Holiday

I'm off to Portugal and Spain this morning. It's not like I've been working really hard and deserve a break but I am dying for a change of scenery. And the prospect of slightly higher temperatures is quite exciting. I'm hoping to come back with lots of ideas and eagerness for 2007.

(my competition has been withdrawn due to lack of entries... shame, shame on you all!)

Leftovers

Christmas was lovely. I've put a picture of the food here but PGL has more photos on imagestation (instructions on her blog). There are two Christmas celebrations there so don't get confused (the other one had a bigger turkey and roast pork, I feel outdone!).


All I've done since Christmas is eat. We leave for Portugal (and then Spain) tomorrow and I'm on a mission to consume all the leftover Christmas food. I made turkey curry yesterday and turkey soup (which wasn't so photogenic).


I'll be away for a week and a half but I'm coming up with a game to entertain you all until I get back...

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! It's morning here and I've just spent an hour on the phone to family. I'm off to church soon and then friends are coming over to eat at three.

A lot of food preparation has been going on and the gingerbread people have made a reappearance. Last year someone suggested that the character you chose reflected your future partner. With that in mind, we've tried to cater to a range of tastes. It may look like sexism is at work but it's very hard to make these things look female without putting them in swimwear:

Losing composure

The endoscopy/biopsy went fine. I opted to go without sedation - not because I'm tough but because I really hate needles. It was much more exciting than I anticipated, I was in a real operating theatre with three nurses and two doctors. They can't all have been necessary so I guess that some of them were trainees.


It wasn't painful at all but it sure was uncomfortable. I kept retching and my eyes watered the whole time. When they finally reeled the thing out, one of the nurses handed me a huge bunch of tissues and said 'try to compose yourself'. That sounds a bit harsh but I think he meant, 'rest and wipe yourself off before you try and do anything'.

Now I just hope that getting the results doesn't take too long. Getting the appointment was a 4 month kerfuffle in which the hospital lost my referral form twice. I'm not in the mood for any more waiting!

Endoscopy

After months of waiting for an appointment, I'm finally having an endoscopy tomorrow. They're going to investigate my small intestine and snip out a tiny bit to see whether I have celiac disease. I guess that the procedure is something like this (not for the squeamish!):



Celiac disease is kind of like an allergic reaction to gluten in the small intestine. I've already had a positive blood-test so it's quite likely that I have it. It's important to be sure, however, because a gluten-free diet is so restrictive, thus the endoscopy. After being unwell for years, I'm dying (hmm, bad word choice) to get diagnosed with something and start trying to get better.

Immigrants

For the last month I've been watching this hideously trashy drama about young Australians in London. Part of the enjoyment was getting to feel slightly smug: I don't live in west London, I've never been in a Walkabout pub and I've only picked up that free Australian newspaper once.

On Monday last week the show finished. On Monday this week I was off to collect to my own troupe of young Australian immigrants at Heathrow. Suddenly I'm living the dream. The living room floor may be a sea of backpacks, cushions and 'doonas' but it's good to see old friends.

Neon

Yuck. The restaurant opposite has acquired new signage. Their very tasteful painted sign has been covered over with this gross thing that floods my bedroom with pink light.


Perhaps they were inspired by the theatre down the street - a much more acceptable use of neon...