In the bleak midwinter, frosty Crepes may moan

[Collymollypuff]

Earth stood hard as iron, my heart like a stone.

Oh BTM poor ds.
Beachy glad you have made decisions re FT.
MI I too feel inordinately tired.... am struggling today (well most of the weekend actually). I shall turn in early with a good (cookery) book...

Sorry for the insomniacs I am not one of them at the moment (does waking earlyish count...?) but I had one of my anxiety dreams last night.... looking for DD who is somewhere up a tower block...I am standing at the bottom and keep getting glimpse of her hair, or her bag but can't get to her. I just stand there pathetically calling her name louder and louder til I wake myself up (no one else thankfully...)

MI I though the colour of your hair was gorgeous when I was you at the mini MU.

MM Bon Voyages!

Beachy Good decisiveness...and glad DS is getting better if a bit fragile. How do you name change on MN? (Duh)

Goodness Addle Bicarb? isn't that guaranteed to give you the runs? you poor thing but glad you and *Crem had a lovely MU.

Reasons to be cheerful :-

DS2 is home for the hols. he is already being vile to DD and demanding money

NU's lovely news about forthcoming new DGC

I have booked our table for lunch on 18th MrsS

Hugely trivial, but I have been going nuts over the changed formula of my favourite No7 Plum Beautiful lippy....I just can't get on with it any more...and I have nearly used up the dregs of my old ones. I got googling for dupes, and up came a wonderful MN thread suggesting Rosewood by Max Factor. I stopped off at Superdrug for some, on the way back from work today and I think it's the answer to my problems. Small thing but SO PLEASED!

X posts

...more fool them MI

Ah well, Beachy I guess it as a really nasty bug...

Rose, you have reminded me of what woke me up this morning - a vivid dream that one of my oldest friends had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I pray to god he hasn't.

I have done 8 cards. That may be it.

Oh BTM, am so sorry ds has had to come home. If you really think I am sane, I have news for you. Am really quite nuts at the moment and as MI says, not robust. Tears quite close by a lot.
MI sorry for the teaching job not going your way. Bloody fools.
Rose, lovely to see you and it must be great to have ds back for a bit.

I have received my Secret Satan! It is already under the undecorated tree. Thank you Santa Crepey.
Oh and thanks for the thread Mollls. I'd love to come over and play trains. I think it would be most calming actually, but : Airport. Misery >same direction probably.
In the Deep Midwinter is definitely one of my favourite melodies. There a beautiful arrangements for voice I once sang, probably at school. Very emotive of a Sisley painting I always think. < reverie>

Emotive =evocative.

Ffs

Tears are close by at all times here too Cremo. Especially when DD is kicking off yet again. She is not coping v well atm.

Lovely pic

So sorry for all the Crepeys struggling at the moment. BTM, hope your work has been sympathetic and flexible. It must be so hard to underpin everyone at home. How are you sleeping? Hope a bit better. Sending hugs. With you on the tears. Better out than in

Apologies for not quite getting my secret Santa arse into gear. This week for definite.

Rose, immensely cheered by the new lipstick. Is it one of the long lasting ones? I have a max factor one which stays on for hours but is matte not glossy.

Mi, so sorry about job. How many days til you go? And how is hair?

Lovely pic, Crem.

In s and b news I have picked up some lovely pyjamas in Sainsbury's which are gold with a very slight sparkle. Tres chic. Also got dd some gorgeous fleece pyjamas with reindeer on. My foray into Scandinavian chic jumpers was less successful and made me look like a trucker. Ah well.

Right, but if homework and piano supervision then I am going to decant my sloe gin and bramble vodka into bottles for presents. Would it be very wrong to sample just a little to check it's OK? 🍷🍷🍷

Monty, thanks. Work are being great. I have fantastic colleagues. But I already knew that! It was so nice being back with the little darlings this morning and actually doing something productive.

Maybe I can pop into Sainsbos and see what these lovely PJ's look like - was it my local one?
Would be wrong to not sample - quality control and all that!

Cremo {{}} and anyone else who needs one.

I shall give you a smile - I have found out the origin of Flash the Irrepressible. - well his name anyway. He's named after Lord Flashheart of Blackadder fame
nm

nm

nm. And in this incarnation I see the resemblance!! Apparently he arrived just after the lovely Rik died

I used to love Flashheart BD . He was marvellous : Flash by name, Flash by nature!!
Thanks for the hug. It's the extra pressure this time of year added to random palpitations ( anxiety? Side effect of pillsIm on? Meno symptoms? Hrt patch not working?- no clue) can't even get to see the doc until after Christmas.

Some twinkly lights have now been put up on tree, and over mantle. Dh not even home yet.as he is under a deadline this week. Have made a risotto that can be heated up later if necessary. Probably some kind of Italian sin committed there.

Job applications have gone off. Quite pleased with my "Why you should give me this job" self puff. But won't die in a ditch if I don't get either.

My SS will be delivered on Wednesday, according to Evil Amazon (sorry, but it was easier).

Now had an email from DD1's theatre teacher who said that she has only handed in half of her work and the rest needs to be done this week. Aaaaargh. DD2 cried in her maths mock because it was so hard (apparently they all found it impossible) but thought biology and English went well. The piece she produced for her art mock was just beautiful and completely different from her usual style.

I feel ever so slightly guilty to be having such a lovely Christmassy time when so many of you are not (and I really hope this does not come across as smuggery - please stop reading if it offends/upsets) but Vienna with dd3 really is everything I hoped for (bar actual snowflakes). It is a wonderfully twinkly combination of hot drinks and gingerbread in stylish surroundings. The hotel is a few minutes walk from all the places we want to go and the whole thing is delighting dd3 who has had a very intense term at school and worked incredibly hard and deserves a treat. She told me today she wanted to go to Vienna after seeing The Woman in Gold so we've added a bit of Klimt to the itinerary- a good counterbalance to the general kitsch of Christmas markets.

With everyone else I am delighted by NU's news and hope it presages a better 2017 for all.

MrsW, we loved the Sisi Museum in the Hofburg. And dd and I got our Klimt fix at The Belvedere, where an extremely bored and unappreciative dh loudly pronounced The Kiss to be "not very good". There is also a lot of Egon Schiele there, which I like, but no one else in my family does.

Strops, the Hofburg is tomorrow's first appointment (after the delights of a hotel breakfast). Dd3 has spent the evening googling the Hapsburg family. I did find one review that was a bit dismissive claiming that Sisi was merely the king m kardashian of her day and only famous for being famous. This seems a little unfair to me - I'm not sure she's that famous and actually her life was quite dramatic (up to and including her assassination). So we're now looking forward to it.

King m = kim

Ooh that's lovely, MrsW. Delighted for you.have I mentioned I am going away?

Mrs W - I used to work in the Hofburg - Cafe Landtmann just down the road is very good, with excellent apple strudel. There is no reason why you would want to, at this time of year, but if you wanted to do something different, you could get the 38 tram up to Grinzing, which is the wine district and have a glass of wine in a Heurige. Better for spring or summer, maybe. Are you going to the Prater? I knew someone who came out to Vienna on a very quick visit, and asked a taxi driver to show him the sights. The taxi driver took him round some back streets, stopped and said "This is where you first see Harry Lime in the Third Man!"

Trip sounds soothing and cultured Mrs W - lovely.

Congrats NU!

In other news about DD1, she went back to school this morning and spent the day asleep, apart from a little light facebooking and whats apping with friends. School said she should come back and her work would be supervised. I have asked if she can have close supervision tomorrow. She has had the world's most expensive education and seems hell bent on pissing it all up the wall and dropping out with no qualifications whatsoever. I asked her what she would do when she failed and she said, typically, "I don't know."

lol, ah the Heurige. We went for a memorable meet-up in a Heurige with a client and her family. We all got so monumentally pissed that we could barely get up from the table afterwards, never mind walk in a straight line. And then had to negotiate our way to virtually the other side of the city with several buses and trams. We've continued to have loads of work off her since. So that is what I call a good business meeting.

Sisi is incredibly famous everywhere in the German-speaking world. But her story is pretty sad, actually.

MrsS, that is simply appalling about your dd1's school. I don't really understand what it is you are paying for.

NU, lovely news.

Crem, I am sorry you are feeling so low.

I don't really ever feel festive and don't think I am a Christmas person, as I've always felt it was to be endured rather than enjoyed. According to ds, I am a grinch.

Btw, thanks for the new thread, Molly. Great title!

BTM, so glad that you at least got the morning at work. Sorry to hear that ds is still so low on resources.

I checked my work email yesterday and found that a parent had left a message about having left something for me at school. I was in the vicinity today and called in - and found I had a vv nice bottle of champagne. Have never had a present like that from any translation clients. :)

MrsS, that is simply appalling about your dd1's school. I don't really understand what it is you are paying for.

This. I know she has to do her bit of the bargain, and that she is being quite startlingly hopeless but what in hell's name are they doing??

BTM, I forgot to commiserate about today. I'm so sorry.

Ha, ds has given his Brian the Bucket disease to his new girlfriend That's not a good start, is it?

Love the description of Vienna....