The Last Round Up
I want to finish 1996 with file number 100 in this Electronic Journal. That feels sort of symbolic and I'm quite proud of the achievement but it does mean that there's a lot of ground to cover.
Last week at work was a peculiar mixture of trying to get things done against a rising tide of festivity and frivolity. Part of me says we might as well not have bothered really as it was all neither one thing or the other.
The few days before Christmas were quickly spent with final preparations and then on Christmas Eve morning Ross and I exchanged presents first thing. It was really nice. I got lots of bathroom type stuff from Ross in specially constructed boxes which must have taken him hours to prepare and a copy of Terry Pratchett's latest novel Hogfather. This was a bit of a blow as I got him exactly the same thing in among my presents to him. So, now we have his and his Pratchett novels.
I buzzed off to collect the car and we set of via Gill's to points north. I'd completely underestimated the distance between my destination (my sister Linda's) and Ross's so I ended up adding 2 hours onto my journey going 70/80 miles north and then south again. Same trick on the way home again. I don't begrudge. I just don't think I'll be quite so quick to volunteer next time.
Christmas with Linda, mum and dad was pleasant and quiet. Linda did marvels with the household organisation and there only a few moments of tension which were quickly sorted.
Ross and I travelled back on Boxing Day for which I was grateful as the weather since has been Arctic.
This is something that Ross and I are completely aware of since we arrived home to find that on Christmas Day morning the neighbours had smelled gas from the heating system in the bathroom and had called out the gas board to switch the system off. The house wasn't exactly cold when we arrived back (good insulation) but we spent the first night under the duvet and two layers of sleeping bags.
Next morning was spent on the phone trying to find engineers to come and fix the problem. First, there was a lot of no answers or answering machines (and, interestingly, none of those messages has prompted anyone to ring back). Then I got through to one guy who said 6 January was the earliest he could make it. Finally, we got someone who was on-line and willing. Four hours later the problem was fixed and we had heat again. The guy's also promised to check out some parts to fix our toilet system (you may remember that I snapped the handle at the beginning of December).
It was good to be warm again and to be able to watch TV without sitting in a sleeping bag. But the operation has put a large dent in January's finances.
What's been done since. Well, there's been a lot of slobbing around - an activity for which I'm becoming temperamentally unsuited. I'd rather be off and doing things but Ross has been quite content to sleep most of the day away and then play computer games. That's being 20 for you, I guess. And it gives me some time to myself it has to be said.
I had had big plans for doing things since we had use of the car. Well, the cold weather put paid to most of that and the more often I have use of a car, the more I find it completely irrelevant to my lifestyle. The one good thing we do manage is a mega-Tesco's shop for bulk household things which should keep us stocked up til well into spring.
New Year's Eve and Ross and I head off to see the new Star Trek film First Contact in the evening. It's bitterly cold and the roads are deserted. So is the cinema. I'm sort of surprised as I thought it might be full of families but No. The film itself is OK - more I think to Ross's taste than my own.
We get home to a warm house (sorry to harp on this but it still feels like a bit of a luxury) and break out the champagne and settle down to a little shaving. Ross had had a shave at his pubes the previous day so I decide to take the plunge and follow suit. I do the front bits and then we both shave each other's unreachable parts. You have to have a lot of trust in your partner if you're going to crouch with you arse in the air whilst he wields a razor blade round your knackers.
Anyhow, being bald down there is a very novel feeling and it does improve the sensation of being kissed and licked down there as well. One further bonus is that with less than an hour to go, I have managed to knock one point off my purity score this year.
To celebrate our new smoothness, we decide to see in the New Year in the best possible way. Timing is crucial and true to form just as Big Ben strikes so does Ross. 10 seconds into the New Year, it's my turn. Talk about timing or what. Though I must confess to some desperate and frenzied negotiations with 30 seconds to go. It sort of went...
Oooh
Aaah
Oh! Oh!
Yes
ding dong ding dong
No
ding dong ding dong
Yes
Hold on wait
ding dong ding dong
Yes
ding dong ding dong
No
Ah, yes
No, wait
Yes, yes
BONG
Yes
BONG BONG
Go for it
BONG BONG
Ah!
BONG BONG
Oooh!
BONG BONG
Yes, yes, YES!
BONG BONG
YES!! YES!!!
BONG
Happy New Year.
Hmm, you too.
Talk about starting the New Year with a bang.
