I hope everyone is having a marvellous Christmas.. ? You are? Good.
I thought I'd write another Christmas related post, just because I can!
Having finished my placement with Freud Film Team on the Tuesday, I waited for my beloved sister to arrive in London Town, ready for our manic journey to Hereford the following day.
Thankfully, it only took four hours to get there, even with the snowy weather looming.. and we arrived at Lemore Manor in one piece... yes you heard correctly, the Manor.
(www.lemoremanor.com to be precise).
The timing was impeccable, as father pulled up to the front about five minutes behind us, ready to go and collect mother from Hereford station, a mere fifteen minute drive away. Or so we thought. I dutifully decided to go with him to the station, thinking we'd be back in plenty of time for mulled wine and mince pies... I was wrong! We set out at 4pm, which is when the snow blizzard began... meaning it
actually took us over 3 hours to get to the station, find mother, and return to the Manor at 7.20pm!!
Immense journey aside, we later had a lovely meal all together in the dining hall, what a lovely start to the events.
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve saw the next lot of troops arrive from across the country, putting our total at over 20 people.. what fun! Lots of festive frolics and carolling:
Followed by feast of traditional Indian Takeaway.. haha. Maybe not so traditional, but went down well nonetheless. I've not seen that much curry since I had dinner at Rozeena's house back when I was 16.. what a delight. It was rather fabulous.. and we all ate far too much, before retiring to bed to wait for Santa to arrive with his presents..
Christmas Day
7am - Stockings from Santa.. amazing. I've never had such a bizarre and wonderful selection of things! Mini snooker table, expanding bugs, alien goo, bubble blowers, a harmonica and an array of other such splendid items.. well played Santa!
9am - Off to one of the local Churches for the family service. I think we must have stopped in Royston Vasey, as it really was a local church for local people.. and turned out to be the most hilarious service I've been to yet. The Vicar sped through at a rate of knots, before announcing they had no choir or organist so he would be accompanying the carols with his guitar, oh yes. Did I mention it most probably was out of tune and he would strum a few chords and then stop? That's right, brillant. He also wins the award for the shortest intercessions to date.. which went something along the lines of 'We pray for everyone who is dead or ill, and alive, Amen' .. literally, classic. A highlight of the service was watching Vicky crack under the pressure and burst into fits of giggles towards the middle of the service, which lasted an impressive 40 minutes. Result!
12.45pm - Back at the Manor we were plied with various moreish canapes, leaving people to wonder whether they'd have enough room for the actual meal.. but oh well! They were rather fabulous, a favourite being the bite-size toad in the holes, yum. The Christmas dinner was just as splendid, with food and puddings galore.. alas it was also during dinner that disaster struck for Tom.. and he retired to bed.
3pm - Presents o'clock! Several hours of small people going insane over wrapping paper and the mountains of presents.. resulting in various scooters and electrical toys and whatnot.. great fun! I personally got lots of lovely makeup and girly things, much to my delight.
5pm - Sick bug takes another victim as mother rushes to her room, where she stayed for the rest of the evening... followed shortly by other members of their house (to their own rooms, not hers!)
The evening was rather splendid, having beaten Alfie quite brilliantly at Backgammon, and then attempting to play Junior Scrabble with Adam.. all good fun.. followed by Gavin and Stacey (which I shockingly laughed at.. even at Mr Corden, shock horror!) .. and Catherine Tate Christmas Special .. of which I only saw half due to..
11pm - I got hit by the horrendous sick bug. Having not been sick since the age of 12, I was rather horrified by the whole thing.. and the phobia of being sick really didn't help very much! I managed to decorate the wall and my duvet.. lovely. Enough information but several hours of a similar variety happened.. and I spent half of my evening in the bathroom shaking like a wimp...!
Boxing Day
My Boxing Day consisted of lying in bed, throwing up, drinking water, drinking lucozade, feeling crap, and not eating.. how miserable! I did, however, manage to watch two full series of The Inbetweeners, which was actually rather amusing (whether the illness affected my judgement, I do not know). It was rather uneventful and dull, and meant I had to stare at my room for most of the day. As the day went on, more of the group were hit by the joyful bug.. resulting in the festive sound of running to bathrooms and being sick.. delightful!
Boxing Day (Take 2)
Ahh.. I woke feeling much better, but still unable to eat.. so joined the Merry Band of both well and ill people, and set off on a bracing walk to the local pub, a couple of miles away. It was actually a rather splendid walk, of which I regretfully have no pictures.. but I'm sure some will crop up on Facebook in the near future.. lots of mud and wellies and being at one with nature!
The afternoon consisted of yet more carolling and frivolities.. as well as watching Casper, The Holiday, and Top Gear, absolute bliss. It also involved me spending about two hours with little Charlotte and a plastic duck.. providing much amusement.
I was also lucky enough to partake in the roast beef dinner with Yorkshire puddings in the evening.. oh yeah!
The Last Day
Much to everyone's dismay, we had to leave Lemore the next morning, clutching our copious amounts of food and alcohol that had been left behind. Poor Susan had been struck by the bug in the evening, so I was asked to drive her home with Peter to Hammersmith. A rather daunting task, as I'm not great with passengers, especially ill ones. I wasn't going to leave them behind feeling ill though, so we set off on the journey.. and it wasn't half bad. We did it in under four hours, with no sick in sight, huzzah.
I am now, alas, suffering from a grotty cold.. but all in all a wonderful Christmas with the family (and extended!).
Merry Christmas everyone :o)
xx
On a List-related note..
My time over Christmas has also let me catch up with a couple of things from my list..
I've managed to read another of my books:
The Sheltering Sky - Paul Bowles
I'm not quite sure what to make of this book. It follows Port and Kit who are married and travelling around the world. It seems that Port is the ringleader, and Kit would much rather be in modern civilisation than stuck in the desert with the bad food and bad company. They are also with a friend of Ports, Tunner, who seems to have a fondness of Kit, much to her dismay.
The book is split into 3 different parts, the first following Kit, Port and Tunner, the second following Kit and Port alone and the third focusing on Kit. It's full of bizarre events and I really couldn't get into the book very well.. I didn't really get it.. which probably means I'm not quite intellectual enough yet!
Anyway, I'd give the book 6/10 for its descriptions of the different countries and things that happen throughout the story.
I have also finally seen:
The Shawshank Redemption
Incredible. That's all I really need to say. Can't believe I'm 23 and only just seen it, bad Lucy! A definite must - see film, and I can totally understand why it's on the list of films to see before you die - 5 stars!
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