Six days to go!

Well it’s less than a week to Christmas and things are getting exciting! Only 6 days to go!
I spent most of Monday night carefully wrapping presents for the chap with glasses. Using a lovely parcel paper and sass & belle ribbon to give it a sweet touch. This is partly because of my obsession with the cute and quirky... and partly because most Christmas paper I’ve encountered has all the durability of a butterfly. Anyway, with a majority of my wrapping done, I’m eagerly waiting for the big day. I have been uncharacteristically organised this year...frighteningly so. But after seeing how little some people have done I am grateful not to bear the Christmas rush.

I am particularly excited this year. Not just because I want to open my goodies (and trust me I do!!) But Christmas is the one time of year that most people can just switch off and relax. No work, no traffic, just good food, family and friends. I try to bake something for the family gathering and this year it’s going to be either a ham hock terrine (recipe courtesy of BBC good food) or sea salt caramel chocolate brownies (recipe courtesy of warmsnugfat.blogspot). However, I can’t decide.
I am personally very excited about the holiday period because it will be our last one as an unmarried couple (soppy I know). Also early on boxing day morning, we shall be on an adventure down to Gatwick to catch a flight to Barbados! EEeeeeeeeeeeek! This was a rather pleasant surprise invitation two weeks ago to go to the beautiful island. We are treating this like a mini-pre honeymoon and shall visit all the touristy hot spots....did someone say Malibu factory on the beach?! I’ll stop before I make you all green with envy!
Last night was quite momentous in that I saw The Hobbit; I must say Peter Jackson hasn’t lost his touch since the last LOR film was released. The casting was brilliant, and I love Ian McKellen in most films, but especially as Gandalf as it remind me of my grandfather. I now rather impatiently wait for the next instalment......hurry up!
I shall be visiting the sort of mini Christmas markets tonight in my area. A lot smaller than the ones in Manchester city centre, but it hosts local sellers and produce.
Oh and curro’s....which aren’t really Christmasy to my knowledge, but damn tasty!

Fish story

This is a quick article about our beloved little friend “Upside downy” the goldfish who sadly passed last Thursday.
“Upside downy” and his pal, “Damp Steve” came into our possession after a work colleague put them up for adoption because they were moving house. I say put up for adoption it was more a case of unwanted pets facing being flushed if nobody took them.
Needless to say, to save the poor mites from taking a ride down the porcelain bowl; me and the chap with glasses decided to take them home. Also thanks to Disney films, I believe that all animals can understand what’s going on around them. It was a pretty sweet deal, we got the bowl, filter, pebbles, fish food and of course the fish themselves as part of the deal. Oh yes and we were warned before we took them that one of the goldfish had a ‘cute defect’. That he swam upside down.
It didn’t honestly seem to bother him that much, in fact he seemed quite happy with his view of the world. And being under the impression that it was a common fish problem, (constipation or inflamed swim bladder) we happily took Upside downy and Damp Steve home with us.
We decided that the bowl would sit on one of our little side tables in the living room so the fish could look out the window and be out the way from an accidental knock. I had images of myself trying to collect the springy orange things now flapping on the damp floor into a pint glass. After carefully de-bagging the terrified little fish from their sandwich bags of water (and sprinkling a few flakes of fish food as a good will gesture) we left them to become more acquainted with their new home. Upside-downy swam around frantically for 5 minutes staring at the bottom of the tank, bumping into the other fish and wedging himself in the pebbles. We turned the lights off and gave them some peace. An hour or so later we came back to the tank to check how things were going. Upside-downy had rested himself at the bottom of the tank head and back resting on the pebbles but still very mobile. However, Damp Steve had disappeared. To our horror, the poor thing had got his lovely fan tail caught in a crack in filter and had been frantically trying to free himself for the past hour.
What followed was a rather traumatic rescue attempt by myself and the chap with glasses to free the tangled tail. After 3 minutes of being elbows deep in the fish bowl we finally freed him. However, Damp Steve was not left unscathed; part of his tail had torn on the sharp corner of the filter. He bobbed away from the filter looking rather disheartened and (more likely) in shock. Shock could kill a fish. Christ he could be dead by morning and we’d had them less than a day! So fish owning had not started out well.
After the tail trapping incident the old filter was quickly unplugged, taken out the tank and punted into the bin. We decided to take a trip to a aquatics shop in Manchester that would supply all our fish related items. After demanding a pet terrapin (apparently they grow to the size of cereal bowl and get lonely so you have to buy two) or another fish, I was persuaded to buy only what I had gone in for and we left with a shiny new filter and fish laxative.
Once home, the ridiculously extensive fish laxative instructions were read and we gave what was instructed to the fish. Upside downy was starting to look rather bloated (also still upside down) so we hoped it would work quickly.
Two weeks later Upside downy no resides himself to the bottom of the bowl. He no longer swims at all and can barely lift himself up. It was very heartbreaking. I didn’t have the heart to kill him but feared he was not long for this world. As he could no longer reach the surface of the water to eat. We gently fed him flakes of fish food with tweezers by holding it near his face. Like the soppy gits we are. Finally last Thursday night I ventured into the living room to check on them and the poor thing had died.
We buried him in the garden under a tree and hoped he was in a better place, and subsequently that a fox didn’t get him.
R.I.P Upside-downy. Your little body could not poo and it killed you.
Bad times