Holiday's Ending
3 January

Let's hear it for those poor people in the City who had to work over the New Year's holidays because of the introduction of the Euro. Shame. Doesn't your heart bleed for these people on their inflated salaries and their mega-bonuses? Well, no, it doesn't. So, there.

The weekend has been spent pleasantly with Ross.

There was a full roast dinner on New Year's day, followed by phone calls and e-mail to all and sundry. Then it was off to see Star Trek: Insurrection - not bad but not wonderful but two hours passed pleasantly. Maybe I need more than noise and special effects.

Saturday saw the start of a return to normality. I did the shopping and did some of the sales and bought some new curtains for my bedroom. They're splendid. Dark blue. Lined. With a golden embossed pattern of stars and astrological-like symbols. I love them.

I also visited Colin who is in great pain with his slipped disk. He has had a bad year of it. I wonder if his body isn't telling him that he has had enough of London and should be trying to get out of it to a place where he will get more support in his work. I've also encouraged him to take up yoga as a way of getting some strength back into his back.

Saturday night was quiet with a video Hard Rain - pizza movie - Christian Slater in a wet tee shirt. Ross said he was too tired for sex but changed his mind. It was then that I discovered how good my new curtains are at blocking out any incoming light. We had to open the curtains slightly in order to see what we are doing.

Sunday brought Quakers, returning Ross to his flat, helping him to put up some shelves. I've eaten. I've written and posted some letters to friends. I've tidied up. I've shaved. I've researched some times and prices of flights to San Francisco.

I've been emotional all day. The feelings things are strange indeed. Some of it is about feeling bleagh about returning to work. But also it's about the changes between this year and last. I was so worried last year. I fought to maintain a status quo I knew in my heart of hearts was doomed. I feared Ross's departure and didn't know what our future's would bring. I thought we would split apart. Now, I still do not know what our futures will be but I feel more confident about a sense of us.

I love the radio and particularly the serendipity of Radio Four. A programme on Sunday evening talks about the British weather and its unpredictability within a narrow band ie temperatures between -5° and 25° in this country and -20° and 30° on the East Coast of America but not knowing what each day will bring in this country but having defined periods of weather on the Eastern Seaboard of America.

What amused me was the discussion about the effects of three years of drought on our landscape. Clay areas have been subject to shrinkage. They have also been subject to a phenomenon known as heaving. Apparently large parts of Essex, particularly around Basildon, have been heaving. *Smiles* Are we surprised?

So, I've re-set the bedside alarm so that I shall be wakened by Radio Four at seven tomorrow morning. So, that brings to an official close this holiday season. The cards are down and the tree disassembled and the decorations packed away for another year. As usual, it makes the downstairs room seem, briefly, enormous as a large space is opened up. And, as usual, it makes other houses which hang on until the official twelfth night seem unreasonably gaudy with their bright lights in their windows.

This holiday, I've not done anything in the garden. I've not done very much around the house. I have been interrupted many times by thoughts about work but have chosen to discard them. I haven't done any work but I have begun to assemble and index my NVQ portfolio (this is a small triumph as I have been postponing this for nearly two years now). However, I have rested and that was the major aim. *Smiles*