knew what was happening next door as they had seen the ambulance too. Mas went round to next door, and we found out that Glen was still in hospital. Mas invited Wynford and Barry to come round as we could cook something for them, but they were too distracted. In the evening Maheena and Satish called round and told us the shocking and sad news that Glen had died in the early evening. Everyone was stunned. They said they were going to tell Poppy and Ben next.
Mas was beginning to get a sore throat, so we took it easy all day, and kept warm, but I am sure both our minds kept wandering back to the sudden and unexpected death of our friend.
Today Poppy and Ben called around, both saddened and shocked by Glen's passing. They also bough some leftover dessert and a bottle of red wine which neither of them like. We took it easy again, Mas feeling somewhat worse, and both of us feeling exhausted.

Boxing Day

After a rather poor nights' sleep we had a late breakfast, and relaxed until 2.00pm. We had been invited to Poppy and Ben's for a meal with some of their family. Poppy had laid out a long table in their conservatory for the grown ups, and everything looked cheerful, bright and cosy.



















Poppy had made a huge meal with a roast chicken, lamb and a turkey, and rice cooked in a traditional Persian way, all of which were delicious. Later she served multiple desserts, which were also too tempting. At one point a sweet little 18month old girl was told by her mother to apologise to Lilu, the dog, for hitting her, which she did.

There was lots of laughter, and Ben was imitating the odd TV advert, making us laugh again. They have a really nice family, and everyone seemed so good natured. Eventually some people left, but we stayed on for a little while with them, before dragging ourselves home, across the road.

We were just getting ready to go to bed when we noticed that an ambulance was parked outside our next door neighbours' house. I noticed Glen and Wynford walk to the ambulance and get in, and it was a long time before it drove away; we wondered if Barry had been taken ill, or whether Glen had fallen and hurt an arm. We went to bed feeling rather concerned.

Christmas Day

Today the weather was bright but very cold, and Maheena's birthday too! At 2.00 Oktay, as planned, picked us up and then drove off to pick up his niece and nephew as well. We arrived safely at Cheshunt where we were greeted by Monika who said that Milan had hardly been able to wait for all of us to arrive.

Monika had laid the table which looked beautiful; she said it was the best one she had done. It was at this point I found I had forgotten to bring my camera! There were eleven of us, and Monika made a splendid Czech meal for all (last year she made a Turkish meal), that consisted of lots of different courses and many colourful platters of food, including one with lots of different small sweets that had been home made in a traditional way.

We spent a long time eating and talking, and had a large shot of gluvine made from plum brandy before we started; for medicinal purposes of course. Afterwards, some of the more stalwart of us went for a walk in the snow with the children, looking at the splendid decorations that were displayed by some of the people in the neighbourhood. It is amazing how easily Monika's mother Olga and I can communicate, neither of us having a word of the other's language.

We sat around talking and eating more than we should while the children played upstairs. Little Milan and a friend's daughter decided that they would get married when they grew up (they are presently only five years old). When it was time to go home Oktay took his nephew and niece home, and then drove back to Edgware with us, luckily there was not much traffic on the roads. We arrived home about 1.30am, only to find that the cat had almost finished packing his bags as he thought we had left home for good as we had been out so long. We then went tiredly to bed. It had been another nice day though!

A Winter Wonderland day out

This morning I took a few small presents next door to Glen and Barry's.
Tania and Robert arrived about 2.30pm, and we walked to the station leaving Mas working contentedly at home. We tubed to Green Park, and then walked to Hyde Park where the Winter Wonderland had been set up. While the moose head below was speaking at some length in German, Tania found out that her friends would be arriving later, so we decided to get something to eat first.

Tania wanted to go to the Hard Rock Cafe in Park Lane, and so we did.

Entrance to the Hard Rock Cafe.

As we went in, we were told we would have to wait some time before there was a free table, but we had a drink, and the time soon passed. It was very busy and crowded. Eventually we were served by a very friendly, but incredibly loud Spanish waitress, no doubt she had to train her voice to be heard above the rock music.

We returned to the Winter Wonderland afterwards.

And before long we met up with Tania and Robert's friends, and had some mulled wine and chatted. I was shocked to hear later that Robert's friend was going to do his yearly Christmas swim in the Serpentine river tomorrow, despite there still being snow on the ground!

Haunted House

There were lots of people with their children enjoying the lights and rides.

As it began to get very cold and time for the children to leave, Tania, Robert and I walked back to the Station and then home to Stanmore. When we did get home, walking carefully on the slippery ice, we found Mas had cooked a very tasty Christmas Eve feast, which we all enjoyed.

Walking with Margaret and Henry, and a magnetised cat.

Robert and Tania phoned, and talked about their recent holiday in Dubai. They then invited us to go down to town tomorrow and visit the Winter Wonderland with them, and some friends. I said I would go with them, but Mas wanted to stay home and work.

The snow was still on the ground, but the sun was shining, so I walked round to Margaret and John's to give them the small gifts we had for them. Margaret was looking after the dog, Henry, so we went for a short walk with him.

Mas and I watched old video tapes in the evening, including an old Bergerac, it was strange to see John Nettles looking so young, and to see the Jersey scenery.

I woke up during the night to the sound of stampeding cats. Needless to say the dark intruder had eaten all Salty's food, we can always tell because he licks the plates clean and is very neat and tidy, and I am sorry to say Salty is a very sloppy eater with poor table manners. It is now obvious that the Tabby has procured a magnet too, so can use our cat's door.

Diane's visit and a night at the opera

Today Diane is coming to visit, so after getting up rather late on this cold day Mas shot out to get some shopping, while I tidied and straightened up the house and made up a bed for Diane. It began to snow quite heavily, and Diane called to see whether we could collect her from the station, which we did.

We had a really nice day with her. Mas volunteered to cook while we watched The Marx Brothers in A Night at the Opera (I think he would prefer to have his teeth extracted rather than watch the Marx Brothers!). We had a leisurely meal , a succulent salmon dinner with sparkling wine ( and sparkling repartee?)














Later we saw another favourite film, which Diane had not seen before, but I do not remember which one, before we tottered off to bed.

In the morning we had a slow relaxed breakfast before Mas took Diane off to the station as she had to get some Christmas shopping. It had been like old times!
The weather got colder, and in the night Salty came upstairs, and slept lying along my leg, not from affection, but for my body heat!

Snowy bonhomie and keeping cozy

I spent the next two days trying to sort out small gifts for friends and neighbours, and wrapping them. The weather being colder we cooked warm soups for lunch, and baked things in the evenings.


On the way to the post office I saw Maheena and Glen, and we were joking with each other. It had snowed again overnight, and I walked very carefully to the post office as there was black ice on the roads. I met another neighbour, and we chatted and joked. Complete strangers were telling each other to be careful and not to slip, and there was a lot of bonhomie about. While washing up, from the kitchen window I saw one neighbour in his 90s walking up the road to take his younger friend the newspaper.


On Saturday it was still snowing on and off. I noticed that we had paw prints of various sizes all over our garden, and bird prints. These were also over most neighbouring shed roofs, but our vandal neighbour's garden was pristine, no living thing had entered his space at all; it is as if the area has an invisible barrier around it.


In the evening we watched 'Merlin,' Colin Morgan plays Merlin, and he did a great job of acting when he found out that he was a dragon lord. We also saw another excellent Wallander, but the snowy wintry scenery seemed a bit too real and familiar.


On Sunday morning Poppy called round to say she was going to the shops and would we like her to get us some shopping too, we did not need anything, but thought it so kind of her to ask us. Lilu the dog has got a chest infection, and Poppy thought she may have got too cold with snow on her fur, and she ate lots of it too.


I have been listening to lots of music on Bing.com, especially crisantemi (Chrysanthemum) by Puccini, and all the spaghetti western music by Ennio Morreconi. The weather is very cold so we are keeping ourselves cosy during the evenings.

Snow Party

I woke up early, and was quietly listening to the radio in bed when Salty meowed urgently under the door. Thinking he was in trouble I let him in, and he burst out purring. Once I was settled in bed again he lay on my arm and wedged his head under my chin and went to sleep! He stayed put until I eventually got up, which was unusual.

We had been invited round to Margaret and John's in the evening where we met up with the usual suspects. In all there were ten of us and three children. As usual Margaret and John had made a lovely party spread which we all enjoyed, and John had cooked an apple pie with apples from the garden.

It was nice to see our friends, and everyone had a good time chatting and laughing until it was time to go home. As we left we all found that it had been snowing all the time we were indoors, and we had to be careful walking home as everything was frozen, especially the roads. Nevertheless, it had been a really nice evening, and John and Margaret deserve medals for giving everyone such a nice time.

Snow in Ontario and here too.

We started writing some Christmas cards, and thought about putting up decorations, but because we have bought all the Geraniums into the conservatory there really is no room.
In the evening Manu and then Margaret phoned, she is planning an evening party.

Later we watched a funny film called 'Mars Attack!'. It was fairly stupid, but I thought the funniest part was when the invading Martians were destroyed by the broadcast sound of Slim Whitman singing The Indian Love Call from the show RoseMarie in his yodelling style ( which I like even if the Martians didn't). Sadly for the Martians it made their heads explode!

On Monday we went to Stanmore and got lots of shopping and had lunch at The Man in the Moon. In the afternoon we made a Madras curry and a fruit pie for dinner tonight. Salty got overexcited by the smell of the cooking curry, and he jumped onto the cooker twice to see what was happening; it was fortunate that we did not have pot roast cat too. As a concession we baked him some Pollack which he loves.

Today I started putting up a few decorations. Joan sent this picture from Ontario, they have had quite a snowfall, and are expecting more!














Surprisingly it snowed here as well, just a light shower or two, but it has got much colder. We watched a few reruns on TV and had a cozy evening.

Salty does not mind snow or the cold weather, but his tail fur stands on end when he gets really cold. We had more snow today. We had another cozy evening, and had boeuf a l'orange after a glass of sherry. We watched another stylish Poirot with interesting art deco scenery.

Unusual films and a French Market

The weather turned colder. After breakfast I found another small dead mouse hidden in a corner, and disposed of him in the green recycling bin. We went off to Stanmore and did various chores, then in the afternoon I walked to Edgware and posted things at the post office, and then did some window shopping.

In the evening we watched a video called 'Tai -pan' about Hong Kong around the time of the opium wars. It was a colourful and interesting film.



















Today we went off to St. Albans early, and found that the French Market was there as well as the usual street market. Tania and Robert were on holiday, but we had a nice lunch at Sazios as usual, and our waitress was from Estonia originally.














Pete called and chatted in the evening, and later we watched a French film called 'The Poisoner,' it is a good film, but could end up making its' viewers claustrophobically paranoid about small villages and gossip. Later it was quite a relief to watch Wallander which was just a normal murder with a good plot.

Traumatic vet visit and beginning to do Christmas cards

Yesterday we had to take Salty for his booster injection. He meowed all the way to the vets, and when she examined him he left wet footprints on the examination table he was sweating so much. He weighs nearly 4 kilos now, and the vet thought he looked very healthy, and gave him a worm pill too. We went carefully home again, Salty still very unhappy in the car, and us reeling from how much the outing had cost us. Salty spent the rest of the day recovering and sleeping, and I cooked him some pollack as he really enjoys that fish sometimes.

Today was bright and sunny, and Salty back to normal chased rainbows from the crystal all over the carpet, and watched them moving across the ceiling, while we had a late breakfast. Making the most of the weather I moved the Geraniums from the back window box, and planted them in a tub to overwinter in the conservatory. I called Margaret, and had an early surprise birthday card from Christiane and Eddie. Later I started doing some Christmas cards, which I know I should have already finished.

Nice lunch and good eyes!

We had to get some shopping, and as the sun was shining we went off to Stanmore where we also had one of the roast Sunday dinners at the Man in the Moon. They do very nice Sunday lunches there, which includes a drink of your choice in the price. We came out feeling cheerful, and later for exercise I walked to Edgware and collected Mason's prescription medicines. It was dark when I got home again.

Toby phoned in the evening too which was nice as well. In the evening we watched an old tape of the Corsican Brothers film which made a change.

This morning I had an appointment at Specsavers to have my eyes tested. It is about three years since they were looked at, but I was told my eyes were healthy, and only the reading vision had changed slightly, not enough to warrant new glasses. I had been told before that I was getting cataracts, but these are still very small and don't seem to have got any worse.

Afterwards Mas and I went to Stanmore as we had seen two Opera mask faces that we really both liked, and reminded us of Budapest. The shop had been closed on Sunday, but when we got there today they had already been sold. Spoke to Pete later to see if all was well.

Feeling end of yearish

Salty was out all night again, and the reason was probably that he lost his collar, with the magnet on it ,and so he could not get in. Luckily it had not been so cold during the night. We went off to Borehamwood and bought another collar for him, and put it on him, with a spare magnet. Now he will look like a spectral cat at night...white with glowing eyes and a reflective collar. We deactivated the cat door until he gets used to the new adult cat collar. The Tabby cat found that the cat door was no longer locked for him, so came in at night and ate up all Salty's food as usual.

Mas continued to have problems with his recently opened bank account, and once again had to queue up in the bank to try to get it sorted out. It is like Ground Hog Day with these banks. Feeling fed up we had lunch in the pub, and came out feeling normal again (or what seems to pass for normal).

Today Mas had to visit the bank again, and when he came back he cleared up the last of the leaves from the front garden and cut the grass. I did the back garden accompanied by Salty.
This should be the last grass cutting this year!

Poppy called round, and we walked Lilu to the park. There were lots of different dogs in the park being walked by their owners. We got talking to a nice boy who was taking his dog Dizzy Rascal walking, but the puppy was not old enough to be taken off the lead yet. Poppy and Ben have also invited us to visit them on Boxing Day.