I'm sitting here on New Year's Day ( Ne'er Day in Scotland ), thinking about the year ahead but not too seriously yet, since I'm still full to the brim with Christmas leftovers and with a brain too sluggish to work properly. Not a hangover though, thankfully - just a couple of glasses of wine and a wee dram to welcome in the New Year.
It was just the two of us last night and it was too cold/icy to think about venturing out.
We watched a bit of telly, played a game or two and then hung out of the upstairs window watching the fireworks display in Edinburgh across the water from us.
What a glorious bright night it was, crystal clear and very light with the full moon reflecting off the snow. The fireworks were clearly visible although they must be 30 miles away.
The best bit of Hogmanay was a three way chat with Laura and Greg in Auckland and Nick in Edinburgh ( he was working over at the Scotsman building). Laura was already 13 hours into 2010 by then.
Then a bit of Jools Hootenany and then bed.
So what will the New Year bring?
- More snow for a start. It's getting boring now.
- A new central heating boiler - can't put it off any longer.
- INSPIRATION from somewhere PLEASE for new designs and ideas to freshen up the business. I have a feeling that this year will see a few quite major changes ( all good) to Embroidered Originals.
- A big birthday for both Bob and Laura, with 30 years apart.
- The usual (yawn) resolutions to lose weight, get fit, be energetic and achieve lots.
- And a plan to give ourselves a little treat to look forward to every couple of months. That's a resloution everyone should make I think. It's too easy to let time slip by and never get out of the rut. Last year it was all work and no play for us mostly. OK we had a few days in France in the Spring and a few days in Italy in the Autumn, which was very good, but we worked seven days a week for months averaging 12 - 15 hours a day.
I daresay we'll continue to do that - it's become a way of life - but we've decided to punctuate it with something no matter how small to liven things up.
To that end, I've been online today booking a long weekend in London for Valentine's with the highlight being a concert at the O2 - Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, two old codgers ( like us) who really can play guitar.
That's our first "look forward to treat".
It's been a good festive break. In previous years I've tried to spend the Christmas holiday getting back to my textile/embroidery roots and do something for myself, bringing it's own sort of stress in a way, as I didn't have enough time to do anything much.
This year I vegetated.
I found ( amazingly) one or two good things to watch on TV and did just that. It was soporific but nice.
We kept the CLOSED sign up on the workshop, and only opened up if requested by a customer. Only a few hardy souls ventured up the farm road, it being a sheet of ice from top to bottom.
The workshop is freezing and I've collected up all my bits and pieces for work and set them up in the house until this cold spell is past.
I did start the Christmas card sale on the website though, and have had quite a brisk response in the past 24 hours - from as far afield as California.
So, that's us into 2010. Bring it on.
