Sandra has joined the great unwashed and has retired following a hectic final few weeks of leaving do's and office Christmas parties. This led into the main Festive Season with a very traditional Christmas dinner for eight followed by party games with the grand children, Harvey and Oliver.
.
Christmas was followed by our Nostradamus Party at which predictions made last year were opened and prizes awarded for the best/worst entries. There were 12 entrants this year and a panel of eminent Judges held court to determine the 2009 winners and losers. I'm glad to say that the Judges were able to maintain the standards set by their predecessors and all sense of sobriety quickly disappeared along with vast quantities of an excellent Macallan (followed by a Glen Moray) and some interesting, and highly alcoholic, bottles of Australian red wine - and that was just the Judges!
The descent of the Judges from sobriety to outrageous intoxication can best be illustrated by these "before" and "during" photographs. Due to the open nature of this blog, with no parental controls activated, I am afraid that the "after" photographs will have to remain unpublished!
The winner was a previous Judge, who unfortunately was unable to attend the event. However his prize, an air horn for a bicycle, was due to be fitted to his zimmer to help him chase the nurses at the Royal Infirmary.
Hogmanay
I knew that my idea of having a barbecue at New Year was a bit mad - especially with all this snow. However Sandra moved the event up several notches of madness by deciding to have it in a Bedouin tent! The walls of our marquee were covered with fabulous fabrics of the Orient and the snow covered ground festooned with Persian rugs. I think for most of the people there the idea of having burgers in the snow was, to say the least, novel.
.
Australia
It's now only just over three weeks before we leave i.e. 25 January, so now the preparation is moving into a more real and serious phase - and I am wondering when the panic will set in as there is still such a lot to do.
.
That's all for now but keep watching this space as I anticipate more frequent entries in future - particularly if I can get Sandra trained, and interested enough, to have a shot!
