Christmas panic steps up a gear


I spent the whole of this week in a state of near panic - concentrating on getting all my Christmas cards written and sent out (over 100 of them).  I tried getting the newsletter printed by an online printer - and was really pleased with the result.  They looked good and were so much less hassle than trying to print them myself and in addition cost less than the price of one black printer cartridge for 100.  So at least that helped.  I did succeed in getting them all posted by the end of the week but it is a huge operation and needs to be managed with spreadsheets etc!

Extra time pressure was exerted because Saturday was something of a write-off.  We went to Brian's 80th birthday lunch - which was in the Surbiton Club.  This turned out to be a kind of working men's club - somewhat of a contrast to The Leander Club earlier in the year!  We arrived just after 12, which was the start time - and the food came out at 1.30 pm!  It was nice for Mike to see some people from the Kingston Singers etc and I was quite happy picking at the nibbles and drinking sparkling water, but I kept thinking of all the things I could be doing.  When the food did come out it was a very basic buffet of sandwiches and cocktail sausages - very nice and very plentiful but not particularly special.  By the time we got home and I had walked Suki it felt like the whole day had gone by.

Thankfully Sunday was much more productive - and Mike walked Suki in the afternoon which helped.

I braved the Forever Fit get together at the Kings Head on the Monday.  I went to handbells at Chiswick first, and then when the QP band arrived I walked down to the Kings Head which was a good 40 min walk.  I had been told the start time was 7.30 but I think it must have been 7 as everyone was there and had already ordered their food.  I slid into a seat next to Jean - fighting the urge to just wave and go home  - and got myself a San Miguel (nice treat!).  When I got my second pint I ordered some cheesy chips which arrived very quickly.  The others were still waiting for their food, and in fact the last meals came out as I was leaving at 9 pm!  So glad I hadn't been caught up in that.  I was glad I had gone and I actually had quite a nice chat with Jean.

It was the Kettering Christmas Lunch on the Tuesday - I treated myself to first class train tickets and I was so glad that I had.  The carriages both ways were empty except for one other person and of course I was able to use the first class lounge at St Pancras while I waited for the train to board, with complementary drinks and use of a nice toilet.  Beryl picked me up and Heather collected us to take us to The Hare at Loddington.  It was great to see everyone again - we could have done with a round table as I only really got talking to Sheila and Kerrie as we were leaving.  The meal was ok - certainly tasty although some of it looked as if it had been hanging around for a while, and they had grilled the sprouts which wasn't to everyone's liking.  However it was thrown at us by a miserable old waitress straight out of Acorn Antiques.  She never once cracked a smile, and I caught her several times looking dismissively at us.  She didn't get much of a tip.  There wasn't much atmosphere either - it was just a fairly ordinary pub meal.  Quite cheap too as we just had one drink each and no wine.


Talked to Wayne this week and he asked us to defer going down to Devon until 22nd Dec - so no pressure there then!!  He is hoping to have the kitchen and utility rooms finished by the time we come down, but needed a couple more panels ordering.  He also said that they had delivered a dishwasher that was too big!  I phoned Trago to sort it all out - but of course this means that I won't have a dishwasher on Christmas Day - which is probably the only day of the year I would actually use one!!  Ho hum.

It was the first of the two Messiah performances at the Albert Hall on Thursday.  We had a great rehearsal the evening before - Mike and I travelled separately as he was coming from work in the car so I was able to go by tube for a change which was much nicer than the bus.  It also meant that I got a lift home!  We sang right through the whole thing - very enjoyable.  Mike wasn't doing the performance that week as he had a concert with Cantanti and was also conducting and accompanying the Chiswick Choir at the Friends Party in the brewery.  I used the tube to get to the Albert Hall - but suspect the bus would have been better on the way home as it was very crowded and quite a long walk both ends (the 272 bus was diverted because Larden Road was closed).  I was sat next to another of those annoying busybody women who think they have the right to tell other people they are using the wrong door etc but she mellowed a bit by the second half.  The performance went really well and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  It was also nice to have friends Trish and Wendy to chat with in the changing room rather than feeling like an unwanted spare part!  I sneaked a couple of photos from the choir seats at the interval.  It was packed out - just a few spare seats in the very topmost gallery.


I finally finished writing all my cards and got them posted.  What a relief when that job has been completed.  I also created an e-card and sent it out with a link to my newsletter to just about everyone I could think of whose email address I had!


I got some nice replies too!  Very sad to learn from Maria Rosner that Elian Vinot died in July in an "accident in the mountains".

Popular posts from this blog

Christmas Newsletter 2018

Saturday 1 February

Roving Ringers Reunion Weekend 21-22 Feb