Anyway - after feeling completely fed up with it all the beginning of last week........the last days don't seem to have turned out so bad! probably helped by copious amounts of vin chaud and some nights out!!! Finally December has arrived so Millie (& Conor - although I haven't been plagued with constant questioning from him as to whether it was December 1st yet?!!!!!) can finally get on with opening her advent calendar!! The Christmas market and stopping for a quick mulled wine meant I was even worse than normal about remembering where I was meant to be by when........so at 3.45pm on Thursday I get a call from Ina - a friend of mine......calling to say they were sat in their car outside our house wondering why there was no answer at the door..............(brain gets quickly into action and then.......shit shit SHIT).....I'm meant to be at home as Tallulah is coming for a playdate with Millie....who is currently with Noora who has picked the kids up from school and taking Conor to football as some new venue so who knows how long they will be depending on how good Noora's navigation skills are!!!! "I'll be home in 10 minutes" I can hear myself saying down the phone as I'm struggling with the phone in one hand, a mug of mulled wine in another and pushing Ruby in the buggy at the same time............swig the wine and set off on a fast march home (thankfully downhill all the way..................wooohoooo.......alcohol swishing around....... well to cut a long story short.....after another phone call where Ina is about to leave as her kids are fighting...I manage to placate her mood (my neighbours think she is a scary woman!!!!!!) and Tallulah and Millie have a fab play date :-) I even offered to take Tallulah home in forgiveness of being such a muppet!!! I'm sure I never had any of these carry-ons back home.........did I???? I put it down to foreign water!
As part of our au-pair deal - we get a couple of nights out on the weeks she is with us......c'est superbe........can waltz around the house getting ready without worrying about getting the kids in bed.......or so you would think.....of course I feel completely guilty so help out with getting them part way ready for bed! Anyway - had to wait for Shaun to get back from work........being an hour ahead means calls with Seattle finish that bit later :-((((( at least he's only a hop,skip and a jump away from home!
We went to some smoke-filled bar (yes you walk in and the smell and cloud of smoke hit you like a wave ........still getting used to everyone smoking in ALL the public places....all you smokers out there - you'd love it!!!! Well the prosecco was flowing and we ended up at Caves Gourmande...a fairly upmarket French eatery in the old fish market area (as you do on a bog-standard Thursday night!!!!)........great location and yummy food.......service a bit dodgy..........even with my now much-reduced epxectations......my latest mantra........have low low low expectations and be pleasantly surprised :-) Well it didn't start too well when the wine list was slow to arrive, as was the wine when ordered........do these people not understand we need something to drink when perusing the menu.....of course another failing.........a fairly short menu which is not necessarily a problem......apart from the fact that 3 of the 7 main dishes were not available!!!!!! Anyway - food was a success and a nice evening had by all!
Friday brought another night out (now really looking forward to sitting in front of the TV on saturday and watching x-factor!!)........before we went out Millie and Noora decided to do some baking........they busied themselves for hours and created this amazing gingerbread house!!!!! It's got pride of place in the lounge and smells delicous every time we walk in the room - there is a lovely christmassy gingerbread aroma in the air!!!
this time an Amazon rendezvous at the guy who runs the Lux office house! Wowwwww - what a house.........thankfully shaun and i could walk there (a definite plus with free fizz to drink all night!!!)......amazing house (not sure where these kind of properties were hiding when we were looking!!!)....a kind of detatched 4 floor victoria mansion.....backing on to the town park and a stroll away from the city centre! I'm on the waiting list!!!! Drank far too much and the food (canapes) not substantial enough to soak it up!!!!! Had to get the pizzas going when we got home!
With the snow still all around - Sunday brought almost some sunshine (you could vaguely see it behind the thick cloud!!)...I now see what Becky my neighbour meant by saying it is "so grey" all winter! Anyway - I decide it's time we all got a large dose of fresh air and exercise so with ruby in the BabyBjorn we start the hike up the steps to some roman ruin and after a long and uphill route we get lost in the what seems like maize-like route! The snow obviously did us no favours as we had no idea where the path was meant to be! We eventaully found our way over and down the other side........lunch restaurant "almost there".....amazing how bloody long the road feels with everyone moaning for food and Ruby's weight dragging you down!!!! So worth it though - we all pile in to the restaurant and make friends with the waiter - who gives me free champagne - only to find out the owner is selling up in January so probably that is the end of that short-lived local haunt!
Anyway - pic of us on-route (can you tell it's near the start....everyone vaguely smiling?!?!!!!)
That's all for now - bonne nuit
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