My last post was supposed to be the final one before I head off to Germany for the IS, but I’ve had such a lovely Christmas, it would be a sin not to blog about it

In our house we actually pretend to be continental, and have a lot of our festivities on Christmas Eve. It all stems from the fact that we’ve spent every single Christmas Day (except one exceptional circumstance when my mother was ill) by ourselves in our own home, and whilst I realise that it’s kind of traditional to open your presents on Christmas Day, it’s also a lot more fun if you can open them in the presence of the people who gave them to you We tend to see most of our relations on Christmas Eve, hence it kind of makes sense to open our presents then too. (more…)

I would write this post in German, except that I feel a little bit rusty at the moment. I have admittedly been getting a bit of practice in this week, but I still find it shocking how much of a language it is possible to forget once you don’t use it for a period of months. I know that all my German knowledge has not seeped out of my brain, that it is in fact just resting in a dark recess somewhere, but it is requiring conscious effort to pull it back out to the front again. So many words are getting stuck on the tip of my tongue

Munich is probably the most expensive city in Germany but also the most beautiful and exciting, and I am determined to drag Babel there one day soon, although preferably in the summer. I am going there with my family tomorrow for a mad Christmas market visit, and am very excited A full blog report on exactly how much delicious German food I managed to cram into one weekend will follow at some point next week, but not Monday because I’m seeing Babel for his birthday. (more…)

A year ago yesterday, Babel presented me with this website I must say that it was one of the biggest surprises of my life, and it’s taken me most of the year to get over it! Yesterday was once again my birthday, and so my website is a year old and I am a rather shocking quarter of a century (more…)

I officially now have the best boyfriend ever I arranged to see him for Easter today, because various other things mean I’m not sure when I’ll next get to see him before and after that, and was admittedly hoping to get an Easter present. I had hinted strongly that he ought to buy me an egg this year and was prepared to be quite impressed if this hinting had paid off. Last Easter my boyfriend managed to have his phone switched off for about 48 hours whilst at a party and thus didn’t respond to my text wishing him a happy Easter until about Easter Tuesday, so this year I was hoping for a better experience, but all the same nothing could have prepared me for what actually took place today! (more…)