Merry Christmas all
Let's see, Friday was out dancing till 5am or so with the lovely ladies of P, A & M down in the Viaduct. We had quite an audience and left a room of very frustrated men but we were frightfully good and all went home to our own beds alone, apart from Anna who was duly delivered safely back to Benn once we found a taxi. We took good care of her and promise to take her out on a regular basis [and duly deliver her home at some point the next day] :P
Saturday we went up to Bethell's Lake [and Conan's back in town! *huggles*] and damn but that place is beautiful. We walked the long way up the river, beautifully warm, and came home over the dunes. It's indescribably beautiful and looking around at the largely untouched surrounds it's hard not to think of NZ Literature [S. II] and think of the novels written in the nineteenth century and what these women saw when they arrived here. Beauty, silence apart from the cries of birds, and untamed trees far from the streets and grimy bustle of London. It must have been exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. The water was freezing to touch but I finally threw back my glass of wine and made a vague attempt to pull Bob in [who, in my defence, was getting ready to leap anyway] and of course missed and managed an ungainly tumble into the freezing water by myself. *g* Bob and Sridat joined in shortly after and Anna was right, I'd have been a fool not to have jumped in because it was gorgeous as long as you could manage to stay warm! [and upwind of Sridat who managed to cunningly position himself against splashing water every time].
Christmas was spent pleasantly with the family, ignoring the diet in favour of chocolate truffles, lounging around with, appropriately, Terry Pratchett's Hogfather and doing family things like teaching Nana how to play Tantrix - which I can't be bothered explaining but it involves tiles, colours and making sure all the intersecting lines match. We've stopped doing Christmas presents now until grandkids show up (don't worry Dad, you've got a couple of years yet) but each year Mum secretly buys a whole bunch of small gifts and there's a sort of Lucky Dip followed by swapping and sharing etc... I think the best thing though was the bubble mix and blowers. We went out and the sun and Mum and I, and then Dad, and Nana watching blew bubbles into the sun with the the light wind carrying them up over the houses into endless blue sky, and through the garden like iridiscent flowers or an attempt by a society grown cynical to bring back the wonder of the fairies
[except of course that in the old myths the fairies were both beautiful and desirable, fearful and dangerous; harbringers of knowledge, of change and of death as they symbolized barriers and taboos that could only be spoken of as subtle subtexts that were justified by signifying them through stories of the fair folk and the goodly neighbours - just as the Greek Furies were renamed the Kindly Ones lest their wrathful eye should turn upon the speaker and he should be judged...]
We've only a small family and it was nice for a change to have the table so laden with food that you actually have to pass food to one another, with the family silver gleaming and wedding china laid out upon the freshly washed cloth.
Boxing Day was spent with friends, most pleasantly, and I think Anna and I polished off a bottle and a half of wine each :) Bless you Benn for agreeing to be the driver! I ended watching The Princess Bride with Paul and Bob and being duly hassled for knowing most of the lines by heart. It is one of the truly classic films and all the better for remembering all the times I've watched it with a bunch of hardcore medieval swordfighters sighing contentedly over the footwork, cheering on the heroes and not at all put out by the soppy parts.
Saturday we went up to Bethell's Lake [and Conan's back in town! *huggles*] and damn but that place is beautiful. We walked the long way up the river, beautifully warm, and came home over the dunes. It's indescribably beautiful and looking around at the largely untouched surrounds it's hard not to think of NZ Literature [S. II] and think of the novels written in the nineteenth century and what these women saw when they arrived here. Beauty, silence apart from the cries of birds, and untamed trees far from the streets and grimy bustle of London. It must have been exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. The water was freezing to touch but I finally threw back my glass of wine and made a vague attempt to pull Bob in [who, in my defence, was getting ready to leap anyway] and of course missed and managed an ungainly tumble into the freezing water by myself. *g* Bob and Sridat joined in shortly after and Anna was right, I'd have been a fool not to have jumped in because it was gorgeous as long as you could manage to stay warm! [and upwind of Sridat who managed to cunningly position himself against splashing water every time].
Christmas was spent pleasantly with the family, ignoring the diet in favour of chocolate truffles, lounging around with, appropriately, Terry Pratchett's Hogfather and doing family things like teaching Nana how to play Tantrix - which I can't be bothered explaining but it involves tiles, colours and making sure all the intersecting lines match. We've stopped doing Christmas presents now until grandkids show up (don't worry Dad, you've got a couple of years yet) but each year Mum secretly buys a whole bunch of small gifts and there's a sort of Lucky Dip followed by swapping and sharing etc... I think the best thing though was the bubble mix and blowers. We went out and the sun and Mum and I, and then Dad, and Nana watching blew bubbles into the sun with the the light wind carrying them up over the houses into endless blue sky, and through the garden like iridiscent flowers or an attempt by a society grown cynical to bring back the wonder of the fairies
[except of course that in the old myths the fairies were both beautiful and desirable, fearful and dangerous; harbringers of knowledge, of change and of death as they symbolized barriers and taboos that could only be spoken of as subtle subtexts that were justified by signifying them through stories of the fair folk and the goodly neighbours - just as the Greek Furies were renamed the Kindly Ones lest their wrathful eye should turn upon the speaker and he should be judged...]
We've only a small family and it was nice for a change to have the table so laden with food that you actually have to pass food to one another, with the family silver gleaming and wedding china laid out upon the freshly washed cloth.
Boxing Day was spent with friends, most pleasantly, and I think Anna and I polished off a bottle and a half of wine each :) Bless you Benn for agreeing to be the driver! I ended watching The Princess Bride with Paul and Bob and being duly hassled for knowing most of the lines by heart. It is one of the truly classic films and all the better for remembering all the times I've watched it with a bunch of hardcore medieval swordfighters sighing contentedly over the footwork, cheering on the heroes and not at all put out by the soppy parts.
posted by Nixie! at 9:18 pm
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