Well, gentle reader,

It has been nearly a month since my last post, ever so sorry. There are a number of reasons for that, the most obvious being the Christmas season. And then there was me being down with 'the dreaded lurgy' since early December. And, frankly, just plain laziness! So I will backtrack here and try to catch you up.

Sean and I put the tree up, along with the rest of the decorations, on the 15th and the place looked very festive.

Tiva 'became a woman' this week. In season for the first time and seems very bewildered by the entire event. She's entirely off her food (never good for Miss Skinny Minnie) and doesn't want to play. Maybe she has cramps? At any rate, I have to be careful now about the boys and letting her off her lead!

My last day of work was the 19th (Friday) and Saturday Sean and I cooked and cleaned all day in preparation for the Christmas party. It was a smaller affair this year with mostly 'horsey friends' in attendance. But the food turned out nice and no one got falling down drunk...result! The next day we slept in and then started cleaning all over again.

The next couple days we did the last of any Christmas shopping and one of the days we had a 4 hour (lost) walk down at Auchencruive. We were all knackered, including for a wee change, the dog!

We also had a day up at Loch Lomond. We went up to Drymen and had lunch at the Clachan then went up to Balmaha and parked and walked there for an hour or two while the dog played. She was very well behaved and tired herself out.

Christmas day was lovely. We got up and opened our gifts and then showered and went up to Janes. I had intended to 'do' Remy myself, but Jenny (or someone else) had beaten me to it...thanks bunches. Anyway, we went into the house and had mulled wine and sausage rolls and Jane and Beanie and Sean and I all opened our presents from one another. (Beanie liked his first series of BeastQuest books and Jane liked her new kettle). We came home about 3 and napped! We went back up there at about 6 and the four of us had dinner and then watched Mama Mia. We came home about 11 and flaked out.

On Boxing Day...I dont remember what we did! Gladys came down for dinner though and we had a nice evening. Sean headed for bed (to read, no doubt) and a few minutes later I heard him shout not to open the front door if someone chapped it. So, naturally, I went through to find out what was up. It seems that when he went through to the back and turned the light on, a face popped up in the doorway and a man chapped the door. When Sean answered, the man asked him to call the police and said a gang of boys was chasing him. Sean closed the door and went to get the phone and when he came back the guy was gone.

Sean reported the event to the police anyway, via 999, and they sent officers out to take the full story. Funny that. He waited 20 minutes for them to show up and as he headed back to bed, he saw them outside, in the back garden! So he told them all about it. They were of the opinion that the guy had been casing the joint. After heading for bed at 9 pm, Sean finally got to bed at 10.30!

Saturday night we had our 'works night out' up at Chu Chu's, in West Kilbride. Me and Sean, Sheen and Tommy, Julie and Robert, and Nancy and Jim. We had a great meal and a super time.

Sunday morning we had a bit of a lie in and packed our overnight cases for two days and loaded up the car and headed south. I wanted to visit Jan and Zim and Lisa and Chris and all the dogs, and to spend a bit of time exploring Lincolnshire. Jan was down with the flue and totally unable to face having company. But Chris and Lisa graciously not only offered us a place to stay but included us in their daughters birthday celebrations.

And what a nice family they have. The daughters are both lovely girls, the (almost) son-in-law is a nice chap, and the grandkids are real cuties!

The first night we had a great pub meal, not bog standard by any means. The next day Sean and I took a drive up to Lincoln and wandered around town and Sean toured the castle (they wouldn't let me in with Tiva). We also got a great painting for Shannon and Bob...well, for the nursery! That night we took Chris and Lisa out and they chose Indian. Yummy. Chris had a vindaloo and I tasted a WEE TINY drop...HOT!

The next day Sean and Tiva and I went to Stamford, via Spaulding. The touristy places were closed but the towns themselves are really lovely. We had (very average) pub lunch and on the way out of town found a great little deli. We put together a thank you package for Chris and Lisa and bought some stuff for ourselves and headed back to theirs. Chris fixed dinner that night with the hugest baked potatos I have ever seen in my life!

The next morning Chris fixed us all a lovely breakfast. Then they loaded up some dogs in their van and we followed them up the road to Skegness. I have heard of the place before, but had no idea what it was, other than a holiday spot. Turns out that it is 40 miles of beach and we were just about the only ones on it! The dogs ran and played and had a ball for about an hour. By then the people were frozen and ready for the off! So we loaded up the dogs and headed out. We stopped and had a pub lunch together and then they headed home and we headed up north.

Sean did the last half of the drive and we got home about 9.30. Knackered! I told Sean that if he wanted to go out, that he should, I would not be upset...after he showered and revived a bit he decided he would go out...it was New Years Eve, after all. I had seen a sign out front at his local that they were having a Hogmanay party, so he went there at 11...and was back in 7 1/2 minutes! It was all closed up. He found out later they closed the shutters at 11 for a lock in, bummer. Anyway, we opened a bottle of wine, rang in the bells and hit our beds by 1. Ahhh...

Enough for now, night night...Bridgit