My Xmas season has finally finished! The missus and I headed to Camden after work to meet my friend Sarah. Sarah and the missus were meeting for the first time and we also had to swap Xmas and some birthday gifts. The missus and I browsed the market until it was time to meet and then we went for a catch up and a blow-out Chinese buffet - so pretty ( Read more... )

On Saturday we met the missus after her shift and headed into the Garrick Theatre for the current adaptation of Don Quixote they are showing. David Thewlis (as the Don) and Rufus Hound (as Sancho Panza) were brilliant - the whole production was great ( Read more... )

One new experience I had when I returned to Newport of the holidays was that a prostitute offered me sex for cash. It might seem weird for a man in his 40's but that has never happened to me before and since it happened I spent some time reflecting on the situation and my reaction to it ( Read more... )

Another year, another Xmas. I was back in Wales again for the festive season much as usual, this year with a couple of differences ( Read more... )

It's back again to Kew Gardens for the Christmas Lights festival thing. I have been to this now every year since it started and am compelled to go now as for me and the missus this was the occasion two years ago than helped transition us from 'hanging out together outside of work' to 'dating' (so an important landmark in our social calendar ( Read more... )

Slightly later than usual, my Xmas season has kicked off. It usually starts with my friend Jacqui's birthday in mid-November but I didn't see her this year as she was away in Antwerp of all places. This year I decorated the flat as a 'surprise' for The Missus. (It had to be early as I had to do it on the weekend she was in work and before she got ( Read more... )

I finally caught up with my friend Sarah tonight which marks the formal end of my Xmas season. As a busy mother of twins with family to visit in Birmingham we never get to celebrate Xmas in December but usually manage to catch up in January though this year was slightly later than most due to a pile up of commitments on both sides ( Read more... )

As part of the Xmas present for my goddaughters and birthday present for the missus we trooped off to see 'Young Frankenstein - The Musical' at the Garrick Theatre on Saturday. Myself and Kate are longtime fans of Mel Brooks, the girls have seen a few of his films but have been raised on shows and musicals but the missus is pretty new to both Mel ( Read more... )

So I have survived another Christmas trip back to family and friends in my hometown. They are nothing like as stressful as they used to be (since my father passed) but there is still enough family politics bubbling away beneath the surface to just give it an edge. Everything went more or less to plan on this trip so there is nothing new to report ( Read more... )

As part of our festive fun at work we took a day trip to Canterbury on Wednesday. It had originally been planned as part of our Summer activities but it fell through at the last moment. For most of the guys (staff and tenants) it was their first trip. I used to be a fairly regular visitor there while one of my friends was there to study at ( Read more... )