Crimbo in Huddersfield

So far I am having a fab Christmas holiday. It started very well because on the last day of work I discovered that our Christmas lottery ticket had won me 100€, which I was only aware of thanks to Neds otherwise I might have thrown the ticket away as it didn't show up as a winning number when I checked it. Thank god for t'internet.

I have just got back from my Christmas trip to Britain where I went to stay with my folks and the little bro, who is not so little any more and has passed his driving test on the first attempt. I got time to have my hair cut (thank goodness because it was getting very scraggy) and I got to do some shopping and pick up some bargain shoes and a dress in the sales for Jaime's cousin's wedding in April. Speaking of Jaime's cousin, the lucky sod won 20,000€ on El Gordo! Suppose the cash will come in handy for the giant wedding.

Christmas dinner was fun as always in the Hobson household with people having far too much to eat and even more to drink. My grandparents were there showing that they still love each other after almost 60 years of marriage.

On my last evening in Huddersfield I went for a beautiful meal at the Golden Cock with my parents, (with Mum sporting her new brown hairdo) Adam, Aunty Carol and Andrew and Uncle Brian and Julie. I had the most succulent lamb Henry in the world and we had a great time catching up. The funniest part of the evening though was when we arrived home and started to dress Adam up as a woman. I haven't laughed so much in ages, in fact it was so funny that I actually did wet myself, but only a little.

I arrived home safely yesterday afternoon, with clean, dry knickers. The bloody thieves at sleazyjet charged me a tenner for being 2 kilos over the weight limit! No Christmas Goodwill from those bloody scrooges! Now I am getting ready for the next party on New Year's Eve so watch this space. Merry Crimbo everyone!

Compeed those Cold Sores

Having been a sufferer of cold sores since I was a little girl I am aware of many of the creams and things available on the market. Zovirax has always been a firm favourite. I was not aware of Compeed though until a friend told me about it a few days ago when yet another nasty trouble spot was rearing its ugly head. Compeed has to be the best invention ever! You put a small, transparent plaster on the sore and it heals really quickly. The magic is that you can hardly see the plaster and you can put make-up over the top of it. I put one on when the coldsore was first starting to develop and it has almost gone already after only 2 days. Miracle!

Crimbo Paella Party

It was the BLC Christmas Party last night at the Champagneria Gala. It really isn't very Spanish to eat paella at night but we don't care about being 'guiris'. I had the seafood paella and had a whale of a time pulling the heads of prawns and cray fish and sucking out mussels from their shells. There was once a time when I wouldn't even eat salmon because it looked funny and now I can't get enough seafood. It's funny how our tastes can change so much.


The dinner was a cool mix of academy people past and present, new and old and everyone seemed to have a fab time. Enrique even managed to put in an appearance which I don't think has happened in almost a decade. Nedra had forgotten to bring her camera but that didn't stop her from using mine to take her usual spontaneous snap shots of unsuspecting people. Here is a pretty cool one of mine and Carmen's hands.

After the restaurant we went to a Jazz bar where the barmen tried to ignore us for 10 minutes but finally realised that we weren't going anywhere and so served us our Irish coffees. Little by little people started leaving and only the hardcore party animals were left. God knows how I managed to join them but I did. In the end it was just Alex, Kate and myself in some nightclub called Bogui (yes, really!) where you couldn't move or get to the bar or breathe. It was not my cup of tea and after waiting for the metro to open at 6 am I then decided that I would much rather take a cab and get home quicker. I finally climbed into bed at 6.30. God knows what happened to Kate, she really was the last woman standing when Alex and I left the club. For all I know she could still be strutting her stuff on the dancefloor as I type.

Tis the season to be jolly

I realise that I haven't written anything in over 2 months and really I have no other excuse than that I really didn't feel like writing anything. However, I have finally decided that I should try to update my blog a little. It isn't like I haven't been doing anything to tell you all about but I've just been lazy.

Since the last time I wrote my parents have been and gone (they came for just under a week in September and we went to Toledo, played mini golf and went bowling which was hilarious since my dad lost and my mum won, unheard of in the Hobson family), I have started a new teaching course (the DELTA), I have been to see the Cirque de Soleil production 'Alegria' with Nedra for her birthday (which was fantastic) and had a beautiful Thanksgiving meal with turkey and all the trimmings prepared very kindly by Nedra.

I have begun my Christmas shopping and I put my Christmas tree up on Friday afternoon. I am getting into the festive spirit and can't wait to fly home and visit all the family. Hoping for a Bing Crosby style White Christmas this year.

Happy Holidays x