Archive for 2010
Star-Struck
December 17th, 2010
Sometimes in life there are these sublime moments of slippage, when time loosens its vice-tight grip on things and you enter a dizzied state of hyper-awareness. That’s the best way I can think to describe last night, as Husband and I attended a Christmas party at the White House. As we entered, we were told “8.30, on the ground floor.” For what? I whispered to Husband. For our photo with the President, he said.
It’s a Wrap!
December 16th, 2010
Present wrapping has always been a particular forte of mine… To the point that, when we were young, my brothers and sister would form an orderly line outside my door at Christmas time, waiting patiently for me to paper and package their gifts. On a good day, I didn’t charge them.
Signed, Sealed, Delivered
December 15th, 2010
I suppose some little boys and girls will be scratching out earnest epistles to Santa as I speak. Maybe something along the lines of: “I’ve been ever so good this year, helping Mummy with the baby and hardly hitting brother at all. Please can I have these things I have written and I promise to be good for all of next year: a pony, a dolls house, a box of colouring crayons and a bike.”
Feeling Fine
December 14th, 2010
It’s that time of year when sniffles and sneezes and snorts and wheezes are all around as people succumb to seasonal coughs and colds and so on. If the passenger on the bus beside you isn’t honking into a hankie, then your colleague at work will be chugging hot tea with honey for their throat. And it’s a big job, battling to keep at bay all those bugs and bacteria being airborne as everyone is eventually felled by a fat bout of flu.
Easy on the Eyes
December 13th, 2010
Let’s get this straight. On most days and in most ways, it was better being the older sister. I got to stay up later earlier, had a hamster before she did and got my ears pierced years ahead. But in the midst of all my primogenito gloating there was one thing my sister had over me: Saint Lucy. And purely because her feast day on December 13th excluded my participation, it always seemed like the most magical and mystical day of the year.
Snowed In
December 12th, 2010
So Good, Go See
December 11th, 2010
Husband and I recently riveted ourselves with The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest. This third installment in the series based on the posthumously-published Millennium Trilogy by Swedish author Stieg Larsson is the best yet. Lisbeth Salander (tattooed computer hacker) is recovering in hospital and awaiting trial for three murders when she is released. Mikael Blomkvist, the journalist and publisher of Millennium magazine who has been her constant if distant ally wants to prove her innocence, but Lisbeth must be willing to share the details of her sordid experiences with the court.
