First Christmas Away From Home
Okay. This is something like the fourth night in a row I’ve slept after 6 am, and given that I have to go to Glasgow on Wednesday and radically adjust my sleep cycle to something more compatible with a gruelling debating tournament, I’m getting a little worried. And also a little concerned about the image I’m presenting to my hall priest, who tends to come out to pick up his paper at exactly the right time to meet me tottering in. With regard to Glasgow, my lack of research and the three weeks’ worth of virginal Economists lying unsullied in my room (please note the capitalization, I do mean the current affairs periodical) are also compounding my worries right now.
And you know what? In typical Michellian fashion, instead of trying to do something about any of this, I’m sitting here in Russ’s room typing this at 6 in the morning. I’d also be reading Josh’s blog if I could but I ordinarily access it from my bookmarks, and I can’t remember his URL. (There’s no point snooping in Russ’s bookmarks to see if it’s there, because Russ has crap taste in music.)
That was a joke. He doesn’t have crap taste in music. It’s just not as good as mine.
But enough of insulting Russ. First of all, it’s not exactly a practice that’s a novelty to me. :P Secondly, I’ve had great food and a great Christmassy feeling today with his family in his home, and I really do appreciate that.
All in all, my first Christmas away from home has gone fine. Dinner with the UCL Singaporeans on Christmas Eve, midnight mass at Westminster Cathedral, and Christmas Day with one of my best friends and his family.
My only dissatisfaction with this happy little Christmas collage would probably be the loss of one of my gloves, somewhere during the walk between Westminster Cathedral and Newman House. After a twenty minute search of my room and the staircase from the front door proved futile, I decided to accept it philosophically and go back to Bell Street to join the UCL Singaporeans and our good friend Jack Daniels, muttering “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away” under my breath every time my fingers threatened to drop off.
Come to think of it, even this dissatisfaction fades away because this morning I discovered a truly fortuitous circumstance which renders me fully gloved. My current pair of gloves is the same pattern and cut as my earlier pair of gloves, and I bought my current pair of gloves because I’d lost one of the earlier pair somewhere in Camden. This morning, I rooted around a bit for that earlier unlost glove, and found that it’s a perfect match for the glove I lost yesterday!
And there you have it. All’s right with my world this Christmas. :)