Home life

I think I can count on one hand how many sunny mornings we’ve had this winter, but when they do come it makes breakfast a little bit special. I keep thinking that I should go and sit in the garden all wrapped up, with a thermos of tea at hand and catch some rays, but because of the time of year and the angle of the sun I’d have to sit in the plant border, so that obviously never happens.

I’ve kept the white mini bunting up in the windows from our xmas decorations, to keep the windows a bit more cheerful. Lots of people have left their fairy lights up post-Christmas, and I’m sure it’s for the same reason. You try and get your joy from wherever you can.

Speaking of Christmas, ours, as I’m sure most of yours, was very different this year. We spent the day at home, just us three, which meant that for the first time ever we had to cook Christmas dinner ourselves. I tried to convince the guys that maybe we could go for the easy option and cook something less tricky, but they weren't having it. I’m the everyday cook in the house, but really don’t enjoy cooking on a bigger scale, so I was relieved when Mr Famapa dived straight in and pulled it off brilliantly. It was actually a really lovely day, so relaxed and quiet, and a very fitting way to spend Christmas 2020.

There are now two guitar players in the house. Oomoo has been playing for a couple of years and Mr Famapa decided to have a go this winter and has gotten quite good - without any lessons. I’m still not back on the piano properly; I’ll have a go every now and then, but not regularly enough. I’m finding it hard to stay focused and use my time properly, and the days seem to just vanish. I can’t believe we’re almost half way through January already, but at the same time I’m glad that we are.

In all my years in London I’ve never seen these kind of fireworks on New Year’s Eve; here the big day for that is on and around the 5th of November. In Sweden, on NYE, lots of small fireworks go off at midnight, and when my Swedish friend M (who I go winter swimming with and who for obvious reasons couldn’t go back to Sweden for the holidays) asked if the same thing happens here I said no. So imagine my surprise when at the stroke of midnight our sky lit up with them. It made me a bit teary thinking of how in times of hardship we always try and make the best of a bad situation. That hope is innate.

My dear friend M sent us some jigsaw puzzles for xmas. I’m not sure I posted a picture of a 1000 piece miniature jigsaw I did of Van Gogh’s Starry Night in the summer. It was intense to say the least. I did really enjoy it though, so I was really happy to start on another Van Gogh jigsaw, and this time not a miniature one.

A very familiar sight around here. Oomoo got his own Kindle from his uncle for xmas, and I’m so grateful for e-readers now. I initially loved mine as it was so handy to be able to buy a book and read it straight away, but it was one particular book that killed it for me - Crime and Punishment. An absolutely brilliant book, but a nightmare on a Kindle. Halfway through the book the characters’ names changes, and trying to go back and forth on a Kindle, with no way of knowing of whether something was on a left or a righthand page to find something was impossible. So I gave up on it, and started browsing and buying books in physical stores again and never looked back. But an e-reader for a 10- now 11 year old bookworm in lockdown is PERFECT. I kid you not, but Oomoo read 80+ books in 2020. I managed my yearly average of 15.

When we moved into this house I made a mistake of hanging our dining room lamp over the table too high, and as the cable holding it got cut to length there was no going back. It’s bugged me for years, and in the autumn, after some random internet browsing, I found a company in Denmark that sold the cable separately. They in turn had to order it from Italy, and it took about two/three months for it to arrive (I’m so glad I ordered it when I did or it might have arrived in 2025 - because Brexit) and last month Mr Famapa switched the cables out. It’s so much better now! OMG, as I’m writing this I’m boring myself. Apologies. This has been a very longwinded way of explaining this picture, which are the reflections of the dining room fairy lights (which are permanent… I’ve just realised that I’ve always had fairy lights all year round since 1994) on said lampshade. Anywaaaay, in future I shall remember that all pictures don’t need explanations.