Christmas Chatter

Thought I might write a Christmas missive, then remembered that about half way through the year my desk computer gave up the ghost. Well the hard disk became corrupted so badly it would not start. So amongst the other bits and bobs I lost were most of the people I contact once a year. Not much email this week so not much to comment on. So it may as well be a greeting sent through here and perhaps some reflection on the past year. Not that you need that!


Right first the thing I forgot from last week which was to report on Fleur and Walters house-warming come book launch for the second edition of Walters book which is now in paper back . I did the classic panic and arrived far too early. I put it down to me starting talking over the arrangements with Dad which meant he was calculating in time to pick me up and my natural caution on travelling a new route. Alright I did do it over a decade ago but got off at Stoke on Trent I think. The problem with Sheffield to Stoke is sometimes its quicker by Stockport and sometimes its quicker by Derby. Well with Dad worrying about picking me up in the rush hour from Stockport station, my timings got all out, though even on a good day on a new route an hour early is normal (yes I do aim to be in Birmingham an hour before a supervision or class). Also I try to avoid rush hour trains Sheffield to Stockport having done it for a year and can recall not just them being one to two hours late but also the fact that on one occasion at least it was standing room only and I was so tired I slept on the floor. So I was avoiding both the 17:10 and the notorious 17:40 and lost the invite so I was going on my timings not on the actual time when I booked. Anyway I to quote Walter arrived ridiculously early but as that allowed me to sit with a book and help a bit perhaps it was better for me that way. Fleur and Walter were busy in the kitchen and shouted for help when I could be of use, although I am less useful in a unfamiliar kitchen than in one I know and though bigger than the one at Blackbird Leys or at Sheffield it is long and thin. There must have been about twenty people there. I would have known about two thirds of them but mainly through my parents. My parents were invited but firstly the post office lost their invite then when this was realised they had my sister and the neice and nephew to stay for the weekend. My brother-in-law was on a lads weekend away, ostensibly buying the booze for Christmas but more accurately just having time away with other men. Ironically the guys he goes with are old friends of my sisters. Ruth, if you had wanted to make it, I am pretty sure a lift could have been arranged. Jan Berry, John and Yvonne Parry were in one car and Roger Tomes, Jack and Myrtle Mckelvey were in the other so two cars were coming from around where you lived. Marion Shadbolt was also there, she claimed at 9:30 pm that she was feeling tired because she'd been up at 2am trying to catch a rabbit. Most people who are up at 2 a.m. trying to catch a rabbit feel tired at 9:30 am let alone 9:30 pm. I met up with someone I had only talked with on the internet before. Food was a buffet and mulled wine was served. During the preparation Walter asked me if I new any recipe for non-alcoholic mulled wine, to which I had to reply no. For future reference Walter you can get mulling spices and just add apple juice. Actually for adults I would mix cranberry and apple juice for mulling. I got a lift back from John Parry. Initially Jack had offered me on, John picked up that I was talking about Stockport and so said he would take me instead. It was only afterwards he picked up that I was Dad's daughter and not someone totally out of the circuit. Although the fact that Roger came and sat down on a floor cushion beside me for a chat might have been a hint.

So onto this week. I made it to the Christmas Just Desserts last week and brought pudding. Well I had made a form of boozy winter fruit salad for the writers group get together the previous Monday and then had developed a migraine and not gone. The interesting thing was that I had cooked a packet of cranberries in a light syrup until they were soft, the result was that when I had added the rest of the winter fruit, brandy and such the dessert set solid. I think people thought I had used a jelly. I also had got asked if there was any flavour to which I replied no, after all it was a couple of glasses of brandy so that wasn't a flavour but a major ingredient! Yes it was delicious even though I say so myself. I spent the rest of the week eating it up for dessert.

On Tuesday I made the Advent Wreath for the carol service. This year I was doing the actual creation on my own. This was partly a mis-communication in the chaplaincy as the chaplaincy assistant should have been there to help not just as a gopher. My usual helpers both had good excuses and nobody from work volunteered despite two emails except Cliff who was busy on the morning but could help me clear up on the afternoon. Well I made it on time although I must admit I largely missed a bag of berberis until it was too late to put it in. The thing is berberis is a structural plant and needs to go in early so the filler plants can go in afterwards. I also learnt that using silver and white might be a better idea in the lighting than using gold (it is a very orange light so silver and white still look gold). However what I possibly learnt most from it was my own reaction. There was none of the joy of creation from doing it this way. I was relieved it was finished but I did not think "that's good" just "that's done". It made accepting praise for it feel very odd and took a lot of pleasure out of doing it. This seems to be my normal reaction when I try to do things that are just to hard. I do them but I loose the joy of doing them because of it. Indeed it has been a long slog to get my body back into balance afterwards and I am only hoping that I have done so today. Oh if you want to see the wreath it can be seen at on flickr .Wednesday I was off with a migraine and did not really balance out for the rest of the week.

Yesterday I finished the important Christmas shopping. Not much really a couple of small presents for mum, somethings from Lush and posted the parcel to Sue. I also went wild and spent money on clothes from Marks and Spencer to be worn at works christmas party, Christmas day and New Year day. Morag has also asked me to bring up craft things. She asked me to bring up all my craft stuff and I told her I was hiring a car not a small van, it still will be a couple of boxes. I also made chocolate covered cherries and ginger yesterday, so that will keep the office happy. Jobs left to do are just time consuming. About half a dozen christmas cards to write and two christmas emails. Then there is presents to wrap, shopping for New Year (alcohol, chocolate and coffee) and then it is collect car pack and go.

For those who don't know, I am at my parents 24th to 27th December with Christmas day at my sisters, then I am up to Morag and Tony's on 27 and staying there to 3rd, then coming home via my parents so I arrive back on 4th Jan. Return the car on Monday 5th and go to work 6th. So do not expect another letter from me until 12th January.

Alright so how has this year been. Well on the whole I think a good one. I have not got clear of the depression but I am getting better or better able to manage it. Migraines are a problem but any time I come across an new idea I will try it out. Some successes: sensible eating helps, as does doing relaxation and pacing myself; but also some failures: do not give me cider vinegar for migraine it just acts as an irritant and intensifiers the migraine.

PhD is coming along smoothly on the whole. I am into my second year at St Andrews Chesterfield and am also looking for my next placement. I got the letter drafted before Christmas but it was so close my supervisor recommended holding it to the New Year. So please hold thumbs then and I also need to get the transcripts sent to the first lot of interviewees. I need to listen to all the interviews to date while I am away over Christmas and review what I am getting with respect to my aims. Maybe also doing a first trawl of the diary. Oh and Amazon must have me down as a favourite customer.

Otherwise I made contact with Paul Weston who runs a charity called UR2 Associates. I put up some stuff for them on the web but I still have more stuff to put up. Paul has just sent me his Christmas update so I may well put that up in the next few weeks.

House wise it looks like the management company for the estate I am on will be buying the freehold for the flats on the estate. This on the whole I think is a good thing but I was told this would never happen when I bought my flat. How things change.

Other than that Mum and Dad keep each other going. During the year mum was diagnosed with alzheimers which is very mild and her memory keeps improving. Twice now she has apologised for forgetting something when I have had to point out that Dad also forgot so she was not the only one. The latest idea to keep them active is to get ice treads to help them get out in icy weather .

Sam and Hannah are doing well. Hannah settled remarkably well into school, going full time at least a week earlier than planned and Sam is doing well on the violin. He is now practicing of his own volition and not because my sister is checking on him. So my guess is he is enjoying achieving in that field. They both are water babies and take swinmming lessons but Sam gets tummy ache before a gala.

Cait asked before I went up to see them if I could make her a fairy finger puppet. I said no to the puppet but I would make a doll. I started without a pattern and ended up with this doll however having made something for Cait I needed to make something for Jenny so I suggested a amigurumi doll. Amigurumi is a Japanese approach to crocheting where you make child like toys. That resulted in the monkey. Unfortunately when I posted them the post office lost the parcel and I wanted a search not a refund as who could possibly refund me the time. However I then went and made a hedgehog for Hannah (pictures will go up some day), two ninja for Sam, a second monkey for Jenny and am at present making a sprite for Cait. I already have on order 1 bee (Cathy would you get me yellow double knitting wool please) for Hannah and an elephant (Cathy pink or grey). When I get to the end of the list I am going to make myself a monkey and a cat (to try and remember the balance between contemplation and activity). This fills a small niche, crafty short term projects that don't strain my left wrist (knitting does).

Advent Chattering 08

According to my notes the last I posted was 23rd November, so I have quite a bit of catching up to do. I am therefore going to do highlights rather than a day by day account.

Monday 24th I got to do another interview with Audrey Turner. She did not want to be recorded so I had to do a recreation afterwards. The disadvantage was that it meant I had to do the writing up in depth almost immediately, the advantage that my supervisor saw that I was getting people to talk about the congregations identity. Talking on thesis, I have now completed the course on Ethnography, if I was in the mood I would spend the holidays writing a piece for assessment. However time is at a premium and I do not have to. I may instead spend the time writing a piece on the the use of validity and reliability within scale development. The thing is that people from qualitative field spend all their time worrying about people asking about this, when in actual fact the serious people the other way don't play the game to make reliability the core thing. Just simply they know there is cases where reliability is impossible, such as testing migraine drugs, an illness which is notoriously unstable.

I have also taught on SPSS when I had a rotten cold. I am still puzzling over what is the best approach as I came into work on suppressants but the evidence looks like I gave the cold to the class so there was a massive drop in attendance the next week. The suppressants I used worked as suppressants but as a result the cold lingered whereas if I take time off I recover far more quickly. However if I do not teach a class then this worries the organisers. Really it is a catch 21 situation with no easy way out. Also in work I have been involved in a research bid to look at Roman teeth and see how this maps across to social status and such.

Then my parents were over on 29th November. The day was a dreary one and we ended up wandering around town getting bits and bobs. Lunch was an unknown quantity when we set up but as we had to stop into somewhere to get some oddments for me, we stopped off at M&S and got the things for lunch. Oh talking of M&S I think all children must be getting pyjamas for Christmas as when I went in early December to buy them from my usual source not only did they have none in, but neither did most other places except Marks and Spencers, so all pyjamas this year are courtesy of Marks and Sparks, yes I even checked Debenhams and Amazon and googled. I will on Wednesday sit down and check through what other things we have to do.

St Andrews Chesterfield is well into the Christmas season, last week, this week and next week they will be having two services. The first was a Christingle service, but they use glow sticks rather than candles in the oranges so there is no danger of people setting anything on fire. The service was also markedly different from ones I have seen on other places as rather than using the traditional carols, new carols were used. By the way, on the mornings when they light the advent wreath they are singing from Candles and Conifers a hymn by a Josie Smith. No I am not sure it is the Josie Smith I know but it might well be. It would certainly be a coincidence if it isn't. Yesterday was their Christmas Cafe service and next week is the carol service.

The first weekend in December I learnt the hard way that there are somethings that just trigger migraines. Boots gave me a free pack of Vitamin C and probiotics. I checked the back and there seemed to be nothing too bad there, although it included caffeine. I took it and it really did buck me up but woke up feeling groggy the next day, took it again and once again felt better but could feel a migraine coming on that evening and had a nasty one lasting the best part of two days afterwards. My tendency is to blame the cafeine but there is no more than in a cup of coffee and I drink those pretty regularly without getting a migraine every day. What I do know cafeine does is speed up my metabolism. So I am not sure what it was.

Tomorrow I am making the advent wreath for the carol service again. I am going to have to start early and keep going as I am the only person doing the whole thing. There are good reasons why my normal helpers are away. Sarah is visiting her parents and Lynn's daughter is getting married in New Zealand. This daughter is exceptionally bright lawyer who moved to Australia after getting stuck in a dead end lawyer's job in London and is loving it out there. Her fiance went out with her. She has just sat her Australian bar exams on at least one of them getting distinction. We have enough greenery, Lynn has picked loads, at least one other colleague at work has brought in stuff and then I picked one bag from the estate, another from the leylandii at St Andrew's Chesterfield and took a third bad from Tricia Legge who had it left over from flower decorating.