Since I’ve been back I’ve been working away both at home and in the office, so this is the reason we’re at mid January and I’m only just getting round to an update. Xmas holiday 2004 turned out to be a pleasant vacation, if just as rushed as any other trip back to Scotland. I don’t think I’ve managed to successfully cover so much in the space of a week before, though, so to do the amount of things we did, and have a good time was tops. Since Fliss has a detailed account on her site, I’ll just list my highlights here to save covering the same ground.
Xmas day was great – it snowed, and to come down from the loft in the morning to a white xmas, the last I’ll have in that house, was really cool. Top marks to meteorology for that one. Fliss got me two excellent presents in the form of a giant jar of chilli peppers and a pair of monster slippers. Her microwaveable teddy bear was well received, too, so it turns out we can do xmas presents on a budget! Most of the day was then spent playing TimeSplitters 2 on the PlayStation with Andrew, before having a tasty mum made dinner in the evening. The picture on the right shows us sitting down at the table for dinner (clockwise: Steven, Ann, Andrew, Iain, me, Fliss), and this too-cool-to-smile picture of Iain and I shows us relaxing afterwards – check out my kewl monster slippers!
On the Monday, Auntie Mary’s Murder Mystery evening was pretty good fun, with Crazy Uncle John going the whole hog in his role as the pantomime dame. I had been appointed as the director by Auntie Mary, so I didn’t get to dress up, but it was a good laugh all the same.
Mid-week I met up with Ade and Eoan at The Lab in Glasgow, as seems to be the norm, before moving on to have a great meal at a place whose name escapes me. After the meal we met up with cousin Iain and friends for a few drinks more at a couple of places. It was a good night that fizzled out a bit in the end, so I made for the last train home while Ade and Eoan went to a casino.
On New Years Eve Andrew and I took Iain up to the airport, and ended up going karting at Scotkart on the way back. This was great fun – good to be in the dry, too, after doing the outdoor karting in the rain, back in November. I set the third fastest time of the day, which I was quite pleased about, and my timing sheet showed I’d been very consistant on traffic free laps. The new circuit layout was quite a bit twistier than before, though, so it was very tiring on the arms and required quite a bit of commitment through the corners to string together a good lap. That’s probably the reason why Andrew fared a bit worse than myself, but he seemed to enjoy himself all the same.
Later that evening we celebrated New Year at Uncle James and Auntie Denny’s place in Cardross. It was nice just being around the family, having a few drinks and a laugh, and Auntie Denny had laid on a great spread of munchies despite being ill. After the bells, Uncle James took me down to his local to pick up his h-u-g-e friend Mike, and we ended up stopping there for a few drinks – very cheery it was too. Back at the house, we carried on the merriment until around 3am, when a sober Fliss drove Andy and I home.
When it was all said and done, the holiday was a great way to close out 2004 – here’s hoping for a good 2005 for friends and family alike.
