Gloomy weather

See, this is why I hate winter. Sure you get the occasional beautiful day where the bright sun shines down on the frosty buildings and the fog of your breath, but mostly it's like this. Grey and oppresive. So dark that you have to have the lights on all day. A touch of wind just to make cycling that little bit more unpleasant. There must have been a hibernating animal somewhere in my ancestry, I think. When it's like this I just want to curl up and go back to sleep all the time. I suppose huddling by a fire would do, but I can't light a fire in the fireplace at home. I just have to force myself out to work and then compensate myself by snuggling up with Alex in the evenings. Even spring is better. It may be just as full of wind and rain, but at least it's light.

Advent calendars

It's a shame that advent calendars have become all about the chocolate these days. When I was a kid we used to get really pretty picturebook style ones with little scenes behind the doors. I had one which was a townhouse and every door had a little mouse who lived there doing something Christmassy. I used to save my advent calender after Christmas, close all the doors and use it again next year, along side the new one. I got up to 6 or 7 before I stopped doing that. Most of the calendars you see today you wouldn't consider doing that with. They're tacky quick prints with cheap and nasty chocolate in them. There's little to no thought put into the design mostly - they're not pretty any more. Finally on Tuesday I managed to find a shop selling traditional no chocolate advent calendars, but even these are not the same. They're designed for grown-ups, not kids. Mine, up here on the wall of my office, has got a rather nice renaissance style painting of an angel on it and the pictures inside are similarly arty. I wonder what happended to those calendars I saved when I was little - maybe I should get them out again.

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Oh yeah, and tonight, Alex and I are going to see Alabama 3 play at the Zodiac. Doors at 7 if anyone else fancies it.