Not a white Christmas this year, and even if it wasn’t with my 
immediate family, it was still a family Xmas, and a far better one than last year. The day started slowly enough with a bit of a sleep-in after the late night Christmas eve ‘chat’ (on Skype) with the family back home. Kind of odd seeing them having Xmas morning while you’re about to go to bed yourself... Anyway, shortly after Mark and Jo arrived (whose wedding you may recall from last May), and before Eileen served up dinner (lunch) for us all, Steve, Mark and I enjoyed a quiet morning ale in one of the nearby pubs. It was then on to the full Xmas dinner, crackers, jokes n hats included. Ei had done a great job with a massive dinner that all five of us filled up on - there was plenty left over.
From there, we ‘rolled’ into the lounge for presents and afternoon snoozes amongst what turns out to be a rather typical English Christmas evening by the fire with the BBC. This included the new Wallace & Gromit, as well as another Doctor Who special and a bit of Black Adder.
Boxing day was a quieter affair with Mark n Jo heading home during the morning before Steve, Ei and myself sat down to another traditional English meal - bubble n squeak, which effectively the leftovers of the day before. That afternoon saw Steve and I go for a walk around the countryside of Melton (left) before Ei joined us down the local pub for the evening.
All up a great few days with my cousins before heading back to London.
Sunday saw an early start, to meet up with Gudge n Klinns from back home before we headed up to Birmingham and more specifically, The Hawthorns in West Bromwich Albion.
A car load of Spurs fans (that's Dave, Klinns, me n Gudge) and we had ourselves a merry little trip into the midlands for the West Brom versus Tottenham match. And it was bloody cold!! 0C for the day!!
To escape the chaos of the traffic after the match, we ducked into what turned out to be “a proper old English boozer” as Gudge put it, that honestly hadn’t changed since about 1967. Being the only Spurs fans in there we kept a fairly low profile until we discovered a couple of Germans who were also Spurs fans. Fun and mayhem ensued before we had to leave the pub. A bit of a silliness in a nearby chicken shop and we were back on the road to London and home.
Monday came and so did Vanessa from Melbourne and a fun catch up with her, Nick n Kiersten in a small pub near Old Street. When that closed we headed back to their hotel bar to finish off the night in the wee hours.
Tuesday and it was time for something a bit different. I met Megan on my first trip to Ireland and she was over from the US visiting for the week. At her suggestion, we went to the opera to see Hansel & Gretel. The Opera is something I’ve never done before and I was pleasantly surprised. The Royal Opera House itself is quite magnificent and the seats, although not the roomiest, were still very plush.
The performance itself wasn’t as I’d expected either. Firstly it was in German, so I could understand some of what was sung. They did have subtitles neatly projected above the stage, however they weren’t all that brightly lit nor too easy for me to make out. The stage itself was very cleverly done, as was the lighting, which made from some interesting effects. I also didn’t realise that either opera, nor the tale of Hansel und Gretel had a good portion of humour to it - I certainly didn’t expect to see a Tesco’s shopping bag being used, nor did I expect to see a cooked witch brought back out of the oven at the end!
So after an entertaining night of opera (I bet you never thought you’d hear me say that!), Megan and I strolled through Covent Garden towards St Martin’s Place and a very good Indian restaurant to while away the remainder of the night over dinner.
Wednesday being New Year’s Eve, and it was an early finish to the working day that saw me once again catching up with Vanessa and Nick. (cheers for the pic Nick!)
After a brief bit of trekking around Farringdon while Nick tried to remember where a certain pub was, we settled into a small pub that was nearby. After a tasty lunch, we settled into a game of cluedo - that’s right, cluedo. None of us had played it since we were kids, and it was amongst a pile of board games that the pub had for patron’s to use.
After that and a few more pints, we headed off to our respective New Year’s Eve do’s...
immediate family, it was still a family Xmas, and a far better one than last year. The day started slowly enough with a bit of a sleep-in after the late night Christmas eve ‘chat’ (on Skype) with the family back home. Kind of odd seeing them having Xmas morning while you’re about to go to bed yourself... Anyway, shortly after Mark and Jo arrived (whose wedding you may recall from last May), and before Eileen served up dinner (lunch) for us all, Steve, Mark and I enjoyed a quiet morning ale in one of the nearby pubs. It was then on to the full Xmas dinner, crackers, jokes n hats included. Ei had done a great job with a massive dinner that all five of us filled up on - there was plenty left over.From there, we ‘rolled’ into the lounge for presents and afternoon snoozes amongst what turns out to be a rather typical English Christmas evening by the fire with the BBC. This included the new Wallace & Gromit, as well as another Doctor Who special and a bit of Black Adder.
Boxing day was a quieter affair with Mark n Jo heading home during the morning before Steve, Ei and myself sat down to another traditional English meal - bubble n squeak, which effectively the leftovers of the day before. That afternoon saw Steve and I go for a walk around the countryside of Melton (left) before Ei joined us down the local pub for the evening.All up a great few days with my cousins before heading back to London.
Sunday saw an early start, to meet up with Gudge n Klinns from back home before we headed up to Birmingham and more specifically, The Hawthorns in West Bromwich Albion.
A car load of Spurs fans (that's Dave, Klinns, me n Gudge) and we had ourselves a merry little trip into the midlands for the West Brom versus Tottenham match. And it was bloody cold!! 0C for the day!!To escape the chaos of the traffic after the match, we ducked into what turned out to be “a proper old English boozer” as Gudge put it, that honestly hadn’t changed since about 1967. Being the only Spurs fans in there we kept a fairly low profile until we discovered a couple of Germans who were also Spurs fans. Fun and mayhem ensued before we had to leave the pub. A bit of a silliness in a nearby chicken shop and we were back on the road to London and home.
Monday came and so did Vanessa from Melbourne and a fun catch up with her, Nick n Kiersten in a small pub near Old Street. When that closed we headed back to their hotel bar to finish off the night in the wee hours.
Tuesday and it was time for something a bit different. I met Megan on my first trip to Ireland and she was over from the US visiting for the week. At her suggestion, we went to the opera to see Hansel & Gretel. The Opera is something I’ve never done before and I was pleasantly surprised. The Royal Opera House itself is quite magnificent and the seats, although not the roomiest, were still very plush.
The performance itself wasn’t as I’d expected either. Firstly it was in German, so I could understand some of what was sung. They did have subtitles neatly projected above the stage, however they weren’t all that brightly lit nor too easy for me to make out. The stage itself was very cleverly done, as was the lighting, which made from some interesting effects. I also didn’t realise that either opera, nor the tale of Hansel und Gretel had a good portion of humour to it - I certainly didn’t expect to see a Tesco’s shopping bag being used, nor did I expect to see a cooked witch brought back out of the oven at the end!
So after an entertaining night of opera (I bet you never thought you’d hear me say that!), Megan and I strolled through Covent Garden towards St Martin’s Place and a very good Indian restaurant to while away the remainder of the night over dinner.
Wednesday being New Year’s Eve, and it was an early finish to the working day that saw me once again catching up with Vanessa and Nick. (cheers for the pic Nick!)
After a brief bit of trekking around Farringdon while Nick tried to remember where a certain pub was, we settled into a small pub that was nearby. After a tasty lunch, we settled into a game of cluedo - that’s right, cluedo. None of us had played it since we were kids, and it was amongst a pile of board games that the pub had for patron’s to use.After that and a few more pints, we headed off to our respective New Year’s Eve do’s...
2 comments:
The fire looked great. The good old family xmas sounded wonderful.
As for bubble and squeak, those were the days when mum cooked it after a raost dinner the day before.
had some snow yet?
So, are you planning on becoming a regular to the opera. Do we need to keep our eyes out for ticket for some tickets when you come to sydney?
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