Well, we are already well into the Advent season and that Blue Peter Advent candle holder will be well into production no doubt.
Christmas decorations are appearing everywhere. There are 18 shopping days left and today Ross and I will do our Christmas cards together. The sun is sinking lower into the sky and hardly appears over the roofs of the houses opposite now. The days are almost as short as they are going to get. Only two weeks before the shortest day. There are deep frosts and I'm glad of my longjohns (however did I used to go about without them). The gardens are bare (save for the winter jasmine and the winter pansies). We are almost at that still small point of the turning year when the sap is at its lowest.
Just briefly to report that my course the other week went well. I developed a cold on the day that it started just as I did in Oxford earlier in the year. Maybe there's a pattern there. Where there is definitely a pattern is in my response to the situation. These days, instead of ploughing on regardless and wearing myself out, I take a different tack and approach the course with a little less brio. And the consequence is that the overall marks are maybe down by half of a percent.
Key learning points here are:-
Back at work, there has been a sudden explosion of activity. I suppose it had to happen as I have been keeping low profile for long enough. So, I have been given the team leadership of a major project of training for the new NT/Office 97 service. I have also been clearing out an old long-standing project about NVQs; I've been sorting out management training for some colleagues; and I've been vehemently protesting about being given an appalling job with responsibility and no authority based on an open ended commitment to resources and availability. On the latter, I wasn't able to change anything but I did speak out.
I'm suspicious of the energy, by the way. There's all those old traps of over-committing and taking on all the burdens of the world on my shoulders.
Key learning points here are:-
Ross is away in bed at the moment. We've had a good couple of days together. In fact, we were reflecting that this is the first time that we've had more than 24 hours in each other's company since August when he moved into his flat. What can I tell you but that it gets better and better between us (and I don't just simply mean the sex although I certainly do mean that). Ross has been taking help from a variety of courses recently and has achieved a lot without me. He has also discovered that a lot of people love him and are prepared to go out of their way to assist him.
I still get very upset by his physical condition. It is difficult to say whether or not it is getting worse. Certainly it is better managed now by a doctor who is helping. and Ross will be seeing neuro-surgeon next week. He says he only has a 10% chance of getting better. There's about a 50% chance he will remain as he is now for the rest of his life and a 40% chance he will get sill worse. Still, I'm learning to work with him about all of this rather than to race in an save him.
Key learning points here are:-
Ross and I are off to see a silent film this evening. It's The Thief of Baghdad starring Douglas Fairbanks Snr with live music by Rimsky-Korsakov arranged and sampled by Carl Davis. Christmas treats start here.