A Post-Christmas Christmas Post

The snow outside is bidding a hasty retreat, much like Christmas 2010. It was fun while it lasted, but now it's gone and we have new things to look forward to. Hopefully, unlike the big thaw being experienced here, the post-Christmas period won't be as destructive. Apparently the rapid change in temperature created massive numbers of burst pipes and large swaths of Northern Ireland have been without water for the past week.

I was about to say that our Christmas was quiet, but it surely didn't start out that way. We went to our good friends, Erin and Todd, for a Christmas Eve fondue. Cheese, oil, broth and chocolate - the works. It was delicious and really good fun. The lively discussions over the fondue pots quickly subsided as our bellies filled and I was kind of glad we had the walk home to wake us up a little.

Christmas morning was what Christmas morning should be - breakfast and presents. Santa treated us both quite well. My themes were books (a couple more Churchills and the last book in Edmund Morris's brilliant Theodore Roosevelt biography) and puzzles, with some colorful socks thrown in. I also received a digital camcorder, so expect to see some more videos up on the blog in 2011. Fiona also had some books and several Wii and DS games, including the latest Professor Layton. Santa apparently also stopped by Tiffany, having heard that Fiona had been extra good this year. The rest of Christmas day was quite relaxed, a nap followed by fun in the kitchen preparing perhaps our best turkey ever. That poor bird put up a good fight, shedding perhaps only a couple of her 12 pounds on Christmas day, but has now been incorporated into a delicious turkey and leek pie.

Boxing Day and the next two days were spent enjoying the time together. Games were played. Darts were watched (Barney, Simon Whitlock and Phil (of course) are all looking good). Cricket was followed (England retain the Ashes). We contemplated the necessity of new car and balanced it against a possible warm weather February vacation. We paid our Christmas bills. All is well.

We hope you had a great holiday season as well.

White Christmas

We're looking out the window now at another 1-2 feet of snow, and judging by the forecasts it will probably all stay right through to Christmas. It's wreaking havoc on those who have to travel. Several of my colleagues are having their Christmas plans seriously altered by the inability to keep airports open, and Fiona has many friends that are worried about family and friends making it into Aberdeen for the holidays. As we're staying put until at least New Year's Eve, it doesn't bother us too much, but it is tough not to feel for everyone else.

The only real effect on us has been to delay the arrival of Christmas presents bought over the internet, as delivery companies are now refusing to deliver into Scotland. Fortunately almost everything has arrived, including our Christmas present to ourselves (a new MacBook Air) and a certain little turquoise box that has Fiona quite intrigued. So we'll just tough out the weather working on our Christmas puzzles, drinking mulled cider or hot chocolates, listening to Christmas tunes and watching the odd movie on TV. We watched 'White Christmas' this morning, with Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney. It was a quite good and certainly puts you in the festive spirit. We're looking forward to a few more Christmas Classics - new and old - over the coming weeks.

We're also getting our daily dose of darts watching the World Championships, which take place from this week through to New Years. All the old favorites are doing well, including last year's runner-up, Simon Whitlock. Yesterday was quite a rousing session, as the English fans we're in a party mood, looking to drink away the awful cricket results from earlier in the day (the Ashes against Australia is all tied up 1.5-1.5 after three tests). Things really caught fire when a qualifier from Japan called Hashimoto won a match to get into the main draw. The crowd really got behind him, chanting his name and singing multiple rounds of "Stand up if you like the Japanese". Unfortunately he was on the receiving end of thorough drubbing from the Flying Scotsman, Gary Anderson, who looks in fine form for a long run in the tournament. Phil Taylor did not look sharp in his opening match, so maybe there is a chance that someone else will get to win this year?

We're also reading a lot of movie reviewer's Top Ten lists for the year, of which we have seen almost none. We really have to get out to the arthouse cinema a little more, althouh a lot of the titles seemed incredibly depressing. Anyway, in honor of those lists, I thought I would post my own, but with a twist. Here's my Top Ten list of movies I've seen this year - not necessarily made or released in 2010, but seen by me during that time. In no particular order:

1. Inception. I know it has its haters, and I can see some of their objections, but to me it was still original and cool.
2. Kenny. I think we've recommended this movie to everyone we know. It may seem like one giant poop joke, but if you're not rooting for Kenny by the end of the movie, you're not human.
3. Push. A cool little sci-fi movie with an interesting cast of characters which never takes itself too seriously. Plus, drunken Dakota Fanning is hilarious.
4. To Catch a Thief. Fiona will claim this makes the list purely for the Grace Kelly element. Wrong. Great movie with fabulous dialogue. They do not make them like this anymore.
5. High Society. Do two Grace Kelly entries prove Fiona's point? Maybe?
6. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Best animated movie ever.
7. Despicable Me. Possibly a close second.
8. Kick-Ass. Take it with a grain of salt. Very funny, but darkly so, with great action scenes.
9. Bottle Shock. Interesting little character movie about wine making in California. Can't go wrong with Alan Rickman.
10. 500 Days of Summer. Clever. Likable characters.

Anyway, let the mocking of my cinematic tastes, or lack thereof, begin.

Natural History, Quaglinos and a WInter Wonderland

We managed to make it through the snow-pocalypse last week. As the people in the central belt of Scotland suffered under 2-3 feet of snow and temperatures down to -15 C, we Aberdonians took our lumps as well. The city slowed down, traffic got worse, the shops and petrol stations started to run out of stock, but life just kept on going. It was a little easier for us because we had an interesting weekend to look forward to.

Friday was the staff Christmas party, so the boss and the boss's wife got all fancied up and walked down to a nice restaurant for dinner and drinks. Although we somehow got stuck on the end of the table (again), I work with such a good group of people that it didn't really matter. Fiona won the first prize in the raffle and the skirlie on the turkey platter was only mostly inedible. I even got in a great Cuban cigar on the way home, and once we got there I got to Skype with my sister and my niece, whom I haven't spoken to for way too long.

Saturday morning we slept in a bit, packed a suitcase and headed off to the airport. After a slight delay due to a malfunctioning radar instrument, we were off to London. We hit the ground there, jumped in a cab to our Kensington hotel (2 thumbs up to the Crowne Plaza on Cromwell Road for upgrading us to a two storey suite with a monster bed!) and did a quick change so we could hop another cab to Quaglino's for dinner.

We really like Quaglino's. Fiona took me there earlier in the year for my birthday and it was grand. You pay a little more, but you get to sit amongst the fabulous people and pretend you are important. Fiona was, of course, looking the part and I tried my best as well, but looked quite tame surrounded by guys in grey suits with lime green shirt-tie combos. When our heads hit the pillows that night we were thoroughly exhausted.

Sunday morning saw us walking down the street to try and beat the queues at the Natural History Museum. We'd tried before but had always been put off by the lines snaking down the street. It wasn't too bad this time. Actually the line outside was just long enough to let you take in the grandeur of the building. And it continued inside. There were many times where we thought the building itself outshone the exhibits inside. Everywhere you looked were intricate carvings of snakes, birds, monkeys and other fauna.

There were several cool exhibits, including the geological ones, the dinosaurs (of course) and the thousands of stuffed birds. The highlight for us was a temporary exhibit entitled "Wildlife Photographer of the Year". It was absolutely amazing. I think it inspired Fiona to get behind the camera a little more. Hopefully next year we'll be getting free tickets as she goes back to accept first prize.

We then trekked further into the city by Tube to visit the London branch of our favorite Tex-Mex restaurant, Chipotle. While not completely the same as in the States, we enjoyed every bite. It was well worth the trip.

After a brief nap at the hotel we hopped in the Tube again to go see the Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square. It was not quite as awe inspiring as we had hoped, but Fiona got some good shots. There was one view from the steps where you could see the square, with the tree, the planet Jupiter shining brightly just over Nelson's shoulder on top of the column and down the street, past the large double decker bus, Big Ben shining through the darkness.

Back on the Tube - next stop Hyde Park, where a Winter Wonderland was in progress. We walked past the stalls with all sorts of Christmas crafts, mulled wine and pretzels, had some sub-par poffertjes and enjoyed the Christmas music and lights. When we hit the carnival, with the haunted house where they had simply put Santa costumes on all the zombies, we turned around and headed back to the hotel.

On Monday I had a course at the office in Crawley and Fiona spent the day with a friend touring the National Portrait Gallery and surroundings. She had to stop and flirt with Winston.

We were looking forward to sleeping in our own beds when we got home, so were sorely disappointed when we opened the door to find the internal alarm blaring away. Our codes didn't work and the alarm company wasn't answering any calls, so I hauled out my tool kit, cracked open the alarm and loosened the right wires to get it to stop. I fell asleep quite proud of myself. It was probably the height of handyman skills. I hope I didn't peak too soon.