Staying Put

This year for the first time in probably 4 or 5 years, we are staying put for Christmas and spending it at home in London.  We'd almost forgotten what the city is like once the mass exodus of people out of the capital happens in the few days before, as we've been part of it for the past few years.  Already it is lovely and quiet in our street, with many households having already left.  I'm sure many more will be leaving in the next few days too.

The good thing about staying in London at Christmas, is that it feels like you have it all to yourself, although not quite, but in comparison to what it is like normally.  You can usually drive around the city without too many traffic queues.  It's like a different place entirely.

Today, I've spent most of the day cleaning parts of the kitchen.  Wiping down window sills, washing all the bits and pieces that adorn them and cleaning the inside of the windows.  I'm making a start with the edges of the room.  It's already starting to look much better.  The worktops are not so cluttered and the kitchen table has just a few last bits on it that will get squirreled away when our guests come .  It's making me feel a little uneasy, as I'm so used to it being quite messy and cluttered, it doesn't quite feel right somehow, but I'm sure I'll get used to it and OH is very happy.  There's something reassuring and comforting about being surrounded by 'stuff'. (Not in everyone's eyes I realise).  Must be the hoarder in me.  There's still the majority of the deep clean to do, but I don't want to do it too early and then have to do it again in a couple of days time so I'm leaving it as late as possible.

I actually cleaned the oven this morning and okay, it's not spotless, but the fact that I know it has been cleaned is, psychologically in my book, as good as it being spotless.  I've still to defrost the freezer and clean out the fridge which I'm hoping to do tomorrow ready for our Christmas food shop on Monday.  We're still eating our way through the contents at the moment, but there's not much left now.

I console myself after all this hard work, with the fact that we will have a lovely clean house to come back to after we go away for the New Year and that come January there should be no domestic tasks to distract me from getting on with my tax return!

As far as tomorrow goes, I am at my last aerobics class in the morning, after which I will be doing no exercise save dog walking for two whole weeks.  I will be desperate to get back to it after that.  In the afternoon there is a Christmas market up the road and OH has planned a surprise for me which I believe involves going into town.  Not sure what it is, he's being very secretive and has sworn Little Bird to secrecy too.  I'm not good with surprises so I might have to prise a few clues out of them to make sure that I dress appropriately.  I'll let you know once the proverbial cat is out of the bag.