Bake Off

Last week, I produced around 2,000 words. If they are all good and I keep up the pace, I will be finished in a year. But no work on Sunday because of Christmas cake and Bakewell tart baking. Having watched Great British Bake Off, I am becoming very conscious of not producing a professional finish. My food always tastes good but Paul would be horrified at the appearance.

A few hundred words about the meaning of the lyrics on Monday. My nail varnish is still good after almost two weeks.

Some progress

I managed to write a few hundred words yesterday - focus on the way Cohen uses pronouns so its not clear who everybody is. Have listened to the new album again - still  love it.

Our Tai Chi class has been closed, which is concerning because its important for our health. And we have friends we only ever see there, so we'll never see them again. It was inevitable this would happen because numbers were dwindling but we never expected at the end of a class to be told there would be no more classes. So do we join another one? Or just give up, as I have not enjoyed the classes for years and found them more and more stressful. But TSH wants to go. And its a health thing.

We'll be glad when we get a new kitchen, as the dishwasher is giving more and more problems.

Baking Christmas cake this weekend.

Rushing around

We've been to visit TSH's mother (age 94 and still in very good physical and mental health) and his daughter.  This meant 500 miles of driving and a number of late (for us, anyway) nights and early mornings. It will be just us plus a visitor for drinks on Christmas Day itself.

Old Faithful took the hair discussion very well and we now have a new plan for 'identical every time'.

I haven't even written up my notes from the Skype with S. At this time of year Christmas seems to take over even if there are no real plans. But I've decorated the cake - marzipan, icing, icing stars scattered on top and a few white sugar sprinkles.

Back

Back home. Washing mountain dealt with. Christmas cake in oven.

Account of holiday here http://fromthesilversea.blogspot.co.uk/

I managed to sort out the data for the dissertation whilst I was away, and I ran a few basic analyses. Its time I got down to things properly but I'm still a bit jet-lagged.

Mediocre news: I got 64 for the assignment about the flash fiction 'Currents' This is equal to my average mark so far, in spite of all the help from the learning advisor.

Good news: I have been assigned a supervisor, its the one I wanted and I think I can work with him.

Bearable

So the back is bearable now. But it hasn't gone away, even though I can now do most things again. But at least I've been able to get on with the essay - I'm about half way there with it. I'm looking at politeness now. If you say to someone 'Get your hair cut', that's quite rude but 'I think you should get your hair cut' is better and 'Have you thought of getting your hair cut?' quite polite. So I'll look to see if the lawyers are helping to 'save face' for the defendants or whether they are just rude.
We are also planning Christmas - we have most presents now but the food is still vague. We are not sure who will be here when or for how long. The Christmas cake has now been fed with brandy over many weeks so it should be rich and moist. The Amazon boycott did not last. There is nowhere else to get things as conveniently or cheaply. But I now buy with great resentment.

Another year starts

I've just done the online registration for the next academic year, so I guess I also owe them another tranche of fees. I have also printed out the pre-reading which needs to be done in the next week or so. Its History of English this time, so a lot of information will come from David Crystal's 'The stories of English', which is a really enjoyable book.

Meantime, I go for my bespoke wedding hat consultation this week, which should be fun.

And I intend to make the Christmas cake before our next cruise. I use a recipe from a 'Basic Cookbook', slightly adapted, which I have been using for years and is always very well received. The next few weeks will be very busy.