Whilst Lord H led this morning's advent service (and only apparently got locked out of the church twice whilst attempting to process ... How I wish I'd seen that!), I typed up our Christmas letter. Which means we have finally arrived in the Sad Married Couple with Christmas Letter brigade. Seasonal joy indeed. I decided not to do a spoof in the end - as anything more than 2 sides long and I think the friends you never see (ie those to whom you send the damn thing) tend to lose the will to live after that. I certainly do. But I did try to keep the tone fairly light so everyone won't think we're too much up our own arses. In spite of the fact that I am too much up my own arse - though Lord H of course is not. Oo-err, missus!
I also managed to get to 79,000 words of "The Gifting" (oh for 80,000 by the end of next week - that would be grand ...) and write a poem on emptiness. Hey, my themes are getting more depressed - even though this weekend I'm actually feeling a lot happier. Weird, eh? The secret of contentment is obviously found in (a) speaking to as few people as possible, and (b) not going to church. I accept this route to happiness might not work for everybody.
Speaking of people (and vast crowds of them), I have to say that last night's concert wasn't my favourite though of course the choir sang like a dream and the band was great. I liked the first piece, and one note of the last (you can't go wrong with a George Herbert poem), but if this is what Vaughn Williams (spelling? Hell - who cares!) comes up with in his eighties, then maybe he should have stuck to the bedpans and stick. My opinion only, of course. Though I do have to say that I spent most of the second half absolutely fascinated by the dangly earrings of the woman sitting in front of me. A perfectly normal woman in her thirties - as far as one can tell - but every so often her earrings would flicker outwards in unison as if responding to a hidden message. I'm always impressed by people who can wiggle their ears, but synchronised wiggling takes the biscuit. When I told Lord H afterwards, he wondered if the mother ship was calling her home, or if it was a special government way of receiving emails. Now there's a thought for the future ...
This afternoon, I've caught up with the highs and lows of "Strictly Come Dancing". Thank goodness Mark & Karen are still in! But I was sorry Carol had to leave - she performed like a real trouper this time. Shame. Tonight, there's the prospect of comedy repeats on TV and a phone call to mother. Still, at least I feel more capable of performing my normal daughter routine than I did last week. Thank God. Ooh, and there's chocolate squares and baclava (which Lord H thinks is a type of hooded mask) in the fridge. Bliss.
This week's haiku:
Down the winter road
a man carries his mattress.
I too search for sleep.
And today's nice things:
1. Doing the Christmas letter
2. Writing
3. The wiggly earrings (not strictly today, but what the hell ...)
Anne Brooke
http://www.annebrooke.com
http://www.goldenford.co.uk
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