Reindeers have arrived in time for Christmas

 Spotted some deer on this morning's walk with Arwen.  We spooked some pheasants too.

Rugby coaches night out

 

10 of the minis coaches went out for dinner on Friday, followed my drinks next door.  Lovely night.

It's been a while

 It's been about 7 years since my last black tie event.  This time was for the parents at the kid's school.  150 or so of us went to a local private members club on the outskirts of Sevenoaks for a dinner and dance.  Luckily I just about still fit in my trousers.

First attempt at a bow tie

Photo bomb

Nativity

 This year's nativity at the school was excellent.  So good, April went twice!  Flo was Mary and Arthur looked like he was going to a wedding!

Cooking

 

Whipped feta, beetroot and mackerel 

One of my best roast beefs

 

Just about perfect

Delicious

The animals enjoyed doing their pre-wash

It's good to have little helpers

They ran out of use when the stacks of wood were too high for them. 

Wet rugby

 Rugby training went ahead on Sunday despite the weather. The kids mostly enjoyed it although a few dropped out before the end.  Only one session left this year.

It's starting to get boring now

 I beat my 100m swim record again.  This time by 3.7 seconds.  1m 44.8s.  What a superstar!

16 work days left

 Only 16 work days left before my contract ends.  I've got nothing to do so hopefully it'll go by fairly quickly.  I've got no holidays left so will still have to waggle a mouse around and be present.

Nothing lined up yet so looks like i'll be having some time off in the new year.  Lots of projects start after the Christmas holiday so hopefully the market will pick up and i'll be working again soon enough.  My company is sadly no more or at least will be by the end of the year.

The records keep tumbling

Best 200m swim, 4 minutes dead!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

 

More Lampooning

 All my other Lampoon stuff is out too!

Nearly died

 Or at least my character nearly did.  Down to his last 5hp out of a fully fit 50hp.  My Solo got hit by a sniper rifle by a guy who i'd just blown his right hand off with my sniper rifle.  Lucky.  Very lucky indeed!

I even brought my Christmas dice lights.

The joke that never dies...

 Now to find time to watch the greatest film ever made.

For the uneducated, it's National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

Working from the cafe

 I fancied a change this morning so thought i'd do an hour in the cafe this morning.

I was supposed to meet April there after the gym yesterday but we had to take Arthur out of school to get checked out by a pharmacist.  He's had a bit of a gammy eye and the school nurse thought it might be contagious conjunctivitis.  Luckily it wasn't so just needs eye drops and was straight back to school,  Nice try suckers!

2 new swim records this morning

 Beat my 100m time by 1 second! And, also my 500m time by a whopping 29 seconds.  10min 28 seconds.  Still 12 seconds off intermediate level.

Record 100m swim this morning

 1m48.6. 0.9 seconds faster than my previous record 3 weeks ago.

Tree's up

 There's about £100 worth of Metallica baubles on there.

Steak night

 April was out on Friday so it was steak night for me

School fair

 Hilden Grange Christmas fair

smoores

Carol singing

Volunteer elf!

Supper club

A local farm shop had a pop up supper club on Saturday evening so a bunch of us headed over for a lovely meal and a lot of wine!

Santa paddle by at rugby training this morning!

 

Welcome to winter!

 Lovely morning sun

Really cold this morning

 Probably the last trip to the gym this week as i've got a game on Sunday.  That said.  It's very close to getting canceled.  Only 12 players for our vets game available apparently. Annoyed.  30 for the home game!

Waffles!

 I bought a toastie maker last week and it came with some waffle plates too. Flo enjoyed them.  She's lost the other front tooth now. Good job we got the family photos done before she lost them!

I played rugby for Leigh on Saturday

The weather was atrocious.  Not too cold but heavy wind and rain for the majority of the match.  We won 41-0.  I've got a vets game this Sunday too!

 

Arthur's got the class bear this week

 Now to hastily stage a few photographs and stick them to the book that comes with it.

Busy day on Sunday

 Rugby training in the wind, followed by a meet up with some of Arthur's school buddies at the old fire station then on to the pub to watch England finally get a win at rugby.

Interesting choice

I don't use Pinterest very often but just got advertised this. She is lovely, but not sure it's appropriate these days to have this mounted on an office wall.