HNY

I think I have mentioned before that I am not a Christmas fan. I don't mind Christmas day and all that goes with it, but I loath the hysterior that begins in Novemeber and stretches out past January. This year however I was looking forward to it all because Dumpy was there. Unfortunately he became unwell on Christmas morning and has continued to throw up ever since. He's getting slowly better, but it really didn't put a good spin on the holiday. My parents also both fell ill, and so did I. I came back to work this morning not really having noticed much of a break.

There were of course some good parts. I bought the Dragon a sewing machine and she's been having fun attempting to learn how to make it work. She wants a book to learn from. I think we will try and get one in Chinese when we go back there next month. She bought me some Caterpillar shoes. I was scared that they wouldn't fit, but they do. I'm wearing them now. I also got a signed picture of Mrs Thatcher from my brother. I don't think the signature is real sadly, but it's a great present. The parents were also most generous with their Christmas spirit as usual.

But enough moaning about misfortune. Things aren't so bad. I even found the electrical fault that kept popping the downstairs circuit breakers at the weekend. Just before I left for Taiwan and rented the place out, I disconnected the power to the garage. I did this because I installed it myself and it wasn't really very safe. I used all the proper cables, but I didn't have the proper connectors, so I performed something of a make shift job under the floorboards. I disconnected it by simply cutting the cable and poking it under the floor again. It should have been perfectly safe, but I heard a faint noise coming from under the floorboards the other night that turned out to be the end of the cable arcing. So I had to take the floorboards up and put it right at the weekend. It's all OK now. It's less likely to burn down the house and it might even save a bit on the electric bill.

Happy New Year to everyone and I hope you all had a good Christmas.

I never got around to posting the above yesterday. I have things to do that means free time is not currently plentiful. What I should have done was write a few entries last week. Dumpy was sick and we couldn't really go out. Now I'm back at work I have no time to do anything.

Dumpy's passport arrived this morning. I still don't know why they wanted my marriage certificate. What does it matter who I am married to? He has a UK birth certificate. Anyway it all seems to have been done. It bothers me that his passport has a biometric chip. They didn't ask for any biometric information, so technically I guess that means he doesn't have a biometric passport. We were not given the opportunity to opt out however, which bothers me. I was thinking I might microwave his passport for a few minutes to see if I can blow the chip up.

I have to complete my tax return this month. I have no idea what I am doing. I'm just going to do my best and plead ignorance if I get it wrong. I'm not going to pay an accountant to do it again.

Train fares have gone up. Yes, unbelievably train fares have gone up beyond the price of inflation to facilitate the continued improvement to service apparently. It's difficult to see how this can be justified since the improvement to service seems to have taken the form of a reduction in the number of trains since Dec 10. A protest movement is afoot and, to be fair, First Great Western have said they will consider making timetable changes. I'll believe it when I see it however. My train was late again this morning, but yesterday it actually left on time.

Celebrity Big Brother apparently kicks off again tonight with prize prat David Hasslehoff heavily tipped to be a contestant. That guy amazes me. I can't decide whether he really is a prick and doesn't realise it, or whether he's actually a much smarter person acting like a prick for some reason. He does appear to be making huge amounts of money either due to, or despite of, the fact that he appears to be a knob.