Builder has been

Hurray, the builder came this morning. He is repairing the damage to the kitchen ceiling caused by a leaking sink in the bathroom.

Yesterday I cleared all the stuff off the worktops in that part of the kitchen and dumped most of it on the dining table so that they had a clear area to work, and everything wouldn't get covered with dust. It looks very empty in there. I have never mastered minimalism. I often look at these minimalist houses on tv and although I may sometimes admire it in an aesthetic sort of way, it actually baffles me too.

Why do people put everything away after use - including kettles and toasters? What a lot of work it must make.

Of course I do sometimes take it to the other extreme and you have problems finding any surface upon which to put anything.

At the moment it looks a bit like we are moving out.

They are coming back on Wednesday to paint the ceiling, and after that I can put it all back.

Animated adverts

Have you noticed that lots of adverts are now animated instead of using actors?

There are the creepy stuffed things in the Vauxhall adverts, Lloyds bank adverts are all animated, there's a polar bear, a monkey, and lord knows what else.

Is it just cheaper to use the animation than actors?

We have had snow

We had snow yesterday.

Although only November, when it is usually warm and very wet, the jet stream has decided we should have snow. I left work a bit early and drove home through snowy roads. However home was much less snowy than work and it was easing off, so we decided to be brave and venture out to the concert for which we had bought tickets.

The first piece of music I ever sang in a proper choir was Stravinsky' Mass, which was something of a baptism of fire as the harmonies are not Mozart and require some thought, but I loved it. So when I saw that the BBC choir were performing it we got tickets.

There was much less snow in Cardiff - cities are warmer - though I did a graceful slide to land on my backside as we went from the carpark over the grass verge, and I was glad I was wearing a long dark coat. Brian hauled me up both of us laughing, and a chap getting out of a car said 'I won't laugh, it might be me next' to which B replied 'I'm not pulling you up!' as he was a big bloke. We made it to the Millenium Centre without further mishap, and I am really glad we did.

The choir were fabulous and the performance was wonderful. They also sang Britten's song for St Cecelia's day which was lovely. It is appropriate that he was born on the saints day for the patron saint of music, she clearly blessed him at his birth. However as the second half was Bruckner and we weren't too bothered about that we decided to leave at the interval in case the snow got worse.

It also enabled us to come home and have a glass of wine, some cheese and olives and round off the day very pleasantly.

Today was white and snowy, but the main roads were fine. We went to the outskirts of Cardiff to get some presents and things and had a scary moment going down the hill into Cowbridge when the car skidded away from us a bit. The plus points were that M&S was delightfully quiet, as was B&Q (not buying presents there actually). We got most of what we went for and came home to a well deserved cup of tea and a read of the paper.

Postcode lotteries

I am watching a programme about care for victims of a stroke, and how you can be unlucky if you live in the wrong place. Healthcare is one of the things which has been given to the Welsh Assembly to organise so there are marked differences in some things eg we get all prescriptions for free, but get less good service for some things.

There are a growing number of things which are different in Wales (and presumably in Scotland but as the so called national news tends to only report what is happening in England it is hard to tell) some of which are actually very good. The support from the Assembly for libraries is much better in Wales than in England, we have a variety of things ongoing which English libraries would love to have, and going by the signs so far we may well end up with a fairly intact library service after all the cuts, whereas some English areas may well not.

The Foundation schools which are spreading through Welsh primary schools - ie learn through play up till age 7 - is an interesting concept.

Although the Assembly is not a separate government and only has some devolved powers it is fascinating to watch the differences grow.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1

Nic and I went to see HP7 yesterday with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. We had been really disappointed by the 6th film and, having watched it again over the weekend I was even less impressed with it.

It was good.

They did a really good job of deciding what to keep and what to cut this time and generally kept the plot going well. They made a good job of the long boring bits in the tent, which was needed to focus on the difficulty of the job Harry and co had to do. Some of the effects were excellent and we literally jumped in our seats at one point. Despite some annoying girls behind us who kept saying they didn't know what was happening we thought it told the story well and with style.

I am really looking forward to the next one, and have gone back to the book to reread it.

Royal engagement

It is interesting the different opinions the engagement of William and Kate creates.

There is a lot of 'ah, that is lovely' feeling - which any engagement can create.

There is the republican grumpy about anything royal feeling.

There is the who cares? feeling (or absence of feeling)

There is the what will that cost feeling

Some of it is daft - the theory that Kate will have to be Catherine instead - why? What is wrong with Kate?

Apparently there has been a run on sapphires for engagement rings since the announcement and they are now in short supply.

On the bright side it will be something cheerful next year, in a year that doesn't promise many major cheerful events. It will be good for tourism, and the people who make commemoration mugs, presents etc.

I was amused that the pottery people have had a problem with the initials - WC - they have had to make pretty patterns with the initials.

Nic loves it and is watching programmes about it on the tv, which I have watched with her when in the room.

I wish them well, and I wouldn't take on the job she is taking on for all the tea in China.

Merry Christmas

We had Christmas today.

Carl is not going to be here for Christmas so we had an early Xmas dinner today. We also had Carl's mum, uncle and aunt with us, so we had a really lovely festive meal.

We had a beautiful piece of Welsh beef.

The we had Christmas pud or Chocolate mousse cake

We drank Prosecco.

I am full.