Seeing red (in a good way!)

Quote of the day, from Stephen, who's just got glasses: Now that I can see, our house looks smaller. And dirtier.

Yes well. Fair enough.

My birthday celebration was good. We went skating at the Tower of London.





Steve looks a bit pained in the picture; that is because neither he nor Bobby really enjoy ice skating; they only do it to be nice to me.





It's unseasonably warm at the moment, so the ice was a bit watery. But it was still enjoyable. What was not enjoyable was the cost of the train-fare. I'd forgotten that it was a week day (the joys of being on holiday!), and had booked an early skating slot, so we ended up having to pay peak fares - aaaargh! Ridiculous, I can't imagine how people can afford to do that every day! We had a good time, though ... ate at Wagamama afterwards (yum), so pretty much a reprise of last year.

I think I take a picture of the reflections in this mirrored building every time we go to London Bridge...





I opened my presents when we got home in the afternoon.





In the photo, I am trying on a ring from my mom. You can see my beautiful red hot chocolate cafetiere, and I'm wearing gorgeous starry slippers. I was really touched by the things everyone got me. All perfect ... I felt very spoiled, and somewhat guilty. I am definitely getting old. The first symptom: being able to wait to open my presents, rather than doing it at 5am. The second symptom: feeling that people shouldn't have gone to so much trouble for me.

Right now, I'm upstairs sitting on my birthday present from Bobby - an armchair from (of course) Ikea. This one...






It's interesting, back when we lived in South Africa, and when we lived in Florida also, we were all about subtle earth tones and white walls and minimalist decor. Now that we live in a place with long, dark, winters we're all about colour! If we ever move to somewhere spacious and sunny again, I wonder if we'll still like our furniture.

I asked for the chair because I wanted to have a comfy place to sit up in our bedroom; I am trying not to spread all my work papers and so forth through the house, but it's lonely working by myself all the way up here, so I thought that if I had a nice chair up here the kids might come up here to read or hang out while I worked. We will see if it pans out that way!

Bobby and Steve have walked into town this morning, Emily's expecting visitors any minute, and Soph's got five friends downstairs in the livingroom... I should probably wrap the presents that are sitting on the bedroom floor. We have not been terribly extravagant but I think everyone should be happy with their gifts.