The Trivial Round, The Common Task - the British thread 2026
Nenya
All Saints Host, Ecclesiantics & MW Host
in All Saints
Happy New Year and welcome to anyone who would like to stop by for a chat.
What we're doing with our day, what we're having for tea - bring it on!
What we're doing with our day, what we're having for tea - bring it on!
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The sky has now got to the early on the first day of creation stage, with the (faintly) light separating from the darkness.
My calendar is also German, a freebie from Edeka - a supermarket 🙂
At just after 10 am, I am the first member of the household awake. The party at my in-laws' church was a very enjoyable affair, with FOOD, various games and a bit of spiritual content before midnight, because it is a church after all.
No booze at the party, so Champagne for apéritif at lunchtime. We are starting the year like Asterix the Gaul, with roasted wild boar (not a whole one
I’m off shortly to say Happy 21 st Birthday to my granddaughter.
I was also the only person awake in the house until 20 minutes ago, with Mochi on my knee, but I am always the first up anyway.
We plan on going for a nice long walk after lunch.
I had possibly the latest Hogmanay I've ever had; I fell into bed (well actually onto the sofa - it was a very full house) at about 5:30 am. A good time was had by all though: we "took in" the new year with the littlies at about 8:30 and then they went to bed, and we continued carousing ... 🍾🍾🍾
Woke at about 10:30 with far less of a hangover than I deserve, and was provided with scrambled eggs, smoked salmon and TOAST for breakfast. If there's a shower available, I ought to go and get dressed.
Sometimes I have trouble finding a calendar that I like, so I got in early this year with a Beautiful Britain calendar from the Red Cross shop.
Then I saw a calendar by the artist Jackie Morris in a local shop, and I love Jackie Morris's work (lots of fantastical animals and birds - January is a woman sleeping between the paws of a giant polar bear), so I had to have that. Then I saw that one of my favourite Good Omens fan artists, Andrea C White, had made a calendar, mostly featuring Aziraphale and Crowley, so I had to have that....
That sounds like an excellent Hogmanay @Piglet. Ours was very nice too with games and good food and into bed by 12.30.
Son has now headed off back home. His assistant from work phoned on Christmas Day morning to say they had a problem with water where it shouldn't be. It was touch and go as to whether he needed to go and sort it out, which would have meant driving him down to North London. A solution was found, but I suspect he'll call in this afternoon to check if the problem has been properly resolved ahead of the factory opening up tomorrow.
Husband and I are now catching up with yourselves. I've just done a load of ironing and he's cleaned out the log-burner. We don't use it often, but it was very nice gathering round it last night.
I feel quite exhausted, and slightly excluded, not that I want to go to Spain in February or Sydney in August or skiing next January! But I must get some plans in place, though they have to fit in round my singing commitments, which can be a bit tricky.
A few more quiet days until it all starts up again next Monday, with 7 rehearsals, one concert and one Evensong in the fortnight ahead.
Meanwhile I have a 1000 piece circular jigsaw to get to grips with. My To Do list will get sidelined.
This morning we've been out for coffee with friends and have some other friends coming over to a meal this evening, so I will shortly be taking up my Domestic Goddess Role in the kitchen.
We are planning to move house this year and I'm expecting everything to start kicking off on Monday when the solicitors come back from their Christmas break. Mr Nen cheerfully informed me this morning that for the next three months our feet are not going to touch the ground so that's something to look forward to
I saw the year in with cb, eldest grandson, granddaughter and her beau. We played 2 board games, Richard Osman’s House of Games and Race Across the World, both of which cb won.
Daughter Erin visited this morning with her husband and youngest grandson, who was our first footer. He is dark haired but was without a lump of coal.
Tea was red Thai pheasant curry (made with leftover meat from yesterday) and sticky rice.
I quite enjoy litter picking @Sandemaniac, but perhaps not so much if I was regularly tidying up outside my own front door.
I had a nice catch up with my friend on Zoom this afternoon and we made a date to meet in real life at the end of the month. She's considering moving here, so that might involve mooching round a few properties, something I always enjoy.
I, having donned my Domestic Goddess Hat, produced what I have to say was a stonkingly good meal for our friends - salmon and roast veg with parsley sauce with Cranachan for dessert and the Cranachan worked very well.
Being now Officially Worn Out I am heading for bed and book.
@Nenya, that sounds brave. I wouldn't want to move anywhere that wasn't within walking distance of shops, GPs etc, not to mention public transport. That's probably because I was brought up in a flat on the Kilburn High Road and am used to having everything I need close to hand.
I managed to bag a last minute place at the very over-subscribed Pilates class this morning so am feeling very virtuous. The 30+ minute walk there and back was very nice. The sun is out so everywhere looked pretty. The downside was that it is also a tad chilly. My fingers have just about thawed out.
Cold but sunny here. I have been for a walk and put the weekly shopping delivery away and I am now having a cup of tea whilst summoning up the courage to mark a couple of essays. I am officially on holiday still but I work flexibly so I may as well get some out of the way before the deluge on Monday.
The new circular jigsaw is challenging. It is too big for my board, so I am doing it on the dining table itself. That’s ok as long as it does not take forever.
@Nenya, I agree that yours is a brave move. I live on a bus route with a frequent service, I can walk into town for GP, pharmacy, library, postoffice, handicentre or to the station. I have easy access by car to major routes. I wouldn’t want it otherwise. I hope the prep for the move is going well and that Mr Nen does not take all his junk car parts with you.
After several days of feeling a bit flaky, and doing nothing much except Sitting By The Fire (and eating CHEESE), I made the effort to get to Tess Coe an hour or so ago. Traffic was heavy, because Friday, but the store wasn't overly busy, and I found everything I wanted. I was amused to see that today's post-Yule 'reduced price' shelves were full of pots of Custard - again, possibly the result of over-ordering, or a sudden lack of enthusiasm on the part of the Public.
Sn*w is forecast as a possibility, but hopefully Arkland will escape the worst. If we do get a heavy fall, it'll keep me on board for the duration, but my kind Neighbours will no doubt rally round to supply me with Coal Bags, and maybe even do some Shopp Ing for me.
My husband chose our home too - I'd had a bad accident and it was really difficult to leave our house, so I did visit but rather far into the process. He chose the car as well (while I was in hospital), but I suspect that’s more usual. We've been living here for a bit over 3 years and love it!
I got home yesterday about 4:30 and it was cold but dry. A couple of hours later I decided to get a takeaway from the Bamboo Inn, and when I came out it was lightly snowing, and jolly cold. 🥶
When I woke today (very late) there was that different quality to the light, even without opening the blinds, that goes with snow. I don't think there has been much more (and it's really no more than a dusting), but it's still there. I've had a very lazy day, and am starting to contemplate the small lamb joint I bought the other day and its preparation for supper.
Good excuse for a nice glass of Malbec, don't you think? 🍷
I think in this context 'IOW' is 'in other words'. Still stumped by S&Q!
Marking has been achieved and I am feeling virtuous.
Tea has been a Breton stew using the haddock and huge king prawns that arrived with the weekly shop. This was followed by a rather custardy vanilla tear and share brioche. I am now having a lovely new Japanese gin with tonic.
Quite correct!
We went into the city for shopping - why was our 3-year old grand-daughter sick on the bus literally 2 minutes before we were due to get off?
(Captain Pyjamas also is a champion of travel related vomititis.)
These days she uses industrial strength travel pills.
Obligatory Latin master's joke:
Caesar adsum iam forte.
Brutus aderat.
Caesar sic in omnibus.
Brutus inisat.
(For those who don't know it sound it out loud.)
Driving back in the morning light, the moon was still visible, huge and low above the horizon.
It's a glorious - but cold - winter's day.
We've just been out into town to get a few bits and pieces and have a mooch, including a catch up with a friend in his art gallery/shop. The rest of the day I don't intend to do much.
All Christmas decorations are away and cards made into gift tags for next year.
Looking forward to tomorrow at the Tobacco Factory in Bristol - Rapunzel. No, it's not a pantomime (I hate them!) it's adapted for the sensitive - particularly to suit the needs of those with an autism spectrum condition, or sensory difference. 🙂
Glad I went over to my late Mum's flat yesterday to put the heating on low. (For sale, lovely place, nice neighbours, over-55s*, hustle hustle). Have put some water out for the birds but otherwise not going anywhere - especially since we have our second lurgy since mid-December and wish neither to overdo it nor pass it on.
*I now fall into that bracket, didn't when she died.
We abandoned the idea of choir practice as there were only going to be two of us, so we went for coffee instead, and had a nice chinwag.
It's bright but very cold here; I don't think I'm going very far the rest of the day, although I might summon up the energy to do a bit of housework (famous last words).
The Sun-Shine tempted me out into the wheelhouse for Sitting & Quaffing, but Night is now drawing nigh, so it's back to the galley/saloon.
STEAK n'CHIPS for a late lunch/early supper, I think.
Part of the reason for moving is to give Mr Nen more space for his classic car and Scalextric hobbies, so I am not anticipating a great deal of decluttering in those departments. I am, however, a bit stunned at how big those departments have become without my noticing
In Other News, I've had a good long catch up over coffee with my friend and am now thinking about stir fry for tea, because Saturday.
I think Sitting & Quaffing (aka S&Q) could become a regular term on this thread
I think that, in @Piglet language, it can be rendered 'Sittage & Quaffage'.
(*) Pratchett, T. Wyrd Sisters