Bumper three months of wanderings in this post, closely followed today by a couple of retrospectives... as always, I'm not very consistent with my blog. I'm going to partly blame the puzzle I'm currently stuck trying to complete - as I would usually have spent more of this Crimbo Limbo time writing blog posts!
Here are the last three months of this year, and this decade.
October
Short work trip back to Albania. I was not ill this time, and was staying in a much better hotel. The weather was amazing - very unusual for the time of year.
I posted a montage of all of the electricity boxes on facebook, but Scrooge McDuck here is my favourite. I'm assuming that the artwork on these is officially organised since all of the electricity boxes in the city are decorated with this kind of street art, rather than tagging or hastily scribbled grafitti. It's quite cool, and interesting to wander around to see all the different designs.
Victor and I explored Wandsworth a little more and found Wandsworth Park. We played a round of crazy golf, and enjoyed a walk around the small, riverside park before heading back home. Nice to find more nice places on your doorstep.
Chevening orientation came round again. Scholars that I'd interviewed didn't remember me, and the journey home was a lot more epic than last year! Victor and I ordered our first five guys take away in the evening which was very much appreciated!
I made an attempt at Rosół, Polish chicken soup as a cure for Victor's cold. Needs improvement!
I took Victor for Moules Frites for his birthday. Not the best version, and certain not the nicest restaurant ambience. This next time we have this dish it should be in Belgium!
November
Work trip back in Moldova. Lovely weather once again and a really interesting conference topic. This trip also included a visit to Milestii Mici Winery - holder of the Guinness world record for largest wine cellar (by number of bottles). My suitcase was bursting on the way back!
Becoming a pro at blood doning - in and out of the chair in around 8 minutes!
Christmas wreath making with Mary. We were disappointed that this was a fake wreath as we had both thought it would be with real foliage. Nevertheless it was fun to make, and I was pretty pleased with how mine turned out.
Started Christmas at the end of November with my Christmas pudding on stir-up Sunday and local Christmas markets with mum!
December
Our Christmas tree was delivered on the 1st December. Our bumper Christmas bauble haul was put to good use. The tree is just about still going strong!
Work Christmas party kicked off December. It took a while to organise but was a fantastic success. The cheese table the shining glory - just came out a little bit late on in the evening!
A Christmassy trip to Edinburgh - and a rainy return meant I was able to get a great shot of the airport sign!
Candlelight carols with Carola. We turned up at the wrong church initially - where the bottom photo was taken. Thank goodness there was another carol service in process otherwise we'd have been waiting around for ours to start when it was all getting underway at the correct church 5 minutes away!
Another general election. Another slightly worse result.
More friend catch-ups with epic table spread!
Finally got my China map framed and hung. Forgot that I still had the pinyin written at the bottom from where I was trying to learn Chinese. I really love this map and the memories it holds.
A christmassy trip to the London Transport Museum. Ongar got a little shout out, which was nice. There was also a lamp from Blake Hall on display. This 'ticket map' was really clever although difficult to get a decent picture. They'd re-created the tube map but with tickets for each station. Even Ongar and North Weald were on there!
Finally Christmas back at home and a really relaxing end of the year in Wandsworth.
