Santa came bearing gifts

Well it wasn’t actually Santa that walked through our front door bearing gifts it was Phil who has spent his salary before it’s even in his bank account.  One night last week he walked in with an apple bag which he informed me was my Christmas present.  Inside the bag was a docking station (for Phil) and an iPad for me.  I had expressed a wish to read books on line and although the iPad enables this it’s not really a gadget for me especially when I learnt how much it cost.  The funny thing is that ever since his purchase, Phil hasn’t put the iPad down, so much it being a present for me!  Not having been seduced by the iPad I did gently suggest that Phil take it back to the shop for a refund but Phil said that this wasn’t an option because the packaging had already been trashed and he’d downloaded hundreds of applications.  What I really want for Christmas is a new laptop;  my computer is almost at a standstill, none of the ports work for my camera and the times it takes to open programmes makes me want to slit my wrists, its so bad.   I will just have to see what Santa brings me but I’m not holding my breath.

Poor Harriet had a real struggle getting back from Jersey.  Her flight on Monday was again cancelled and after many telephone calls, text messages and searching on the internet FlyBe managed to get her on a flight to Gatwick.  Chris set out to collect her but due to traffic congestion not helped by the bad weather he had turn back at Leighton Buzzard.   Harriet eventually landed at Gatwick at half five and FlyBe gave her a free National Express voucher to get her back to Luton with a coach leaving at 6pm.  Bless her, she spent ages looking for the coach stop and then eventually phoned us in tears at half past six.  I directed her onto the Victoria Express train and then Phil directed her from Victoria to Euston where she managed to catch a fast train back to MK.  Phil picked her up from the station and it was gone 9pm when they walked through the door.  Harriet was tired and stressed out but very relieved to have made it back home.

It wasn't just Phil bearing Christmas gifts but last week the agent came into Phil's place of work and presented him with 2 bottles of wine nicely gift wrapped.  This was a very pleasant surprise and the first time in over 30 years that Phil's been contracting that he has ever been given a Christmas present.  A very nice touch especially seeing as Phil has only been in his new contract for a few weeks.   Also Harriet came back from work with a very large hamper given to her by her Derek her director.   It was full of lots of delicious goodies which no doubt we will enjoy over Christmas.  

I guess the snow is making everyone feel Christmassy but I don’t know if it’s just me but I’m fed up with it already.  The roads are much better but god only knows why MK Council didn’t grit or clear the roads on Monday???  Yesterday morning I took Phil to work and then came back to the cul-de-sac to collect Harriet and take her to the OU.   I’m very nervous driving in the snow but it’s a little easier in the Land Rover.  Having been cooped up in the house for the entire weekend I was keen to get to the gym so after delivering Harriet to work safely, I made my way to DW.  After 2 days of no workouts I was getting withdrawal symptoms especially as I’ve eaten so many chocolates.  The good news is that I’ve only put on a pound which is amazing although I have upped my intake of the diet (shit) tea to counterbalance the chocolate.  Unfortunately when I got to the gym the receptionist informed me that the boilers broke on Saturday and there was no heating or hot water.  Great!   The gym was freezing so I just did a few weights and a 3k run to warm up.   I suppose it was better than nothing.

After picking Phil up for lunch, feeding him and then taking him back to work I drove to the OU to meet up for a coffee with Jan.  I haven’t seen her since before we went on holiday so it was great to be able to catch up with all the gossip.   Perhaps we might get the chance to all 4 of us meet up over the holidays although I’m guessing the boys are meeting up tonight for one last drink before the Christmas.  There’s not much that will stop their regular Wednesday nights, certainly not a dollop of the white stuff.