Of 2006 that is! On Boxing Day, Raji and Billy in Raji’s car, and myself and the children in mine, headed down the M6 to see my mum. We opened presents and ate mum’s gorgeous home made mince pies and sausage rolls, and then the two men went off to Bolton to watch Newcastle’s match. [...]

Christmas Eve was a very relaxing one for me – once I’d chivvied the men to do what they had to do! Billy and Raji took Raji’s car to Kwik-Fit, and then they went Christmas shopping! Yes – Raji had arrived having bought none of his presents so joined the ranks of other traditional males [...]

Saturday was one of those days! I’d forgotten to take the turkey out of the freezer on Friday morning, and only did it Friday night – so I spent Saturday morning worrying that the thing wouldn’t be thawed in time to cook on Christmas Eve – and I was trying to part the giblets and [...]

After a crazy day at work yesterday, today was relatively quiet and I caught up. I think people must think I am an alcoholic as I received two very nice bottles of wine for Christmas from colleagues – one red, one white, so a nice balance. I confess, I do like wine but since I [...]

Wednesday saw Cinders continuing to scrub and clean – mainly the hall/stairs carpet this time. This was so thick with building dust and rubble/wood splinters as well as screws, nails, bits of wire, that the hoover didn’t stand a chance. Instead, I had to pick up the large bits and then use a sponge and [...]

Cinders has been to the ball(s) and for the last two days, has been firmly back in the throes of cleaning, cooking, washing, tidying, shopping, and handyman-ing. Obviously I had the weekend chores to catch up with – though Billy has done some of the ironing for me. The rest is in his den and [...]

After a quick change into my football clothes, Claire and I set off for the match at 10am. Claire, like me, is a southerner who moved here for love of a Geordie (Simon) and lives next door – she also happens to be a Spurs fan. Unfortunately for her, she had to sit next to [...]

Billy was working on Saturday morning, so I tried to get as much done in the house as possible before my busy weekend away from home. I knew what clothes I was taking to wear at Billy’s Christmas party, but didn’t know what else, so I just threw anything and everything I thought I MIGHT [...]

Last night we played in a darts cup game, away to the Rose & Crown, Slayley – and were completely trounced – 6-0! To add insult to injury, this was in a record time, so we decided we’d play out the remaining 5 games anyway, which everyone enjoyed – we didn’t even win any of [...]

Yesterday was our second wedding anniversary – traditionally “cotton”. It’s strange this “only” being our second, having been living together for 3 years, a couple for 4, and before that, friends for 2 years. My present to Billy was a t-shirt, which has a Newcastle (F.C) flag on the left breast, with the caption “My [...]