I have been seriously ill over the weekend, I reckon it was the side effect of the flu vaccination that I got earlier. So I ended up having a terrible cold which then turned into a nice sinus infection, I sounded hoarse or couldn’t speak at all [still do but it’s getting better] and I had a good solid cough to keep all awake at night.
It started on Wednesday last week. Thursday I really wanted to stay in bed but had to get up and be ready for JMB to collect the key to IS. and CS.’s place. He had come all the way over from Toronto so I invited him in for a coffee and a chat. He left after half an hour to go ‘home’ and get some sleep. By the time he left I was so awake I ended up cleaning the house…
I had some energy but needed to take breaks in between because the fever was causing extreme sweating. I managed to get the house done plus three laundries in four hours. Everything was spick and span and ready for our visitors CH. and TH. who would arrive on Saturday morning at 09.50 Friday I finally had some time to myself and I took it slow that day, called my aunt to vent a bit and ask her opinion.
We had a great weekend even though I was not feeling well. We did a bus tour in the rain which was cool, jumped off half way and ended up in a pub near Trafalgar Square to warm ourselves with booze. I had a few whiskies to soothe the throat and warm up. Sunday we went to Greenwich by DLR and then we took the river trip from Greenwich Pier, which was really cool but again very cold and windy.
We ended the boat trip at Embankment Pier where we crossed the Thames by foot bridge, bought a warm coffee and went looking for the tour bus which was supposed to stop right behind the London Eye. They were setting up the fireworks displays already which was cool to watch. It took ages for the bus to show up so we took a cab back to Tower Hill and took the DLR to Canary Wharf where our car was parked.
We spent the evening at home, it was too cold, too wet and too windy to go anywhere and I wasn’t really feeling that well by the time we came home the fever had kicked in big time. So we were all happy to stay in and watch the fireworks on tv. That was amazing! I could not imagine that afternoon what it would be like at midnight, what a show! We stayed up till 03.30.
Monday morning we had to take CH. and TH. back to the airport so we left at 11.00. It was a beautiful sunny day…
ps Thanks Barbara and Christiaan for your nice SMS text message!
Category Archives: Expat Life
Parcels
I have been busy wrapping xMas presents and received three parcels today, two were for me, one for A.. No I didn’t touch it to see what was in there 
I’m happy that my parcels came in today since one of them is the most important xMas gift this year and it’s for my significant other. I was afraid it wouldn’t be on time but lucky me it is. The other parcel is from a different country and something I was told to order for him.
I wish it was Monday so I can see the huge grin on his face, I know he will like them! I’ve done pretty well this year especially when you take into consideration that I hardly know my way around here and I have no clue what to get where. Online shopping is an extremely good option but only if you know exactly what it is that you need to buy.
We pretty much did all of it last Tuesday though and I sent off all my parcels. Which was a bit of a pain because I had to fill out several forms, stuff that I already had done [sender mentioned on the parcel etc.]. I had to wait in line for 20 minutes which was okay and to my surprise sending parcels is much cheaper than in the Lowlands, even recorded mail [requires a signature on the receiving end].
This to me is a big plus because it means I can send out more parcels to people containing little surprises for them. A pleasure! I received a big fat parcel from my aunt yesterday but didn’t open it yet, I would like to wait till Monday but will give her a ring, she might want me to open it straight away… I hope she will like all the little xMas thingies that I bought her. If all goes well, she should receive it tomorrow. I’ll keep my fingers crossed. If so she can still put it on the xMas tree which would be cool!
Made a special xMas design for my blog today as you can see while reading this, hope you like! 
Well better go to bed and get some sleep, it’s late and I don’t feel very well. I reckon it’s the side effect of the flu vaccination that I got on Monday. A. collected a letter for me yesterday so I will have to make an appointment in January at the hospital to have a scan made but that’s a worry for later…
It’s pretty cold these days, temperature dropped by 10 degrees, freezing over night but still sleeping with the window open; gives you weird dreams, well it does to me… Tomorrow I will have to cook dinner for Saturday, a nice Rendang and perhaps some shrimp dish too, we’ll see. I need to finish wrapping asap and I reckon it will probably take me at least another day, there is still so much to do. I did all A.’s presents today and a few more, but there are at least another 20 to wrap.
Off to bed now, sleep well!