Saturday 25 December:

Gentle start to Christmas Day… woke Moira up with a cup of tea at 7.30am…
Had cava and bacon sandwiches together for breakfast… followed by some readings/liturgy in recognition of the Day… followed by exchange of presents (lots of books for me!).
Prepared vegetables for lunch and sorted things generally, ready for Christmas meal.
Ru+co arrived (by car) just after 12 noon… and Ru prepared cocktails alcohol and non-alcohol for everyone.
Eat snacks and nibbles and opened presents… before Christmas meal (two roast chickens, roast potatoes+parsnips, sprouts, carrots). Inevitably, LOTS of food/drink leftover!
Played the hat game after food (hilarious), then stopped for puddings… then played Jenga (30 course high tower!).
Ru+co left at 7.15pm… spent an hour tidying/clearing up (while Moira watched ‘Midwife’).
I ended up going to bed pretty early (9pm) to read. It had been a really lovely day.
Image: Rosa adapting the cracker box into a telly! 

Friday 24 December:

Christmas Eve! Up early (as usual!), bathed, breakfasted and caught up on various domestic tasks in preparation for tomorrow (refuse/recycling, present-wrapping, organising drinks etc). Moira and I both took LFT tests - with negative results, thankfully.
Went to the library and then popped into the cathedral briefly before lunch.
Finished my Japanese detective book after lunch… with cathedral bells ringing in the background.
Given the number of recent Covid cases (122,000 UK cases yesterday), Moira and I decided not to participate in any of the church services – which was a shame because we quite fancied the idea of Midnight Mass at our neighbouring cathedral.
Alan rang in the afternoon and we had a good chat.
Watched an old Christmas episode of ‘Yes Minister’ – it was spookily called “Party Games” and involved the prime minister resigning!! You couldn’t make it up…
Evening telly: ‘Repair Shop’ and ‘Portrait Winner’.
Image: Early morning from my Christmas Eve ‘Thinking Seat’.

Thursday 23 December:

General catch-up start to the day… read more of my Japanese detective book… spoke to Hannah just after 9am and asked her for details of ‘Loop’ (for an extra pressie for Moira).
Had a frustrating time trying to link my laptop to the printer… and, eventually, found an old CD disk and was able to download the necessary driver.
Moira and I went food shopping (to M+S and the Co-op) after morning coffee… interesting that I only saw a couple of people in a pretty crowded M+S without face masks, whereas I was one of four customers in the Co-op and two of them were mask-less. Is it a class thing?
I spent part of the afternoon watching ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ film on telly (as you do).
Evening telly: ‘Portrait’ (best of)… and another ’Christmas Challenge’.
Image: Crocosmia (I think that’s what it’s called) - which I bought from Roots yesterday.

 

Wednesday 22 December:

I wasn’t intending to attend BP this morning, but there was an email from Ed last night to suggest zooming… so I joined them (Ed, Robin, Nick, Dru and Jeff… very briefly).
Walked to Hugo’s afterwards to fetch fruit+veg supplies and then home via Roots for some flowers.
Gave Phil some money to tide him over the holiday period – he was complaining that he thought he was getting flu (thumping head etc)(he probably should have been isolating?).
Morning coffee with Moira at 10am.
Tried again to order another LFT pack… but website said ‘no delivery slots available’.
Finished my quickish Edinburgh sketch and did a silly Christmas card drawing.
Afternoon film: ‘Saving Mr Banks’.
Evening telly: ‘Christmas Challenge’ and ‘Sewing Bee’.
Image: The Lord Nelson adjacent Prince Street Bridge with St Mary Redcliffe in the background.

Tuesday 21 December:

We were supposed to be going to Robin+Sue’s drinks party tonight… and, although we’ve both had negative LFTs, we’ve decided to opt out (I’d also been coughing through the night, so it seems like the best option.
Ed emailed everyone about tomorrow’s BP (he’d had some reservations about whether or not we should go ahead and was asking for everyone’s views)… by 1.30pm, only Dru and I had responded (again, I’ve decided to back out).
After morning coffee, Moira and I went for a harbourside walk – to the Pump House and then back on the other side of the river… ending with a ferry crossing back home.
I started a sketch (of buildings in Edinburgh via streetview)… and then re-watched the ‘Guernsey Pie’ film.
Evening telly: Re-watched last year’s ‘Gone Christmas Fishing’ and another ‘Challenge’ Christmas ‘episode’.
Image: sailing colours.

Monday 20 December:

Another ‘tossing+turning’ night (despite being back in my bed).
Finished my ‘Migrant’ book (thankfully) and wrote up a brief blogpost… and started my next book (Yokomizo’s ‘The Honjin Murders’).
Conscious that the number of my library sketches is getting very low… so worked on a couple of streetview drawings.
Watched 1946 ‘Great Expectations’ film on catch-up telly in the afternoon (featuring, very briefly, Felix’s grandfather George Hayes!).
Didn’t leave the house all day.
Evening telly: usual ‘Connect’ and ‘Challenge’.
Image: Random mage from the Grayson Art Club exhibition.

Sunday 19 December:

Read more of my ‘Migrant’ book (can’t wait to finish it… not too impressed!).
Emailed David Shorey (first anniversary of Sally’s death).
Alice+Dan returned home fairly early today (left here at 9.30am and needed to call in briefly on H+F+U)… lovely to be able to spend time together.
Fetched the newspaper (from Sainsbury’s – other supermarket deliveries late).
Spent a lazy morning returning things to my bedroom etc and general tidying/washing etc.
Re-watched ‘Little Women’ on Netflix.
Decided to unfriend Amanda Holt on FB (there’s no reasoning with her and our views are entirely opposite)… a better decision than constantly wanting to argue against her.
Evening telly: ‘Vienna Blood’ episode.
Image: wax colour (getting VERY low on my ‘image library’!).