Where you'll find me

Things have been a bit quiet over here, really because things have been a bit quiet in my life. I've found myself, at the end of another busy term, feeling pretty wiped out. All I've wanted to do is retreat under a blanket in my living room and stare at the twinkly lights on my Christmas Tree. My days have become the occasional trip out to sample the many festive varieties of hot chocolate available in Oxford, of course, with a book in hand. Work plods on but in a more leisurely pace, a lot is being produced from underneath my duvet! Other than that everything has become very low key around here.

In our mad cap world it can be such a temptation to just push on. To always be doing something exciting, to always have something to say. Right now I have neither of these things. My thoughts have gone quiet and I have no desire to make any plans. In some ways I am sure this is a natural thing, that it is important to go with the seasons and to give yourself what you need. So often daily life squeezes out the things of real value: just sitting idle for a while, a long lunch with a good friend with no where to rush off to, curling up on the sofa with a mammoth box set and a box of Quality Street, eating mash potato – A LOT of mash potato.

After a roller coaster few years and a busy term moving at lightning speed towards final exams I feel like my cup had begun to runneth dry. I need to be filled up again by all the things I love so that I have something to pour out again. So that's where I am right now, wrapped up and reflective somewhere in the Oxfordshire countryside. I will be back in due course, meanwhile I hope you are finding your restoration this Christmas, wherever you are.