Ships in the night

There is a lasagne currently cooling down in my kitchen. The smell of garlic permeates the whole house and Lila is in a constant state of drool.

The lasagne in question is made almost entirely from scratch (bar the white sauce which I simply cannot get right no matter how many times I try) and is something I make whenever I am going away. The Baron likes living in the knowledge that merely opening the fridge will reveal to him multiple ready made meals. He isn't one for cooking if he can at all avoid it. And since there are two McDonalds and a KFC within about five miles of here, plus the three Indians, two Chinese, one Thai, two good pubs, another three McDonalds, Burger King, Nando's and two fish and chip shops in the next town, he probably will manage to avoid all forms of cooking.

So you may have realised that I am going away. This time tomorrow I will be slinking around a chilly airport, laptop in hand, awaiting a late flight to a very frosty Aberdeen. I'm not very pleased about this, as I wasn't actually asked if I minded going, but was in fact told that I was going. I will be undertaking a rather complex review, which involves looking at an attempted murder and interviewing a multitude of scary people with accents that I am not confident that I will fully understand.

Aberdeen also received a large amount of snow a couple of days ago. I have just purchased my very first thermal vest. I feel so old.......but having stayed in hotel rooms many many times, I am only too aware of the range of heating capability I may encounter.

But I digress. I was supposed to be telling you about my last couple of weeks. Where to start?
I got a new car. Our old car was struggling along and we didn't think that it woul last through the winter. So we decided that I would take the car that I was entitled to through work, and pass my trusty little car onto the Baron, leaving us free to sell his.

I upgraded my mobile phone. Finally, I would have a phone that worked (I accidently drowned my old phone whilst on a course and slightly inebriated). At least, that was the plan.........
My new phone doesn't work either. The battery will not hold a charge for longer than a few minutes, and I am having trouble getting an exchange. The shop was closed, they couldn't do the exchange as they didn't have the necessary approval etc etc. I WILL get a new battery tomorrow, or I will make people cry.

Darth Lila returned from kennels with kennel cough, a bacterial chest infection and ulcers on her legs from where she had been surreptitiously nibbling herself instead of her bone. This called for a third course of antibiotics, which then upset her stomach. Needless to say, she was not a happy doggy for a while. However, it appears that she is back to her normal and horrible self now. Great.....

What else? The cats are in fine moulting form, the fish are frozen in the pond, and we've blown three separate lights since we got home. I've completed my first real knitting project, which was a purple mohair scarf for me. I'm very pleased with it, especially since I've always wanted a very long scarf. This beauty is six feet long, and will keep me nice and warm in frizzyfrozzy Aberdeen.

I've been very busy at work, with lots of reports, meetings and early starts. The Baron starts at 2pm and gets home at 10.30pm. By which time I am completely ready for bed. As a result we only manage to see each other for about half an hour every day. It isn't quite how I pictured married life when I was small, but it is pretty normal for us. I'm not that happy about it, but hopefully we will get some time together over Christmas.

That will do for now. I need to check that the lasagne is not being molested by any passing cats, and it is time to put the potatoes in for roasting. I'm starving!