blondefish.blogspot.com: December 2010

New Year, New Discovery

For our New Year's Day walk, we discovered a new and charming corner of Paris.

Lovely to know that adventures can happen closer to home...

Happy New Year!

Happy Hogmanay!

It started and ended with....

....cheese

And the in-between bits I'll leave to your imagination...

Bonnes Fêtes!

Walk to the metro, cross Paris to the RER (regional railway) Station, head south for 45 minutes, exit the station, stop in a little rural café for a cup of hot tea to warm the soul and the fingertips, locate cycleway in the snow, follow until you see the farm on your left, take the road opposite, follow until the green fence, turn left, slither on the ice to the river and follow until you hit small village, once in the old centre start climbing, pause for breath, admire views, admire chateau, walk around it, locate onward path, take the road on the left when it forks, cross a cabbage field, enter fog, panic, call hotel, retrace steps to the castle, descend, turn left, walk, walk, walk and walk again, darkness falls, walk, walk, call from the hotel, 'ah we didn't realise you were walking..you should have kept walking through the cabbage field as the hotel is just on the other side through the wood and down the hill...instead you have taken the long way around the mountain...that's very far to walk', you don't say, finally locate hotel, collapse.

A French Interlude

I was so sure I had booked one of these to get to Paris for Hogmany*

So I was very annoyed to find myself on one of these....and in the wrong country.

Fog in Paris meant a 45 minute flight diversion to Belgium, a 3.5 hour bus ride to Paris Beauvais airport in France and then another 1.5 hours on the bus from there into central Paris.

12 hours door to door.

I can't complain too much though - I didn't get divertd when it would really have counted for Christmas, and I did have no plans for the day so could afford the delay. And of course when I did finally arrive, it was all worth it:

*The term for New Year to us Scots

Bye Bye Creich Cottage

Celebrating our last snowy day at the cottage together..

Boxing Day 2010

Merry Christmas!

O Holy Night

"O Holy Night' (Cantique de Noël) is a well-known Christmas carol componsed by Adolphe Adam in 1847 to the French poem "Minuit, chrétiens" by Placide Cappeau (1808-1877), a wine merchant and apparent poet. The Minister John Sullivan Dwight created a singing version based on the French text in 1855, which has become my favourite Christmas song and reflects our celebrations today: Jesus' birth and mankind's redemption.

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,

It is the night of our dear Saviour's birth.

Long lay the world in sin and error pining,

'Til He appear'd and the soul felt its worth.

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees! O hear the angels' voices!

O night divine, O night when Christ was born;

O night divine, O night, O night Divine.

Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming,

With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.

So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,

Here come the wise men from Orient land.

The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger;

In all our trials born to be our friend.

He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger,

Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!

Behold your King, Before Him lowly bend!

Truly He taught us to love one another;

His law is love and His gospel is peace.

Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;

And in His name all oppression shall cease.

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,

Let all within us praise His holy name.

Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever,

His power and glory evermore proclaim.

Cupar's Cottage

Christmas Week

The past few days have actually been quite busy. The supervisor who is normally based in Penang with me and who also visited me in Bangladesh, recently visited Stirling, amidst concern whether she would a) arrive b) be able to leave (weather conditions permitting). Of course, this was the exact time that my new SIM card failed to arrive (due to an inverse relationship between weather conditions and the ability of the Royal Mail to deliver my post) and the car failed to start (due to a complicated relationship between French motor engines and the cold). That meant I always had to walk everywhere and I always had to be on time, although weather conditions did result in some positive outcomes: an invite to the Aquaculture Institute's Christmas Party:

A soon-becoming-Kelling-tradition is to go away for Christmas week to a cottage within driving distance of home and our Boxing Day festivities with the wider family. This picture is meant to highlight the -8 degrees temperature and not the driving speed:

Lots of people means lots of presents....

And lots of stockings...

Merry Christmas!

Made it!

I'm sure you're fed up of me posting photos of the snowy scenery surrounding my home, but it is just so beautiful, so different to where I have been for the past 5 months and I am just so happy that we all got here, when thousands didn't.

Happy Cat

The bird ball hanging against the garden shed....

...otherwise known as cat food, according to the footprints provided by the local cats beneath the fat ball:

Some Other Country

I don't think one thing has stayed the same between my life 2 weeks ago and today, but with a Winter Wonderland on my front door step, I ain't complaining...

Angels From the Realms of Glory

Domestic Arrivals

The view from Santa's Sleigh:

Down on the ground, all that snow translated to going to bed in thermal jammies, with TWO duvets, TWO hot water bottles, a blanket and nice warm bedsocks. I was pinned to the bed for the whole night and couldn't move due to the weight of all those top layers, but was warm for the first time since I've arrived in Scotland.