Damp, dreary December

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

From top left:

Bungalow Christmas tree (before the cat pulled it over and the dog ate the chocolates)

Trafalgar Square tree

St Malo tree

Dinan tree

December - Wind, rain, more rain and the warmest on record.  

Last month, I mostly:-

- Felt seasick

- watched Tim Peake blast off in to orbit

- sang carols

- went to the Panto (oh yes I did)

- listened to Radio 4 whilst ironing

- played Jenga, Pictionary (good at) and Cluedo (bad loser)

- forgot to buy sprouts

- watched Doris Day films

- ate raspberry trifle in the bath

I love our annual family visit to the panto, complete with sweeties.

Aladdin at The Mayflower, Southampton - lovely building

We visited Maisie (town mouse) in London.  She greeted us at Waterloo holding a coffee (so 'London'!).  We had a lovely lunch in the Founders Arms on the South Bank.  The floor to ceiling windows give great views of the river.

The Founders Arms

A grey December day on the South Bank

We then had a wander around 'Winter Wonderland' in Hyde Park.  

No way would I go on that!

Wearing my yellow mac came in handy as I was easy to spot when we got split up by the crowds

Naff I know but Christmasy

I knew Maisie wanted to go on a ride and there were small (ish) children on this one so I thought it would be tame.....

Why?!  I had to hold on for dear life as it felt like I was going to fall out. I screamed so much I had a sore throat afterwards!

and calm.  Nice Christmas lights on Regents and Oxford Street

You couldn't move for people though

Harrods all lit up - nice

My gorgeous girls

My fellow Bungalow Girl has not got bored of brewing yet.  We are now a three barrel family (hic).

The Brewster - "ere!  That's my pinny!"

A most sumptuous mini (and I mean 'mini') cruise was enjoyed to St Malo with our fellow francophile friends, Pete and Angela.  

We left Portsmouth (or Portsmoose if you are a Brittany Ferry announcement lady) on the Friday night, woke up in St Malo, had the whole day and then back on the ferry Saturday night to arrive back home Sunday morning.  

Being used to calm summer seas, I was not expecting the sea to be that rough - we had a force 8!  I know that because my fellow Bungalow Girl listened to the shipping forecast before we left - not a good idea.....  I hardly slept a wink the first night, rigid with fear and a morbid fascination, just waiting for each crash of the sea over the ship.  I had to spend the whole of Saturday drugged up on strong, French, black coffee and lots of sweet patisseries to keep my sugar up and me awake! Pete slept through the whole thing and said it was quite normal......

Saturday night the sea wasn't so bad but the ship rolled and wallowed so much that my body kept sliding up and down the bunk and sometimes the bunk would even drop from beneath me for a second - bleh.....  I don't usually get sea sick but I did that night.  Once round the Channel Islands I did manage to go to sleep.  

We had breaky in our usual place 'Cafe L'Ouest' in St Malo - bit chillier than we are used to though!

We drove to Dinan - a lovely medieval Breton town

All the shops had their own decorations and trees.  The chemist shop had pill bottles on their tree.

Where is everybody?

So happy to be in France, even for a day!

Hello?

The Port

Can't believe we sat outside here and ate galettes one summer

We had a coffee to come out of the cold

So cosy

The highlight of my French trip was finding this cafe/bar that I must have missed on previous trips. What a find!  It was everything I love - mad, dusty and atmospheric (bit like our bungalow).  The entrance to the loo looked like it had once been a confessional in a church!

Le Cafe du Coin - St Malo, one of the oldest in the city, dating back to 1820.

Some of the bar seats were swings hanging from chains in the ceiling

We had a bracing walk on the beach

and a stroll before we left - to see the Christmas lights.

Even though I like sitting by the log burner and being cosy at home I can't wait for some more daylight and to get out more.

My mum brought round my grandmother's quilt, backed, edged and quilted for me.  So happy to see it hanging in all it's 1970's glory.  

Christmas Day

This is about the one and only sunny day we had in the whole month!

Big Dog so happy to be on a longer walk

Blue sky!  Bliss!

Frank always snuggles up to Big Dog and feels sorry for himself when he has been fighting

Naughty boy - the Al Pacino of the cat world

With the field behind our house flooded again, down-pipes swinging in the gales, anything that isn't nailed down flying around the garden, water buts overflowing and mud everywhere I feel like I could almost live on the Shiants in Scotland, like the author of the new (utterly fab) book I am reading....

'There was a time when I thought that to give the islands away, even to Tom, would be an unbearably difficult thing.  Sometimes, away from them, late at night in strange hotels, I would listen to the shipping forecast - 'Hebrides, Minches, Storm Force Ten, backing southwesterly, sleet, visibility two hundred yards',  I would think of them then, wet. battered and impossible, the rain slinging itself in handfuls of rice against the windows of the bothy, the churning of the sea....'

'Sea Room' by Adam Nicolson

Well, the daffs are out (I have never seen them out in the first week of Jan before - so weird) so who knows what the weather will do next!  Well, blow this damp, windy, grey island - I'm off (with my new book) somewhere slightly warmer......!

Sparkly December

What a month of weather!

December has been a month of -

Hail
Thunder
Gales
Storms
Torrential rain
Floods

I have got used to the noise of the wind buffeting the bungalow at night and the rain lashing in gusts at the window.  We've had so many storms lately that I now seem to sleep through it rather than lying there worried that the glass in the windows will smash.

Loved decorating the tree with Ez (and I didn't move ANY decorations once she was out of the way - promise!).  We like to collect decorations from most countries we visit if we can (the turquoise bauble is a cheat - my parents gave it to us).  Here are a few of my favourites -
  

China, Norway and South Africa

We have been very busy this month driving up and down to Poole in dire weather to practise singing Handel's Messiah (and carols).  Our dinner for three consecutive nights consisted of a cheese topped bap and a bag of crisps.  I have to check for food debris when we get there.  I'd forgotten that the audience stand for the Hallelujah Chorus though and thought they were leaving en masse!  We had a great conductor called Christian Curnyn - I loved him.  He wanted us 'strong and wrong', he wanted 'feeling', he wanted 'more Celine Dion'!  Yes!  We had a near disaster when we got to Poole for the concert and Sarah had left her score (in sensible bag with zips) by the front door but luckily she borrowed one, phew. Just wish singing for long periods with heavy score in hand didn't give me 'singer's shoulder blade'.  

We have managed a few little jollies, squeezed in (I can clean next year).

We saw this train (The Royal Scot) on the station a while back whilst waiting to go to Basingstoke to see Madeleine Peyroux in concert.  I decided that this is what I want to do for my next big birthday (swallow).  I was annoyed that I didn't have my camera because it looked so cosy, lit up in the dark, all the people eating at their little tables by lamp light and the train decorated for Christmas inside.  It made me sigh with pleasure.  One day.....

http://www.riviera-trains.co.uk/

We stuck our little pinkies in the air at the Christmas drinks and nibbles/Salisbury International Arts Festival/pre launch/meet the new Festival Director thing.  Tip - don't try eating a warm, crumbly mince pie with one hand whilst holding a glass of hot mulled wine in the other as the result is massive crumbs stuck to your lip and no free hand to wipe them off.  Not a good look if you are trying to look suave, arty and at the same time desperately sucking your stomach in.

This is where it was held - The Banqueting Hall in Salisbury Guildhall.

The Guildhall lit up behind the Christmas market

http://www.salisburyguildhall.co.uk/

Many important guests have been entertained here over the centuries from King George III to Lord Nelson to the current Queen and Diana, Princess of Wales.  There are supposedly three ghosts who haunt this room.  I was too busy trying to look cool to notice any paranormal activity.

Another impressive building (and freezing cold, glad I wore me vest) I have studied this month is Sherborne Abbey.  We sang our carol concert there with brass from the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and the church organ (phwor).  Not much room for our scores, lots of paper shuffling and clashing of folders but it was wonderful - Christmasy, atmospheric and fun.  All the great and the good were there to do readings - authors Philip Pullman and Tracey Chevalier.  Sumptuous.

The amazing fan vaulted roof at Sherborne Abbey

Some say it is the Cathedral of Dorset and it has the heaviest peal of eight bells in the world.

Before the congregation arrived.  Sarah got told off for trying to pinch a programme off one of the pews!

Outside the Lady Chapel where we could panic before the concert (Oh, no, that's just me)

We've grabbed as many walks in the daylight and in the dry as we can.

Our friend Patsy in the village must have a lot of cooking apples!  She gives us her grass clippings in exchange for vegetables

Big Dog admiring the view

The scent from the Viburnum outside the back door is heavenly

Christmas shopping in Salisbury 

Not the most enjoyable shopping trip.  I had a cold so my nose was continually running, I parked too close to a wall in the car park but didn't have the energy to move the car so had to squeeze out of the driver's door (whilst sniffing), the self service machine in WH Smiths told me I needed assistance but I was so hot and bothered that I just abandoned my shopping!  Oh, and this was all topped off by a box full of rolls of wrapping paper falling on my head.  Agh!

Sarah made Christmas buns - they were sooooo yummy

One day I discovered I had company at my usual 'top of the hill thinking spot'

A reindeer carrying boy from Norway, a nisse doll from Denmark that my Grandmother gave me when I was little and a gnome from Bath

The 'nisse' is a creature from Scandinavian folklore where they are known to help out with household chores & taking care of the animals on farms - I could do with one of those. Apparently it is a tradition in Denmark to bring a warm rice pudding to these Creatures on Christmas Eve in order to show their gratitude and to keep the temperamental and vindictive Nisse happy and helpful!

When the kids were younger we one day found that a yellow interloper had gate crashed the nativity scene so it is now tradition, along with the one eared donkey.

Grandpa Simpson waiting for the baby to arrive

Most recent decoration - Ez brought back from Loch Ness in Scotland

Interesting fact - I didn't know but there is more water in Loch Ness than all the other lakes in England, Scotland and Wales put together!!

Stockings on the stairs

I have a soft spot for my wobbly reindeer

Sarah made several batches of mincey pies (I dusted them with icing sugar)

We've played Cluedo (my favourite), cards ........

and Jenga

It's been so nice to have time to watch lots of old films like 'White Christmas', go to the panto (Dick Whittington) and get the Downton Abbey jigsaw puzzle out from last Christmas (at last!).  Frank likes to help Sarah by sitting in the lid of the puzzle and playing with the pieces.  We know how to live!  Mind you, so does Big Dog. When we got back from the panto the other night there was MY new, unopened (and saved) packet of Thornton chocolates on her bed, empty, next to a very sheepish looking dog......  Grrrrr.....

The girls decorated their nails for the season

Oliver wore his Christmas hat with the ears for a sunny dog walk

I was very excited to find some fungi whilst furtling about up the hollow on my own one day

Jew's Ear Fungi

Lots of Old Man's Beard

Slimey Beech cap

Big Dog walking back down the hollow past one of my favourite bright pink berried Spindle Trees

We were forecast one decent day this week so we rushed down to the coast and walked from Portman Ravine to Southbourne.  It was so good to get some sea air under our tails.

My hair growing experiment is going well.  I just hope I can get through the 'Bradley Wiggins' phase that I appear to be in.

Who are those two old country broads?

We've seen signs of storm damage on our village walks.

This barn was missing a huge piece of roof

Glad I wasn't around when that flew off!

No, that isn't a lake - it's a flooded field.

The river Ebble has burst it's bank

Sarah trying to cross a bridge in the field!

Sandbags outside a cottage

New Year's eve in Grovely woods today - happy, happy, happy 

And lots of fungi!  Coral and Antler fungi on the left and bottom right a jelly fungi we have never seen before - 'Jelly Tongue'.  Very exciting end to the year.

Anyway, must dash - doing something different this New Year's eve and going to a concert in the Medieval Hall in the Cathedral Close (bit different to the usual debauchery in the pub!) and at the moment I am wearing a festive jumper (acrylic won't do) that smells of beef casserole.

Happy New Year!!