Jkt1

The flight from LHW to SIN was uneventful. I declined the supper, having had Nanny's roast beef for lunch, and a decent tea in the Heathrow lounge (although I did have the satay skewers!). Watched a film - the second Kingsman one, which was even more far-fetched than the first - read for a little while, although not for long as I realised that battery conservation was the order of the day due to bringing a duff charger lead, and then turned in.

Slept reasonably well, albeit a little fitfully, but got a decent rest, and was up in time for breakfast and dozing whilst listening to music before arrival at Changi. We were a little late in, so not much time at the airport (enough for a trip to an electronics store for a new cable, and a quick pit-stop in the lounge) before on to the next flight. Read my book until the battery gave up (no obvious sign of a charger point in or around the chair) so listened to music for the rest of the way. My nano playlist hasn't changed in years, and mostly has music that only I like listening to, but in amongst its 400 song shuffle, something came on that I don't remember ever hearing before, or even choosing for the playlist in the first place. It was a song by Jason Mraz called Details in the Fabric, and it was lovely.

It made me cry a little bit.



If that wasn't enough, again of 400 or so songs on shuffle, the next one that popped up was Michael Jackson singing You are not alone.

You are not alone
I am here with you
Though we're far apart
You're always in my heart.

That made me cry a little bit more.

By now we were coming in to land, so I did a reasonable job of composing myself and thought that any redness of eyes was probably excusable by the length of the journey and the confusion over time zone. Getting through Jakarta airport was a simple exercise - a had a valid visa this time around - and we were collected and off into the city.

Straight to the Royal Kitchen for dinner with the PD before checking in to our regular hotel. Exchanged messages with home but didn't manage to speak as N was at the garage with the car. Slept ok until waking up at about 4am, feeling fairly hot, as I hadn't thought to set the air-con before getting in to bed. Had a very clear recollection of what I'd been dreaming about just before waking. N and I had been out shopping, in a clearly invented place, but a well to do gift shop in a well to do cathedral town. I'd found a rather nice 2018 diary, hand-made paper, lots of pictures, lots of gardening, lots or recipes, and I remember very clearly saying to N what a lovely Christmas present it would make for Mum - something to put all of her appointments in, and to look forward to the year ahead.

I didn't find the dream, or the remembering of it, all that upsetting, maybe even strangely comforting. Make of that what you will.

Anyway, back to sleep pretty much up to the alarm, and off to the office for the day.

Catch up

Time for a quick catch up for the record before getting on with reporting from overseas:

Friday
Getting up straight in the office, and successfully getting away early. A houseful of teenagers getting excited about booking a villa in Spain for a week in the summer (with all sorts of complicated financial arrangements being made, including alarming wads of cash appearing). A very large Papa John's order, as always, and this time a couple of bonus pizzas ordered for sharing with Kristen and Gavin.

Saturday
Rather disappointingly clobbered by migraine for much of the day, but rallied enough for a trip to Bluey in the evening for a meal out with N, J and I. Chose Bill's for the restaurant, and we were rather disappointed with the quality. Still, at least we were grateful that we didn't have the fish pie, which arrived at the table next door as we were finishing up, and which, we all agreed, deserved the description of 'rancid'. Beat a hasty retreat and got cupcakes, which Jake and I enjoyed whilst watching MOTD. Note also that J & I did our Premier League season end predictions, which I should post on here some time after I get back.

Sunday
Still not right in the head, but helped with packing by Nicky, and ended up having a quick nap before setting off in the taxi for the airport. Not ideal preparation, but head cleared on the way, and felt a lot better by the time that I'd arrived in the lounge and had some food.

Plane

Just about to board my plane to Singapore. Terrible form on the blogging over last couple of days. Will try harder over this trip. Might even do some offline blogging from planes for later uploading ...

NBA

Jake at the O2 to see the basketball this evening. Looking forward to hearing his stories when he gets back.

Mud

If it's been a rough day, or there's been disappointing news, always worth remembering people having a tougher time.

Last year we drove through the parts of Southern California that have been affected by the mudslides. Let's hope the worst is over for them and things might start to look up.

Cinderella

Today I have inserted a new 'widget' into the website - a holiday countdown. I had one before, but I deleted it, and so I've had to google to track down the necessary HTML code (as I don't want some crappy commercial widget with its associated advertising), and now we can see that it is 179 days until we go to Orlando in the summer.

This may not seem significant, but it is. Specifically it is less than 180 days, and this means that the window has opened for restaurant bookings, and so Nicky has already taken advantage, with a lunch reservation for 'Cinderella's Royal Table', the restaurant that is inside the Castle in the Magic Kingdom, where we will be going on the first day of our holiday.

This was, I believe, a special request from one the new members of our holiday party.

Fine with me, as I will have a whole new excuse for more castle photography, and not only that, I may even get my photo taken with a real-life Disney Princess! :)

Reshuffle

Is it just me or is this reshuffle a shambles, and apparently there's more to come tomorrow.

No question of any changes at the Home Office, Foreign Office, No. 11 or 'Brexit Dept.' and it seems several other ministers refused proposed changes as the day went on.

By the time the evening came one wonders whether Mrs May put her foot down when Justine Greening argued to stay at Education and said no. So, Ms Greening told her to stuff it and quit. Good for her!

Taxing

A productive day as Sunday's go. Started off with a trip to church for my January Sunday on the rota, followed by dog-walking and Sunday lunch with Nan. Coco was the guest of honour - all part of the continuing project to get her out and about a little bit more and increase her confidence. Indeed she spent the afternoon with Nan, before being disturbed by the noisy dogs.

This afternoon Nicky and I have been busy sorting out under the stairs. It's amazing just how much luggage we'd accumulated, and how many things had been put there when we moved in and hadn't appeared again. Nicky's car is now jam-packed, ready for a trip to the charity store tomorrow.

And, to top it off, subject to checking something at work this week, my tax return is ready to go.

Productive indeed.

Barnum

A day for putting boxes of decorations back up in the loft today, and so the place feels rather bare, with no trees and no festive flourishes any more.

Nicky and I had a trip to Bluey this evening for a little light shopping, followed by our favourite tapas, and then a trip to the cinema (one of the new screens with the comfy reclining seats) to see 'The Greatest Showman'. An excellent film, with Hugh Jackman as P.T.Barnum. Probably best to say that it was 'inspired by' historical events rather than being faithful to them, but I expect that it would be something of a Barnum maxim not to let the truth get in the way of a good story.

41 in review

Time for a quick 'year in review' moment. I achieved 82% of my target, and read 41 books in 2017, according to my Goodreads records, which was at least a step in the right direction from the 35 of the previous year. Thanks to the analysis tools that the site provides, I apparently read 12,600 pages over the year (I make that an average of 35 a day, so when put like that doesn't actually seem all that much).

I definitely favour modern works, having read only eight books published before 2000, only one of which (Diary of a Nobody) was published before 1900. Also, it seems that I have (as suspected) a slight preference for the made up stuff, with fiction beating non fiction by 26 to 15.

Looking at individual authors, my favourite for the year was Kate Atkinson with five, followed by John Grisham with four. Grisham continues to be in first place with 20 'since records began' (start of 2011), but Kate Atkinson is now up to 5th with 7.

Enough of the nerdy stats, from a qualitative perspective, some of my 2017 highlights would have to be:

• When Breath Becomes Air - very moving account by a very smart guy.
• Human Croquet - probably my top pick of the Atkinson's of the year.
• The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy - wasn't sure if I was going to like this one as much as Harold Fry, but thought it was fantastic, even if the ending upset me a great deal. Had the opportunity to talk to the author at a signing, and told her so!
• The Year of Reading Dangerously - encouraging stuff for a determined reader, although I don't suppose I'll ever manage quite so many classics (see above re preponderance of modern publications).
• The Heart of What Was Lost - an opportunity to return to Osten Ard and to be introduced to a new story. Must get stuck into The Witchwood Crown soon.
• Ordinary Thunderstorms - Boyd writes a great story. Loved Any Human Heart, and this was top quality as well. Must read some more of his.

James

A first book blog of the year to mark the first finished book of the year. Last night I read the last short story the P.D. James collection 'Sleep no more'. A second posthumous collection of short stories published in the lead up to Christmas (including 'The murder of Santa Claus'!), although I haven't actually read 'The Mistletoe Murders' yet, which was published in 2016. I wonder how long her literary executors will be able to keep this up, finding a few short stories to collect, and throwing in a few with a festive theme along the way.

In other book news, I've just started the process of registering for my Christmas books gift from Margaret. I've inserted the necessary information to website no.1, but I think I now need to do the same with website no.2, which is currently saying that it is too busy and won't be processing any more gift redemptions until the weekend!

Kind

So we decided last night to be kind to Coco (and maybe ourselves) and let her stay with us rather than sleep downstairs. We'd forgotten that she doesn't settle so well overnight if she sleeps in our room, so no one got a very good night's sleep.

Normal service has been resumed this evening. It's for the best!

Jessie

That wasn't the New Year we wanted.

We will miss you sweet Jessie.

New Year

2018 has arrived already, and it's back to work tomorrow. Still, a fine festive season had by all. A relatively quiet Christmas Day with the four of us Boxley residents, followed by a houseful (16) on Boxing Day. Then off to Bec's on the 27th with many of the same faces, plus Lucy, James and Teddy to join the fun. A trip to the cinema with the Crans on the 28th (Star Wars VIII) and a couple of quieter days before New Year at Carla and Ali's.

Put in a single paragraph, it makes it sound quite busy!