We got back to Lancaster just in time for a nap and then got ready for the LUCC Christmas Dinner at the Dalton Rooms. It was fab to see everyone all dressed up and looking lovely, but I spent most of it in a bit of a jetlagged fog. We managed a little bit of swing dancing, but my eyes were closing through pudding so I shuffled off to bed around 11.30pm. Well, that was the plan anyway! When I got into the house and into my jammies I realised that unpacking whilst half-cut would be far less painful than unpacking while hungover so I got stuck into dealing with a suitcase and a wardrobe that had become quite unfamiliar to me!
Thursday I had doctor's appointments and chilling out to do, and Friday was spent decanting damson gin into bottles for our welcome back party. Again, it was ace to see folk before they headed off for the Christmas holidays, but I was still struggling with time zones and had to be up bright and early to go to Glasgow!
My train made it in late, but I was on time having got an earlier one. The snowy landscape was quite something after 3 months of palm trees and sunshine, but I'd gone mad on thermal tights at M&S so braved the arctic weather with impunity. Met up with Katherine on Saturday at the Life Craft, and stuffed my face with Guiness cake and coffee before heading over to the Yarn Cake for some wool shopping goodness. I got me some Malabrigo Worsted in Verde Esperanza and 3 balls of Drops 100% Alpaca in an undyed grey. Katherine and I both bought each other skeins of yarny joy, I'd brought her back some DK Silk in a lovely plummy colour and she'd gotten me (mmmmmmm....) Malabrigo Sock in Persia, which is a blue/silvery/bronze colour and is SO soft. I'm going to crack on with a Ysolda Teague pattern called Orchid Thief which is a little shawlette and calls for exactly one ball of Malabrigo Sock. I think it'll be nice to have a big flat shape to show off the colours of the wool.
Erm, Sunday I walked (WALKED!) into town to do a wee bit of shopping and lunch at Brewhaha. I was so giddy at the thought of being a pedestrian again that I walked just about everywhere when I got to Glasgow. It's SO nice to be able to walk places without fear of being run down by a crazed Bangalorean on a scooter. I hit H&M and M&S (more thermal tights and long-sleeved tops) and bussed it back to Becca's at the weather had taken a turn for the worse and snow was falling pretty heavily.
Spent the rest of the day chilling out with Becca, Sacha and Raffles. It was so ace to see them all, Rafferty's language skills have come on in leaps and bounds and Sacha is just about walking and telling stories.
Monday I met up with Eva at Cafe Delizique in the West End. Yummy apple crumble was had. It was lovely to see her, and to share our stories about India. I think we both have quite different memories of the place, and I think that living there and dealing with the crap that even Indians complain about coloured mine differently. I'd go back on holiday in a heartbeat, especially to Goa, but just couldn't live there again.
Tuesday I was meant to go home, but the bold Katherine Mackinnon was about to become the bold Katherine Pedraza so I stayed to toast the couple with a few rum and cokes before wobbling into the night and my train on Wednesday. It was only delayed by an hour, and the guys at Carlisle station, though perhaps a little thin on the ground to deal with a couple of trains full of folk wanting to know how to get home, were really helpful and got me on another train.
Ollie met me at the station and we headed to the Borough for our first pub lunch in 3 months. Man, I love the Borough.
Thursday was my first day since getting home that I didn't need to be somewhere or meet anyone, and it was ace. I slept late and spent a day knitting and pottering.
Friday was Christmas Eve, and because my dad was (is?) snowed in again we went straight to Ollie's folks. We went to their friends' house for dinner on Christmas Eve where the traditional Awkward-Standing-Around of the young folks commenced. It's a lovely, quite tight-knit village but the offspring of the folk that live there are off at uni or work, so don't know everyone that well. There's the usual forgetting of names and mixing up of jobs/courses that happens in Renwick and is all very hilarious after a couple of glasses of wine!
Christmas Day we had stocking and tree presents (I got a food processor!) and a leisurely breakfast, then off to another set of neighbours who host Christmas Day drinks every year from 12-2. This year we snuck off a bit early because the snow was perfect for SLEDGING! There's an excellent hill just past the church in Oxenton so we spent a couple of hours bombing up and down that on cardboard boxes, bodyboards, bumthings and proper sledges. I wish I'd brought my waterproof trousers as the rest of them were in salopettes and able to stay out longer, I was a bit worried by frostnip in important places!
Boxing day I felt like death warmed up, and was a quiet day all round. I manned up (thanks, Lemsip!) enough to properly enjoy the Tewkesbury panto - Dick Whittington - which was a mix of am-dram and professional enough to be really good fun. The set design was also pretty impressive, along with the ad-libbing from the Dame when s/he got some little kids up on stage.
I failed spectacularly at being human on Monday. I managed to get as far as dressed and ready to go out for dinner at another set of neighbours before I cracked up. I was so tired and sick and so ready to go home to my own bed that I took myself off to bed rather than go out for dinner.
Tuesday was an early start as we were headed for Rushden to see Ollie's grandparents. It was another long day, but good fun as I felt well enough to partake in human conversation! Hearing some of Gordon and Eric's stories about India made me wonder how much has really changed in 50 years, and how much it's going to change in the next 50!
Today has been spent exactly as planned, in bed watching Supernatural and knitting. I finished Ollie's Christmas present, so he'll have a nice warm head, and more importantly, warm ears!
It's from the Jaques Cousteau pattern on Ravelry (you'll need a Rav account to view it) and is the simplest pattern I've seen. It makes a lovely decrease on the top of the hat and the Felted Tweed is warm and such a nice colour.Now, I just need to wait for my flippin' 6.5mm Addi Clicks to arrive from Laughing Hens and I can FINALLY start my Owls Jumper (another Rav link). I had ordered the right size needles, and if you average it out, they sent me the right needles, unfortunately using 7mm needles from a 6mm box will just give me the wrong sized jumper... The designer of the Owls jumper, Kate Davies is so talented and has a great eye for detail.
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