It has as always been a delight to hear from friends and relatives through Christmas cards and on-line messages. The sitting room is festooned with cards again, and we shall remember the kind thoughts they brought long after they’re taken down.
We had a select family Christmas at home: Martyn’s sister Sandra joined us for the day and stayed overnight. Simple meal: a half leg of lamb from Lidl and a shop-bought small Christmas pudding. We can’t do big eats these days! There was enough lamb left for a shepherd’s pie, using up all the leftover veggies, including the roast potatoes, crumbled over the meat and veg, and topped with grated cheese.
Pleasant day here on Tuesday with the Gandon family: Richard and I were colleagues in the eighties and nineties, and were neighbours back in Tonbridge days. Their daughter and son have developed into sociable and thoughtful adults, and we always enjoy their company. We had apéritifs in the sitooterie, with simple palmiers made with Serrano ham and passata. Mary Berry lamb casserole, a modest cheeseboard and apple crumble for those who had room for it (I didn’t….).
I spent about an hour on the phone yesterday with BT customer service (much of it listening to raucous muzak on hold). The reason I called was that, since we were connected by fibre optic cable, our internet service has deteriorated sharply. We used to have a bundle that included fixed and two mobile phones, broadband and tv. As we haven’t used the tv service more than a few times, we’ve discontinued that. The mobile phones are about to switch over to EE which offers a huge data allowance. It’ll cost a little more, but the whole deal is considerably cheaper than before - and I blagged a further modest discount as a BT pensioner. I did a speed test just now, and was getting about 450-480 Mbit/s. The person who handled the business was friendly and capable. So we’re hoping that’s one problem solved for the new year - which we hope will be a good and healthy one for our readers.
