Angel Jem's City Cottage

There are 74 days left until Christmas!! This came as a bit of a surprise to me when I looked it up today, as I don't feel anywhere near ready for Christmas. Also, is it my imagination, or have shops not got Christmas in as early as last year? I went looking for wrapping paper last week and couldn't see the sort I was after in Tesco, W H Smiths or Asda. In fact, Asda had no Christmas paper and shelves still full of Hallowe'en! That struck me as rather odd, because when it comes to Back To School the shelves are cleared and replaced by Halloween before school even starts. I think I was hoping for something similar with Christmas. So, in an effort to get Christmas juices flowing, I thought I'd share a few things I'm looking to do or get for Christmas. 1. Visit Salisbury Museum. They have the Terry Pratchett exhibition on, until January 13th and my two sons are keen to go. We live in Liverpool, and there's a long distance between the two places, so we...

I have finally come to the end of the longest time off since I started working for Peter in the summer... 7 work days or just under 2 weeks off work!! I'd forgotten quite how blissful lie ins could be, or how wonderful not to shower/dress/move off the breakfast chair until past 11am (one day until past 2pm!) could be. It's back to work for me tomorrow, so nose to the grindstone again! But I thought I'd share some pictures of my Christmas, before I gradually begin stripping the place again. I'm usually quite blue at this time of year, but I'm hoping that hygge will carry me through. A good blend of outside walks and indoor treats to keep me happy. That, and a regular dose of hot chocolate. My gratitude journal/commonplace book this year. I finally... finally!!!... finished the Mermaid's Tail blanket. Tail & all! Girls' night out at the Liverpool International Horse Show. Three children and two guinea pigs. Sarah has set the table ...

I had a whole afternoon in Manchester with my beautiful daughter. The Christmas Markets are on,  and Sarah's never been. We had a good time, not least because there was a goodly amount of stopping for refreshment. Sarah's happy as long as there's a bookshop on the itinerary, and I was warmed by gluhwein and a pint of Kronenberg. How tired were we? Sarah slept on the way home, just after saying she'd had a brilliant day, and could we go again next year! My new friend.... Yes, I have what it takes!!! My final Chase from the beginning of the year is in the new book!!! Prize fund was actually £60,000 between 3. I have had such a good year after being on TV and radio. Being named in a book is the icing on the cake! I had a mint tea and a portuguese custard tart as my afternoon treat. The French macarons caught our eyes... and several came home with us! I did promise I wouldn't post a picture.... but I expect I forgot. Hi Sarah! You are too bea...

Last Saturday (Saturday last, to be formal) I attended the Lord Mayor's Parade. Don't get excited. I wasn't like a formal guest or anything, it was just that Peter had his course for becoming a Notary Public on in London and I was going with him to share the driving and freeload, and it was on. I've watched the Lord Mayor's Parade on TV since I was little. It used to be one of my favourite moments of the year, a little like Children In Need it was a signpost that Christmas was coming because... duh.. November leads to December. So it has always had positive associations for me. I didn't look to see if it was on TV this year. It always used to be, cutting Swap Shop or Saturday Morning Superstore short, and cutting to endless shots of drizzling weather and crowds who waved flags and shouted (posh Londoners) Huzzah! And the parade of floats and bands and people walking along. I love pageantry and pomp and circumstance, so when I knew it was on the Saturd...

It's funny how you can have waves of shopping, isn't it? There was a year when everything I got was black... or red... or had squares or circles on it. I took Sarah off to Yarndale again this year, so I suppose it shouldn't have been too surprising when the shopping ended up having a common theme to it. But first... Yarndale . Sarah and I were both shattered after a week in school/work (and following on from a weekend away last week) so we cancelled the planned weekend away. We were due to Yarndale (that's a verb, it means spending time browsing yarn and stroking a lot of alpaca) yesterday, but had a pootling day at home instead. My living room is clean and smells nice again now. That only lasts until tomorrow, when the guineas will do their worst. So we decided that today was the day. We were up and out at 10.30, and at Skipton for 12.30. Last year we went on the Saturday and it was packed, like standing room only packed. The fact that we drove straight i...

This weekend Mr Angel Jem (OK, Peter of Peter Kneale Solicitor . Let's not pretend anymore) had a day's training to do in London of all places. Would I like to go to? It would mean I was all alone.... in London... all Saturday. Would I like to go???? I don't think I have said YES!! quite as quickly or enthusiastically as since he proposed, and I'm ashamed to say I may have been a little more emphatic about it. I was absolutely happy about the idea of a day alone in London anyway since my little jaunt for The Chase last June which I very naughtily never blogged about! I was quite happy with the idea of just sauntering around and watching the world when I found out that The Handmade Fair was on just the weekend I was there. I like Kirstie Allsopp anyway. Her programmes are fun to watch, and what she can do with a junk pile is nobody's business. I signed up, dressed up and went. On the advice of my husband, I wore a summer dress. Big mistake. Although on the...

There are films that you can just watch and watch and watch. This is one of those, as is Guardians of the Galaxy. If my comic book heroes are right, then there should be a cross over Infinity Wars movie around 2018. Looking forward to it. My comic book heroes have both been in the wars recently. Between A levels and GCSEs we have had a tense few months. Made tenser by a couple of good results being tempered by a couple of rogue results. It's all worked out in the end, though. This hero  scored an A in his English A level, while managing to get a U for Religious Studies. Seriously, DP? It's not like we didn't take you to church every weeks for most of your formative years.... We asked for a re-mark and it was still a U. Either he will end up as the Pope, or more likely he'll start a cult and make a shed load of money. The results weren't important except to decide which University he went to. ABB and he was off to Liverpool, anything else and i...

Where do the days go? Forget the days... the weeks fly by and before I know it, I've missed months of blogging and I'm reading and playing catch up on all your posts and drowned in a sea of bloggy friendship misses. I'm back in the room and (hopefully) here for a loooooooong while. When did I last post? Oh my goodness, June 5th!!! 2 months ago! I was still working at school and still looking ahead to finishing and I haven't told you everything that is happening in my life and oh my goodness it has been fun and... stop! Go and get a cuppa. This might take some time. So, my life at the moment. I am working with this man (just kidding!) who is just the best husband a gal could have. He's training me up into the dark side of the force and showing me how to manipulate people (well, insurance companies at least) to pay out for injuries. This is where I work. It's an office, and there's not a lot you can do to make an office different except to be Goo...

A slightly different wind up today; the big event of my life this week has revolved around this, my handsome and funny eldest son. On Tuesday he celebrated his 18th birthday. I'm pleased to say he decided to celebrate by wearing his deerstalker to school, then to Anchor Boys where he was happy to be sung to and cake-laden. And a family meal out. This is my Mum with him. She wanted to get him cuff-links, or a watch, but which young man nowadays wears cuff-links or watches when they have t shirts and phones? So I said was there any thing else. She thought for a while and then offered him her fountain pen set, a 1950's gold plated Parker pen. What else would you give an aspiring writer but a really good pen to sign the multi-million pound book deal? Which reminds me, I must check my lottery ticket tonight. It was a roll-over, so I treated myself to a lucky dip.  The Gang. David, Peter, Sarah and James. My four best loved people in the entire wor...