16th December
I had a day to get the Manor ship-shape before Spencer returned from the frozen north with Marcus and all his University kit. The weather was a bit of a worry as there was heavy snow forecast, but Spencer thoughtfully rang me from Meadowhall shopping centre at Sheffield to report on his progress.
I reminded him that we were still short of one present for the Northern branch of the Paulet-Halts, who we would be seeing on Sunday, and that it would be helpful if he could find time to pick up a pair of furry slipper boots size 6 from Next.
Spencer rang me later flushed with success, and I breathed a sigh of relief that all the Christmas present shopping was over for this year.
17th December
Spencer was tasked with wrapping all the presents and putting them under the tree, as he is rather good at it. He appeared a couple of minutes later, holding the furry boots looking rather red faced. To my dismay, not only had he purchased two right feet, he had also got one size 6 and one size 8. I almost beat him over the head with them.
18th December
I was up at the crack of dawn intending to beat the snow, to do my food shopping in Tesco and then to try and deal with the boots at Next. Unfortunately the snow came earlier than expected and I was faced with about 4 inches on my car when I finally emerged from Next with the correct furry boots.
I got home to find that the Basing Singer’s concert for this evening had been cancelled. Never mind, this would enable me to watch the Strictly final which I had been secretly disappointed about missing.
Meanwhile, Pablo the rescue cat had correctly identified his present from under the tree and had proceeded to unwrap it, shredding the paper all across the drawing room.
19th December
Visited the northern branch of the Paulet-Halt family in Luton to distribute the Christmas presents. The journey up and back was surprisingly good despite the snow.
20th December
Up again at the crack of dawn to get my turkey from Tesco. I had
already been tipped the wink from the Manager there that the turkeys would
be on the shelf by 7am and I was there too to get first pick.
Merry Christmas to one and all!