"Ain't nothing going to slow me down, this Christmas I'll be home with bells on."
I'm home, and it's nearly Christmas!
I've had an awesome final week. Work has been quiet as all the students and academics have disappeared, leaving us with three boxes of biscuits, two boxes of chocolates and a pannetonne in our office to celebrate. The peace and quiet has allowed all of us to get a lot of work done which we're all grateful for. We had a surprising amount of work to get through before the break - a new events brochure to go to print in January, and a conference taking place the second week back that is demanding a lot of my attention.
On Tuesday night I went to biascut's party and had a lovely time. Only meant to stay for an hour; ended up staying for two and a half. When I arrived I was greeted with joy because I'd bought some "cheap" wine perfect for mulling (it was actually left in my flat after the Star Wars evening the week before) and I tucked into the spiced apple juice and home made lebkuchen. Mary and her partner Glitz have the most interesting friends. I think everyone there worked for a university, either admin or academia (after sympathising with a fraught PhD student I was asked how I got through my doctoral thesis, ha) and the talk ranged from the choral styles in football chants to the glory of radiators to how many initials one could stick on the end of LGBT. (Mary won that one - she thought of dozens I'd never even heard of.) Everyone was very friendly which helped as I didn't really know anyone else. Mary showed me her button Christmas tree ornaments which I now really want, and then at a slightly later hour than expected, I trudged back home through the ice and slush. Luckily I live a matter of minutes away.
The next day had been deemed "Office clear up day", rather like the last day of term in primary school. We were all instructed to clear out our desks and go through the accumulated material to see what could be archived and what recycled. My desk looked spotless after a couple of hours, but the rest of the office looked a lot worse as dust was everywhere, along with several piles of rubbish and paper. Once we'd done all we could we sat around to swap Secret Santa presents. I received a stapler that looks like a ladybird and two chocolate lollipops (someone knows me well) and my present for my manager seemed to be liked. My colleague Jill was given a head massager which looks like a thin metal whisk, rather like this one and we all tried it out. It turned out to be far more enjoyable than is appropriate for an office environment!
We then abandoned the office for our Christmas lunch, which I'd been asked to organise so I chose Choice Bar and Restaurant because I'd never been and always wanted to, but it's too fancy for my usual budget. We had the place to ourselves for most of the afternoon too. We started with a bellini while seated around the grand piano, then moved to our big round table for a delicious three course dinner. I had parsnip soup, then pheasant which I've never had before but is VERY tasty, then toffee bread and butter pudding. This was accompanied by six bottles of wine between eight of us, and followed by a small glass of Baileys. (When we were asked what liqueur we wanted, I suggested some Urbon and thought myself very witty actually.) The conversation flowed easily, and we compared highlights and lowlights of the year, including our favourite academics, and least favourite students. Working with music and drama students provides quite a lot of opportunities to get to know students quite well, probably better than history or English students, but there are quite a few characters too, and not all of them are pleasant to deal with! We had a lot of fun though, and everyone seemed more relaxed than we'd been all year.
We then struggled through the snow, past the frozen canals over to Knott Bar which is very popular with my colleagues, for another drink. I left after one lemonade and was home by 7pm which was pretty good actually. When James came home we watched a bit of Malcolm in the Middle together.
Thursday was the last day of work for us, as the university closes over the break, but I wasn't expecting to leave early because it's still a proper working day. During the meal the day before, we'd been told that we could leave at 3pm which seemed pretty generous, but when we got into work on Thursday we were told that we could finish at lunchtime if we wanted. I then worked like a mad thing to get through my emails, but was so pleased to stroll out of the door by 1.15pm. Jill left even earlier to get a train back to Glasgow. I rushed home and packed up the last few things I needed, then went as quickly as I could to the train station with a handbag, backpack, laptop bag and suitcase in tow. I have never learnt to travel lightly.
My mother met me at Liverpool Lime Street and drove me home through streets more icy than I've ever seen them. And then I was home, and here I'll stay until January 3rd. This time last year I was sunbathing in Chiang Mai, but nothing replaces a Christmas at home. Yesterday evening was spent wrapping presents in front of the fire with my younger brother, then watching Fly Away Home and Juno with my mother while eating our body weight in chocolate.
This morning I have slept, and slept, and slept some more. We now have wireless in our house, so I'm currently still in bed with the dog draped over my feet giving me mournful looks over my taste in music and the cat sitting on the windowsill looking out at the snowy garden. It feels so good to be home again.
I've had an awesome final week. Work has been quiet as all the students and academics have disappeared, leaving us with three boxes of biscuits, two boxes of chocolates and a pannetonne in our office to celebrate. The peace and quiet has allowed all of us to get a lot of work done which we're all grateful for. We had a surprising amount of work to get through before the break - a new events brochure to go to print in January, and a conference taking place the second week back that is demanding a lot of my attention.
On Tuesday night I went to biascut's party and had a lovely time. Only meant to stay for an hour; ended up staying for two and a half. When I arrived I was greeted with joy because I'd bought some "cheap" wine perfect for mulling (it was actually left in my flat after the Star Wars evening the week before) and I tucked into the spiced apple juice and home made lebkuchen. Mary and her partner Glitz have the most interesting friends. I think everyone there worked for a university, either admin or academia (after sympathising with a fraught PhD student I was asked how I got through my doctoral thesis, ha) and the talk ranged from the choral styles in football chants to the glory of radiators to how many initials one could stick on the end of LGBT. (Mary won that one - she thought of dozens I'd never even heard of.) Everyone was very friendly which helped as I didn't really know anyone else. Mary showed me her button Christmas tree ornaments which I now really want, and then at a slightly later hour than expected, I trudged back home through the ice and slush. Luckily I live a matter of minutes away.
The next day had been deemed "Office clear up day", rather like the last day of term in primary school. We were all instructed to clear out our desks and go through the accumulated material to see what could be archived and what recycled. My desk looked spotless after a couple of hours, but the rest of the office looked a lot worse as dust was everywhere, along with several piles of rubbish and paper. Once we'd done all we could we sat around to swap Secret Santa presents. I received a stapler that looks like a ladybird and two chocolate lollipops (someone knows me well) and my present for my manager seemed to be liked. My colleague Jill was given a head massager which looks like a thin metal whisk, rather like this one and we all tried it out. It turned out to be far more enjoyable than is appropriate for an office environment!
We then abandoned the office for our Christmas lunch, which I'd been asked to organise so I chose Choice Bar and Restaurant because I'd never been and always wanted to, but it's too fancy for my usual budget. We had the place to ourselves for most of the afternoon too. We started with a bellini while seated around the grand piano, then moved to our big round table for a delicious three course dinner. I had parsnip soup, then pheasant which I've never had before but is VERY tasty, then toffee bread and butter pudding. This was accompanied by six bottles of wine between eight of us, and followed by a small glass of Baileys. (When we were asked what liqueur we wanted, I suggested some Urbon and thought myself very witty actually.) The conversation flowed easily, and we compared highlights and lowlights of the year, including our favourite academics, and least favourite students. Working with music and drama students provides quite a lot of opportunities to get to know students quite well, probably better than history or English students, but there are quite a few characters too, and not all of them are pleasant to deal with! We had a lot of fun though, and everyone seemed more relaxed than we'd been all year.
We then struggled through the snow, past the frozen canals over to Knott Bar which is very popular with my colleagues, for another drink. I left after one lemonade and was home by 7pm which was pretty good actually. When James came home we watched a bit of Malcolm in the Middle together.
Thursday was the last day of work for us, as the university closes over the break, but I wasn't expecting to leave early because it's still a proper working day. During the meal the day before, we'd been told that we could leave at 3pm which seemed pretty generous, but when we got into work on Thursday we were told that we could finish at lunchtime if we wanted. I then worked like a mad thing to get through my emails, but was so pleased to stroll out of the door by 1.15pm. Jill left even earlier to get a train back to Glasgow. I rushed home and packed up the last few things I needed, then went as quickly as I could to the train station with a handbag, backpack, laptop bag and suitcase in tow. I have never learnt to travel lightly.
My mother met me at Liverpool Lime Street and drove me home through streets more icy than I've ever seen them. And then I was home, and here I'll stay until January 3rd. This time last year I was sunbathing in Chiang Mai, but nothing replaces a Christmas at home. Yesterday evening was spent wrapping presents in front of the fire with my younger brother, then watching Fly Away Home and Juno with my mother while eating our body weight in chocolate.
This morning I have slept, and slept, and slept some more. We now have wireless in our house, so I'm currently still in bed with the dog draped over my feet giving me mournful looks over my taste in music and the cat sitting on the windowsill looking out at the snowy garden. It feels so good to be home again.