Festive visits

It's annoying that whenever life speeds up and I have lots and lots to write, my writing time shrinks.  In fact it's shrunk so completely I haven't blogged for a while, so must start catching up as quickly as possible because I'm off to Cambridge tomorrow and will be off-line again until the weekend at the earliest.

Company lunch today, plus massive work deadlines, plus my friends from SA who are doing the tourist thing in London are quite determined to visit me again tonight.  Could have been a bit of an imposition, but I'm so totally organized for Christmas this year it's pretty remarkable - ALL my presents are wrapped already, and everything I'm taking to Cambridge is in a neat pile ready to be stashed in an overnight bag at a moment's notice.

It seems I have a talent for entertaining children. I'm not all over them, not do I talk down to them, but for Ingrid's two I did plan to keep them entertained on their first visit chez moi - the little boy I plonked in front of my computer (He's a Mequest fiend), and the little girl helped me decorate my tree while I chatted to her parents.

I had an extravagant pile of pastries from Macaron awaiting them for tea. My inner domestic goddess's camp predilection for cake stands has been thwarted by a lack of storage space in the kitchen: however, said goddess was thrilled and inspired recently by a window display at Zeitgeist (I think) - one can make one's own cake stand out of plates and wineglasses.  Luckily I have comedy wine glassses (an unfortunate gift) which were just perfect as makeshift cake stand supports. Very effective, and the children loved it.

So much so that whenever they saw "Clapham Common" on tube maps afterwards they demanded their mother take them back to my flat. Even if was was working, which I most assuredly was.

So I wasn't really expecting to have to entertain again, but hey ho here we go.  I suppose one of the things children have to learn is that repeat gigs are never the same. Luckily Mequest is still there; Romy will have to make do with my Tintin collection.