I slept until eleven. This week has really taken it out of me. Even now, when I don’t actually feel tired, I feel weary. I did scrambled egg sandwiches for brunch, finished off the paper chains I was making yesterday evening and then headed into town with Paul. It was mid-afternoon by then, so quite dark and the lights on the high street made everything feel festive.

I bought paper and cards and a few more presents. Every time I go out I seem to remember someone else who needs buying for. I reckon I really am almost done time time. Just a couple more bits to get, so I’ll probably do them one lunchtime (or two) next week.

We came home by way of Tesco so I could buy what I needed to make dinner and had tea cakes for lunch. By now it was seven, so I guess it was more like tea, but with Trevor and Jon coming round for dinner when Trevor had finished his shift it seemed a bit silly to eat anything more.

We flopped around in front of the telly, watching Father Ted for longer than we should, and I had a hurried session of tidying things away into corners. I did this a bit too efficiently as in doing so I’ve lost all of the Christmas cards that I wrote yesterday and forgot to post. They’ll turn up somewhere and I’m hoping it’s before the last Christmas post. I’ll have to give Ursula hers personally as I’ve lost her address. She’s give it me four times now, the last time being on the back of the envelope of the card she sent me this week. Showing an uncharacteristic burst of efficiency I tidied the envelope into the bin without copying it down.

Fortunately Trevor and Jon were late arriving, so the cooking schedule worked out quite well. I did cheesy potato-topped chilli to keep out the winter. I think I even saw the first flakes of snow this afternoon.

It seemed to go down well, as did the mince tart that Jon had brought around for dessert, and before we knew it we had listened to the Leftfield album twice through and it was half two in the morning. No bangings on the floor or ceiling, so I guess we weren’t too loud.

We ploughed through the Gunness Book of Hit Singles for inspiration and jumped back and forth through the older elements of my CD collection until they went home and I closed the kitchen door on a pile of washing up that can wait until tomorrow morning.

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