England!!

Merry Christmas from England!

Well, Merry almost Christmas from England, in any case.

I'm sorry I haven't blogged - at my Uncle's house there is absolutely no cell phone service (not that I'd blog from my phone, Mom!) and there is no wifi service with which I could blog late at night, as I usually do... and during the day I would rather be spending time with my family.

I've just played a series of board games with my little cousin Alistair, who beat me at four out of the five games! And last night, when we played Phase 10, I was stuck on phase 1 for a good four or five rounds. I am beginning to suspect that a great deal of cheating goes on here, as well as in America. It seems that we at least have that much in common! (Duncan won Phase 10 last night, although Jacqueline always gives him a run for his money.)

So far, the weather has stayed rather consistently cold, with temperatures ranging from 25-35 degrees (fahrenheit) and snow through Monday night, though last night it rained a great deal and temperatures for tomorrow and Boxing Day are a little bit warmer (7-9 degrees Celsius, according to the TV.) It's been a lot of tun to play around in the snow (or, at least, watch it fall from my "warm" spot inside.) I've pretty much given up all hope of ever feeling my toes again until I depart England, but for the most part, I'm okay with that.

My Uncle cooks delicious meals every night around 8:30 or 9pm, which is quite late to a college student who is used to feeding herself whenever she is hungry. We've had lamb, pheasant, ham... I may never leave! We tend to sit around the table and talk until eleven or so at night. There is always good conversation, good wine, and a good deal of laughter here.

The first few days I was here, I did a lot of reading (as well as knitting - finishing up those damned socks I started for Tom in June) and hanging around the room off of the kitchen that has a furnace thingy in it. Grandad always keeps it lit and it just throws off massive amounts of heat when it's going.

Last Saturday, I took the train to North Harrow to visit my friend Siobhan. To summarize (and do no justice to) my visit with her, we spent a lot of time in cafes talking about writing. She persuaded me to begin writing a story which I've had sitting in the back of my brain for a good few months now, and I hope that I write it as well as it seems to be in my brain. We went to the pub on Sunday and Tuesday night and I enjoyed my legal-ness with perhaps a few too many drinks, and I met a lot of her friends. I loved staying with her and miss her already!

Tomorrow is Christmas, and my uncle Neil has already started the preparations. He says he doesn't want to spend all tomorrow cooking! I agree with him - I wouldn't either. Jacqueline and Alistair are just beside themselves waiting for it to be Christmas (perhaps because they might have sneaked a peek at a certain present they're getting from their parents. But ssshhh. Don't say I said anything.) and Duncan and I have (reluctantly) given them permission to wake us up in the morning. We've defaulting to our Mother's rule: The first number on the clock must read 8. I expect that they'll come bounding in at about 8:00:01.

Well, I believe that's all for now! I hope you all have a very merry (or, happy, since I'm in England) Christmas and if I don't blog before then, a very happy New Year!