I am sorry, my lovely readers, for having been absent for so long. Somehow the days have just gone floating by springing nothing specific to write about to my mind. I'm not saying it's been boring or that nothing has been going on (there's always something going on in this place).
Finally this morning I started to feel a growing urge to get some text out of my system. Looking out of the window at 06:30 the grass in the Steyne Gardens was frozen — something I haven't seen here before. It was so calm out there. Crispy but calm. Everything was still, no wind, no people, nothing. Only the rising sun, clear sky, and the glittering frosty grass. It was so beautiful, and I think it is about time it starts getting more wintry. It's December, which equals Christmas. It's December, so I can listen to Christmas songs (how I've been waiting for this day to come)! It's December, which means I'm seeing my family this month. Is it really this month? It is. It's December, which makes me think about what to get everyone for a present. Back home I often have the problem I can't think of anything. It's simply because there's nothing nice enough. Well, here the problem is the opposite: what NOT to get. Everywhere I go there's an endless sea of nice and even nicer things. I was very excited at first, but now that I think about it, I don't know which is worse! Posting huge parcels to Finland isn't free, you know. Don't get your hopes up, friends... Oh and I managed to get myself a real teacup, can you believe it, no more drinking from the old yoghurt pots!
I love the Christmas lights on Warwick Street. They keep changing colour from red to purple, from purple to blue, from blue to turquoise, from turquoise to green, from green to yellow, from yellow to orange, from orange to red. Now read that again, please. Just kidding, you don't have to. I also decorated my own room with £5 colour lights to make the nights a bit warmer and brighter. I didn't know it gets dark so early here as well, I've always thought it's some kind of a North thing. Because Christmas is well on it's way, I had really started to long for the seasonal drink we have in Finland. We call it glögi. I had assumed they wouldn't have it here, and had my family post me some. (Googling "posting liquids" made me feel rather desperate, by the way, so to save you from that feeling let me just tell you it IS possible.) And they sent me a pair of brand new, granny-made woolen stockings, too. However, I found something that's very very close to glögi, they call it mulled punch. I believe that's the non-alcoholic version of mulled wine. I bought a bottle to see whether it would be anywhere near to glögi — and it was! I opened the bottle, smelled it, and almost cried. Then I invited my Finnish friends over to have a mug. Now with the real thing I have to be really careful about who I'm going to share it with. Not to say, Jatta and Marika, that you two wouldn't deserve it! I'm sure I've got some for you. My kettle isn't too happy with this, though.
A couple of days ago I did something totally on impulse. I had already given up on the thought of doing it once, but then, I just did it. I bought a ticket to Jools Holland Show in Brighton to see my biggest-idol-ever-all-time-favourite artist KT Tunstall. I've been listening to her music for ages, I've learnt so much from her, I've been singing and playing her songs over and over again. I can't put down in words how big a deal this is for me. Even before coming here I used to say that during those six months in England I'm bloody going to see her, no matter what. I know what this probably sounds like, at least to someone who isn't that into music. A concert, how is that a matter of life and death? It fucking is. So I've got a ticket. Now I need the night off, and that's where the problem lies. For now I've been told no, although it wasn't the final answer. The night happens to be the busiest of all nights, and everyone should be working. Which means that most likely no one will be able to cover me. If she tells me no, I seriously don't know what to do. I might have to call in sick (though I know how see-through that would be) if my personality lets me. I'm not the kind of person to rudely skip work just for fun. I'm not the kind of person who lies to people like that. But let me just say it would be absolute torture to be working that night knowing what's happening only a couple of miles away at the very moment. UNBEARABLE.
Alright. I'm going to end with a weird thing that happened to me a while ago. One morning I was hit by a sudden hunger for marmalade and butter on toast. Orange marmalade. I don't even like orange marmalade! So what can you do, I had that for breakfast, and was very pleased afterwards.
So here's me, alive and well, hope to get back to you soon! :)
Coldplay - Christmas Lights