"Season of Mists...

(This blog was started on 18 November and interrupted by a trip back to Zimbabwe for my Dad's funeral, so will combine Autumn's arrival and Christmas)

... and mellow fruitfulness", as the man said. After a much delayed start, autumn has at last arrived in this little corner of East Anglia. Crispy cool, clear days and nights, interspersed with patches of rain and wind, and leaves everywhere. Global warming or just a normal variation in seasonal temperatures - I dunno, but it sure has been getting warmer (or at least, milder) here.

Our little corner of the road looks out onto some wonderfully coloured trees in autumn and I shall be very sorry to move out of this house. It does, however, seem inevitable given the murderous commute to SW London where my new job is located. 3 hours and a bit, station to station. Having said that, however, I guess a lot depends on where the projects are located that will be occupying my time. As I said to my new boss the other day, there's no sense in me moving out of Norwich if my project work is outside the UK. The three major places my skills could usefully be deployed right now (if it were not for the imminent arrival of baby Hogga) are Trinidad, Germany and Finland. We'll see how the New Year shapes up before making any major decisions. I must admit my current inclination is towards jacking this all in and sitting somewhere sunny for a couple of years - probably too much bad news all at once and too little daylight...

Anyway I put in some surreptitious work on decorating the house for Christmas. Marcela is generally bedbound right now, having some hip girdle pain from the imminent birth and associated hormones - and in fact is also confined to a wheelchair when not in bed, thanks to a DVT which necessitates me injecting her with heparin every night... so she was all unawares of the shenanigans her Mom and I got up to, quietly bringing in a 2,25m Christmas tree and decorating it - and more. Some creative cooking and we had a great Christmas lunch - the turkey came out well even if I say so myself. I just treat them like big chickens essentially, and ignore all the technical bollocks talked by the Poms.



Too warm for a fire, sadly, even though I laid in some traditional logs for our little open grate fireplace. It's about 7 degrees outside which is warm for mid winter. Anyway it was a wonderful fusion meal with English turkey, Moldovan puddings and South African sparkling wine, followed by Zimbabwean tea. A little quiet now and then, when we remembered distant family, but of course we called them and cheered ourselves up.

So here's hoping you all had a great time too - and are ready to face the New Year. God knows what it will bring, I hope it starts well with a healthy baby and trouble-free delivery (looking like 5th Jan now, I think they will induce to put Marcela out of her misery). Later in the year I think it will be time to re-evaluate and see how close I am to my ideal work life balance. Greetings to all, with love from the Hogga family in Norfolk.