Lately...

WATCHING very little 'live' TV and lots of DVDs and stuff on my recorder.  I'm enjoying Happy Endings on E4, reminding myself of the genius that is Flight Of The Conchords, and failing to tire of the endless repeats of Big Bang Theory, which seems to have taken the place of Friends on the E4 schedule.

READING trash, mostly.  I finished A Room Full Of Bones by Elly Griffiths at the weekend (Norfolk-based archeology-meets-crime fiction), and am about to start The Chess Men by Peter May (Lewis-based crime fiction).  My book group meets later this evening to discuss The One Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out Of A Window and Disappeared, which I read during my Christmas break and which I am still undecided about.  It was undoubtedly funny, and I loved the flashbacks to key events in 20th Century history, but I also found it a tad contrived and a bit silly.

DREAMING of open fires and well-insulated houses; my home is lovely but it is not the warmest place, so I have spent a lot of this past few weeks cuddling hot water bottles and shovelling logs into the wood burning stove.

EATING lots of utterly delicious vegan food.  It's been a challenging experience to change my culinary habits for The Boy, but the vegan lemon cake I made last week was as good as any 'normal' baking I've ever done, and my mouth is watering just thinking about the aubergine curry we whipped up together. 

MAKING sock pigs at craft club.  Next week we learn to crochet, which I am super-excited about.

PLAYING Scrabble.  Can you believe The Boy didn't know how?  We spent a lovely snowy Saturday a couple of weeks ago lazing in bed with snacks, 6 Music on the radio, and a Scrabble board between us.  I won, obviously.  There would have been tantrums otherwise.

WORKING ON my piles of marking, which seem to grow ever-higher.

WEARING wellington boots and a lovely, cosy, navy blue wool duffle coat; the combined effect being to make me look a bit like Paddington Bear (which is no bad thing).

PLANNING multiple trips to the continent.  I'm off to Nijmegen in two weeks time, and I cannot wait to be that annoying couple* who run into each other's arms at the airport.  Then Paris in April, the Netherlands again in May... this long distance relationship thing is an expensive, but exciting, prospect.

FEELING grateful for the wonderful family and friends who said so many nice things, and offered their support in all sorts of ways, last week when I had the double whammy of my Granny dying on Monday and The Boy leaving on Friday.

* This is how misanthropic I am: most people would consider it romantic, but it drives me up the wall (until I'm one half of that couple, and then I'm all for it).