Christmas In Scotland

I'm back in Wales after spending Christmas Eve - Christmas Sunday (my new for it name as today is still a Christmas Bank Holiday) in Scotland. As my twitter followers will know I used the hashtag christmasinscotland while I was there to highlight some of the experiences that were unique to being in Scotland - or perhaps just unique to me not spending Christmas with my parents. It wasn't really that different to be honest - the biggest thing was the food. Because we went to hubs's brother's for dinner at his parents there were no leftovers to pick at and no jars of pickled onions for me to devour. Also there was a lack of parlour games. I did eventually convince husb to play charades with me once but at my parents we are always playing ridiculous games (I have a reputation for "throwing the board up in the air" when I don't win as I did this once when I was about 6. No one has ever let me forget it. Even though there were no games going on in Scotland I still had a lovely Christmas and now am looking forward to new year in Wales. I may do a hashtag for that. We'll see.

Driving Home for Christmas

In the last 3 days husb and I have driven from London to Llanelli then from Llanelli to Troon. It feels like we've been in the car for days. It was a 6 hour trek to Wales as both the Severn Bridge and the Second Severn Crossing where closed because of falling ice. We had to go via Gloucester and the Heads of the Valleys road. The countryside scenery was beautiful as it was snowy and icy but I couldn't take any pics as we were moving too fast. Then last night we drove from Llanelli up to Troon where we'll stay until Sunday. We left Llanelli at half five yesterday and arrived in an icy Troon at about quarter to two this morning. This journey was like a dream compared to the one from London to Wales. We'd been expecting a nightmare journey but the roads were clearThe car was showing the temperatures got as low as -14c. It was odd driving with the piles of snow next to the motorway but as we were on the M roads for most of the journey the gritters had done a fantastic job. I really would like to be able to thank those who have kept the roads clear. The news is saying that conditions are awful but I think we were really lucky with our journey north. I also got a mention on radio 2 which I was really pleased with. I hope our journey back is as good.

Home Made

Last week Husb told me that his work were going to have a "bake off" at work. He was going to make some shortbread and asked if I could make some Welsh Cakes. So I agreed and bought the ingredients. Now I'm not really what you might call a regular baker (about twice a decade sounds about right) however I really enjoyed making the Welsh Cakes. It did remind me of making them with my mother when I was little and I was really quite pleased that I was actually able to do it without having to phone her for help. So in a fit of "home made baking is ace" and after watching Kirstie's Homemade Christmas I have decided to try and make some more stuff. Going with the Christmas theme I am going to try mince pies and chutney (both using recipes I got from KHMC). I will post a picture of the results. By blogging this I've GOT to do it now. I'm quite capable of buying all the stuff and then not doing anything so I hope this will spur me on.

The Wave

I went on The Wave march for climate justice on Saturday. We walked from Grosvenor Sq to The Houses of Parliament. The march was a lot of fun but it seemed really long. There were people carrying a sound system in a wheelbarrow (which was just mental if you ask me!) but that kept us all entertained as we walked along. I haven't been on a protest march before and wasn't really sure what to expect I had been a bit concerned about the crowds of people and if there would be a crush. It was fun though and seeing as everyone was there for the same reason there was nothing scary about it at all. It was good to be part of something that will raise awareness for this important issue. It is the poorest in the world who are already being affected by climate change and we must act now to stop it.

Hotel Room #473289

I'm not the most prolific business traveller but I seem to be finding myself in a hotel room at least once a week at the moment. The hotel I'm in tonight is a little - well how to put this nicely - it's a little 80s. There is a diamond pattern on the wall paper. The curtains are a random terracotta pattern with MATCHING PELMET. The carpet has a weird diagonal stripe and the telly doesn't work. Thank goodness for my netbook and the 3g usb stick.