Sun, Dec 31

Today, New Year's Eve, we took it easy. No photos for Dawn today. Instead, we did a few things around the house and relaxed. Brady called Dawn mid afternoon. The two talk every weekend, just as Paul and his dad used to when we were living in Florida.

Then we watched the film Sense and Sensibility. Paul had bought the DVD for Dawn last July, but we had to wait to get a DVD player before watching it.

Dawn then had to endure the rest of the day fighting to stay awake, as Paul insisted that the two of them stay awake until midnight to do 'First Footing'. You'll have to wait until the new posting to read all about that.

Sat, Dec 30

Today we drove up to Holloway again, making it the third time in the last eight days. This time it was to pick Paul's dad and brother up and then grab some pie and mash at Manze's in Chapel Street. The we all dropped into Sainsbury so we could pick up a few groceries.

Back at home Dawn again spent a good four plus hours putting photos into albums. At least she is now into the UK batch. Although she still has hundreds to do before she is anywhere near catching up.

Fri, Dec 29

Well the last three days went pretty quietly compared to the mayhem leading up to Christmas and our little accident with the brick on Boxing Day.

On Wednesday we made our way into town to have a wander around and look in the shops. Paul picked up a woolly sweater for £9.99, before we had lunch at the Woolpack. Then it was grocery shopping at Morrisons in Welwyn Garden City. Later back at home Paul edited the Christmas photos so we could get them on our Yahoo website and order copies for the photo albums.

Which brings us nicely to Thursday. Again it was a day spent at home with Tiny. Dawn, for her sins however, spent the best part of it (six hours) putting photos that had been taken back in February and March (at Clearwater Beach and Michaela's birthday party) into albums. She hardly even made a dent in the workload, as she hasn't even touched the ten months of photos that Paul has taken since arriving back in England.

Friday morning Paul visited his doctor to get the results of the tests to check out his liver. The good news is that they showed that all is well, and that he doesn't need to worry about having a fatty liver. The bad news was that he still has high blood pressure. So the doctor doubled his daily dosage and has asked to see him again in a month.

Dawn, on the other hand, attacked the Christmas decorations. Well, she started to take them down, that is. By the end of the day she had taken down the main tree in the living room and all the ornaments and stuff down that was on the ground floor.

Boxing Day (Tues, Dec 26)

The day after Christmas in England is a bank holiday called Boxing Day. History is obscure as to where the name came from. One opinion is that in the Middle Ages employees who had to work on Christmas Day were given a box with a gift on the following day when they left for home. Another opinion is that it relates to the money boxes collected for the poor at churches which were opened on this day and contents distributed.

Anyway, with everything closed today, Paul and Dawn decided to chill out for the day. However, the tranquility was disturbed when they heard a crashing noise from upstairs. On reviewing all the rooms and finding no damage, they checked outside, where they found a brick had fallen from the chimney stack, bounced on their roof and crashed into their kitchen roof. Fortunately, only a couple of tiles were broken on the two roofs. However, needless to say, they could have done without this hassle (and expense).

Once they were able to sit down and relax (and after a second helping of Christmas dinner and dessert), they watched the movie "Jaws." As hard as it may be to believe, Paul read the book over 30 years ago but never ever saw the blockbuster movie.

Christmas Day (evening)

After the two hour round trip to Holloway, Paul and Dawn (plus Tiny) needed to relax and enjoy the rest of Christmas Day. However, first there were a few more phone calls to be made. First Dawn called her mother Brady and Jim (who were celebrating Christmas at Edisto Beach, SC). Paul then called his brother David and and sister-in-law Rita (who live in Dublin, Ireland). Finally, after several attempts Dawn got hold of her sister Kelly (who lives in St. Augustine, FL).

With all the festivities over with and their batteries running low, Paul and Dawn chilled out watching a couple of recordings of "You've Been Framed" (like America's Funniest Videos). Tiny was stretched out the ottoman.

Christmas Day (afternoon)

On arriving back at the house, Paul heated some sausage rolls to snack on while everyone waited for the main meal.

Once Paul had the meal under control, his dad and brother George delved into their Christmas stockings to find some chocolates, satsumas and nuts . Of course, everyone needed to have a glass of Baileys to help pass the time.

When dinner was dished up, everyone thoroughly enjoyed the turkey, roast potatoes, honey- flavoured roasted parsnips, Brussel sprouts with bacon bits, carrots and the home-made stuffing, and home-made gravy. Again, alcohol helped celebrate the moment as eveyone shared a bottle of white wine.

Paul's dad and George then opened the gifts Paul and Dawn had got them (digital radio, DVD player and Allman Brothers CD), and Paul and Dawn opened the boxes of chocolates and Salt and Pepper grinders they'd received in return. Then it was time for dessert, which was Christmas pudding, mince pies and whipped cream. Watching the diet was definitely not on the agenda today.

With the sun setting, and with bellies crying out for a break from the food Paul and Dawn then drove Paul's dad and brother George home. On arriving at their flat Paul gave his dad a Christmas hug. One gift he truly appreciated, and something no money could buy.

Christmas Day (morning)

The day started with Tiny enjoying Christmas morning for the first time in three years. She went through her Christmas stocking smelling each mouse and toy one by one before tearing one with catnip in to bits, leaving the catnip all over the carpet.

Paul and Dawn then opened their Christmas presents alternating between each other to watch the other one's reaction to their wrapped gift. Dawn received several books and CDs, plus a pair of earrings and sweater from Paul. Paul too received several books, plus some slippers and a housecoat and an IPOD docking station. The two also got some books and CDs and some sheets and pillow cases from Brady and Jim, and some cash from Paul's dad and brother George.

Paul then made some Eggs Benedict for breakfast before preparing the veggies for dinner while Dawn vacuumed up the catnip.

Paul's brother Phillip phoned with his Christmas greetings before Paul and Dawn headed over to Holloway to collect Paul's dad and brother George and bring them back to the Hertford so they could all share some Christmas dinner.

Sun, Dec 24

The Whites started the day by watching the second half of the 2006 Strictly Come Dancing final, where cricketer Mark Ramprakash beat rugby player Matt Dawson. Paul and Dawn had only started watching the show halfway through the season, but really enjoyed it once they got hooked.

Paul then got stuck into the food for the festive day. First he cooked the turkey, before making some home-made stuffing using Cumberland sausages and some gravy with the turkey juices.

Tonight Dawn called Lee and Barbara and Shelia Neal to wish them all a Merry Christmas.

Sat, Dec 23

Almost there. This morning Paul got out early to do some shopping. However, it was not without having a panic first. He drove to Welwyn Garden City to pick up a turkey and some other food stuffs from the local Morrisons grocery store. Only they didn't have any fresh turkeys. The only ones available were for those who had placed orders. Thankfully Paul was able to get one when he drove back to Hertford and dropped into the Tesco grocery store, where he also picked up the rest of the perishables that would be on the plate come Christmas Day.

Back at the house, Paul then made some meat loaf with leeks and minced meat that tasted just excellent. Paul and Dawn felt they needed to get some beef in before the turkey feast.

Paul and Dawn then watched, as part of their Christmas tradition, their favourite movie, LOVE ACTUALLY. They then watched the first half of the Strictly Come Dancing finale before calling it a day.

Fri, Dec 22

Today would have been Paul's parents 55th wedding anniversary. And, although Paul's mum is no longer with us, it was still a special day for Paul. It was the first time in eight years that he was able to go to the cemetery with his dad to lay some flowers on her grave on their anniversary. Paul and Dawn drove to Holloway to collect Paul's dad and brother George before heading to the cemetery in Finchley.

Again, southern England was fog bound, which added atmosphere to the graveyard images. All four paid their respects before heading to the Gatehouse for a quick lunch. The meal was Dad's treat this time, while George bought the drinks.

Thur, Dec 21

Today we woke up again to the thick fog that had been hanging over southern England. You may have seen in the news that hundreds of flights from Heathrow airport had been cancelled, making it a nightmare for people trying to get home for Christmas.

Anyway, the fog didn't stop us from getting out in the car and having a ride over to Harlow to grab some more bits and pieces for Christmas. While we were there, we stopped in Oretago and enjoyed some Tapas for lunch.

Wed, Dec 20

Well, Dawn has finished work for this year. Today was her last day until January 3rd, and to say that she is looking forward to her nice long break is an understatement. However, the last couple of days never went by without incident.

On Monday, the plumber came back to replace the shower pump that caused the leak Friday. The good news is that we can now enjoy a nice hot shower again. The bad news is that the whole shower problem cost us close to £400, and that does not include the cost of repairing the living room ceiling.

On Tuesday, Paul dropped into our local hospital in Hertford to get a blood test. His last one showed that he has a fatty liver, and the doctor wanted to check it out again. We're sure that getting this done over Christmas will not improve the reading! He goes back to his doctor Friday week for his results.

When Dawn got home from work today, and after she enjoyed a nice dinner cooked while she was on the way home, she called Margaret Kerr (Jim's mother) to wish her a Merry Christmas.

Sun, Dec 17

This weekend we just chilled out and got ourselves a little bit better prepared for Christmas. On Saturday we had a ride into town to do some shopping and grab a bite to eat in the Woolpack pub. Then when we got home Paul put our Christmas cards up on the chimney breast, while Dawn put the miniature oraments on the three foot Christmas tree that Brady and Jim gave us last year. This tree will be on the dresser in our bedroom so that we can keep in the festive spirit 24/7.

On Sunday Dawn wrapped up the presents that she had picked up for Paul (with Tiny in attendance, of course). We then sat down and enjoyed the film Polar Express, before watching a recording of the Royal Variety Performance.

Fri, Dec 15

Where do we start? This morning Paul drove over to Harlow (about 25 minutes drive) for his 4th job interview. However, after being kept 20 minutes because the Finance Director was late in for work, he was informed that his CV was too system-related, and that he was too senior for the role they had. Oh well.

This afternoon Dawn attended her official company Christmas dinner. Well, she did for about 45 minutes. Although Dawn had no real intentions of staying very long, she made her exit a little sooner that she had planned because the event was turning into a farce. In a nutshell, the dinner was actually a drink-a-thon. The guest list of around 170 each received tickets for 5 free alcoholic drinks. The food that should have been served buffet-style ended up being finger food served on a platter where the waiters bumped shoulders with the guests there was so little room. The lighting was almost nonexistent; it took several minutes to acclimatize one's eyes to the dimness on the room. And finally, the room all this was happening in was down two levels to the subterranean London. A fire hazard if ever there was one.

Anyway, Dawn met Paul at a local Costa coffee shop before we made our way to Islington to grab an early dinner. Our first shock of the evening was when we visited the building where Paul worked for 17 years before we immigrated to Florida. The old warehouse that had been offices for the best part of Paul's working life was now a three-level open-planned arts store (photo above). Paul felt strange to say the least walking around the art supplies where there had been for many years office desks, filing cabinets and partition walls.

We then found a Mexican restaurant, Desperados, for dinner. However, the food was far from what we would regard as authentic Mexican. It was barely Tex-Mex. All we will say is that the cheese nachos were cheese-flavoured Doritos covered with cheese, guacamole, sour cream and jalapenos. Worst of all were the pictures in the men's toilet wall. Paul would have preferred graffiti that you could choose to ignore than a full length mural of women in various sexual positions with skeletons.

Our day never ended there, though. About 8.30pm Paul noticed that we had a leak coming from our living room ceiling. Well, Tiny really noticed it, as water hit her on her back and freaked her out. Anyway, we called out an emergency plumber who found that the shower pump in our bedroom closet was and had been leaking for quite a long time. The plumber removed the guilty culprit and left shortly after midnight. This means that we will be washing in the sink until we get a new shower pump. Hopefully on Monday!

Thur, Dec 14

Thursday arrived with still no feedback from Paul's interview on Monday. However, he did received a phonecall from a company in Harlow that he had a applied for a job nearly a month ago. They said they'd like to see him and scheduled an interview for Friday morning.

This afternoon Paul drove up Holloway and spent a couple of hours with his dad again. Paul's dad got his laptop out and looked at a magazine and discussed the pros and cons relating to many of the portables on the market. Paul then made his way home where he prepared some battered fish with cheese-scalloped potatoes for dinner before picking Dawn up from Hertford North Station.

After dinner, Paul then watched Spurs beat Dinamo Bucherest on television 3-1 while Dawn wrote out and addressed all the UK-mailed Christmas cards.

Mon, Dec 11

This morning Paul dropped Dawn off at Hertford North station before heading over to Watford for his job interiew. The drive took over an hour and a half because the directions he got off Mapquest were wrong. Luckily he had given himself plenty of time to get there, so he still got there in time for the interview. He felt the interview went well. However, he was not too keen on the 50 mile roundtrip drive. They said they would give Paul a couple of days to think about it, and that they would be in touch with the agency themselves with their feedback.

Sun, Dec 10

Saturday we headed out to the Angel Islington so we could have some pie and mash for lunch before popping up to see Dad and George for a couple of hours. Then on the way home we stopped on the A10 just south of Cheshunt to pick up a Christmas tree. When we got home Dawn then pulled out the 3 foot tree Brady and Jim gave us last Christmas and put it up in our bedroom on the dresser, and hung a wreath on the front door. She did add a string of lights to the small tree, but still needs to add the ornaments. Then we officially started our Christmas celebrations by watching our Christmas Vacation DVD with Chevy Chase.

To be honest, we have already started the Christmas thing as Dawn has already gone through the first batch of party mix that she made at Thanksgiving. Paul did a second batch this week, before he did a batch of Smarties mix for Dad and George. We call it Smarties mix because Paul substituted Smarties for chocolate M&Ms. They look and taste the same.

Sunday Dawn got stuck into hanging the lights and ornaments on the 6' 6" Christmas tree and getting out all the rest of the festive stuff. By the end of the day she had put a nativity scene (plus some Santas) on the mantle piece, some Santas and festive bears on top of the bookshelves, and other ornaments (including a miniature tree) on some window sills.

Fri, Dec 8

Dawn had booked today as a vacation day (nothing to do with the Christmas lunch/dinner yesterday), so we made the most of the opportunity and headed to the Galleria shopping centre in Hatfied to do some Christmas shopping. For the first hour Paul checked out the ground floor stores, whilst Dawn checked out those on the first floor. We then had a quick lunch at Bella Italia, before swapping floors. It proved fairly productive, as we only need to get each other one more gift each and some stocking stuffers.

One point of interest to our readers back in America. Check out the photo above. Yes, you've read it correctly. It does say TKMaxx. It's Britain's version of the outlet store you're all familiar with.

On the work front, Paul got another couple of calls from the recruiter who has been busy this week looking for work for him. The first was to ask his permission to put him forward for a vacancy in Welwyn Garden City (about 15 minutes drive), and the second was to let him know that he had an inteview on Monday for the job in Watford. Paul also received a letter when he got home informing him that he had been turned down for the job he had an interview for last Friday in Stevenage.

Thur, Dec 7

Today Paul recieved another phone call from a recruiter asking whether he was interested in her putting his CV forward for an accounts manager vacancy at a company in Watford (about an hour's drive). Paul again said he would give it a shot.

Dawn, on the otherhand, had a Christmas lunch-come-dinner at The Zetter in London. One of her bosses wanted to say "Thank you" to his team. It's just unfortunate that he only decided to include Dawn at the eleventh hour when she reminded him that he needed to make sure ALL his team knew of the event. As for the dinner, let's just say that Dawn had steak (not the traditional turkey and stuffing), and that Paul met her at Hertford North station when she got back.

Wed, Dec 6

This morning Paul picked up an edition of the Hatfied and Welwyn Times after he had dropped Dawn off at the station and found another job worth applying for. So as soon as he finished reading the advert he typed out a letter of introduction and printed out a copy of his CV and drove to Stevenage to hand the envelope containing the documents in by hand.

Later in the day he got a call from a recruiter asking whether he was interested in an accounts role in Ware (about 15 minutes drive) from where we live. Paul said give it a go, he has nothing to lose.

Mon, Dec 4

This morning Paul dropped in to see his doctor and after a very brief discussion received a prescription for blood pressure pills. The 24 hour monitor that Paul had on a few weeks ago indicated that his average blood pressure was too high, and that it was safer if they tried to control it with medication. Paul also has to get a blood test done the week before Christmas to check that his liver is okay.

Sun, Dec 3

We've had a quite weekend for a change. On Saturday we went into town to get our haircuts at "A Head of Time", before returning home so Paul could watch the Arsenal/Spurs football match on Sky. Needless to say, Paul was not overjoyed with the result of that game.

Today, we spent the day, well Dawn did mostly, doing the household chores before relaxing a little. Brady then called for her weekly chat with Dawn.

Fri, Dec 1

Yesterday morning Paul mailed a job application to City University, and emailed his CV to a company in Stevenage in response to their advert in the Welwyn & Hatfield Times before heading out for a ride over to Holloway to see his dad and brother. Well, believe it or not, within 40 minutes of sending the email, Paul got a call on his cell phone asking him he was available for an interview. Needless to say Paul agreed and made an appointment for this morning.

As with the interview in Waltham Cross, Paul left the meeting without any real positive feelings. It's strange for Paul to be sitting on the opposite side of the table being interviewed for a change, having been on the other side for so many years. He feels confident in the interviews, but can't really read the faces of those doing the interviews. You just never know.

Anyway, yesterday Paul did some window shopping at Nags Head in Holloway before dropping in to see his dad for a few hours.