The 12th & 13th; Tree is up!

The 12th of December. 

I am beginning to get über-festive. I’m Christmassy from about mid-November, but now even more so. I was listening to The Muppets Christmas Carol soundtrack in the car. 

Katie the nurse came this morning to flush my line but the red one is still misbehaving which is a pain. We rang the ECP team and I’m fine so we’re going to see them on Monday after I see Elle, Ben and baby Luna.

This afternoon, Daddy and I went to see Paddington! It was a joy. I do believe that Paddington Bear is my kindred spirit. Marmalade sandwiches are the one. I used to have them during chemo. Not just then. My whole life. Little bit obsessed with marmalade. 

I had a phone call from Julie and basically, Grazia aren’t going to use any of the photos from Tuesday because they prefer the one from the bridal shop! They are, however, going to send all the photos on a disc so I can still see and share them. It’s fine – I’m just grateful they let us know before publication!

The 13th of December. 

Tree is up! Nothing on it yet though – it’s “relaxing”. Put stuff on it tomorrow, including, including my incredible pug decorations that arrived today. 

This morning I put all my presents and wrapping in the same bag so they could all be brought downstairs. Read the paper, watched Saturday Kitchen, was really bad at the crossword. I tidied the area around the table in the living room, and Mommy tidied her craft stuff which took much less time than expected. 

This afternoon I have just watched movies and been generally quiet because I’m feeling a bit delicate. I’ve had to use the oxygen more than usual today. I think it’s partially to do with having had disrupted sleep for several nights in a row, so I’m having a Zopiclone tonight. 

Tree decorating tomorrow! I get to be an elf. 

The 16th & 17th; heat day!

The 16th of November. 

In London! This morning I was just excited about this afternoon and tomorrow, so I really was just killing time until we left. 

The assistance office at the station was more entertaining than usual as there were some very angry people who had missed their trains for various reasons. We got on ours and it was all fine. There were some delightfully lairy women who started drinking vodka and being very loud, so I was grateful to have my earphones to drown them out. 

Upon our arrival in London, neither of us wanted a heavy meal, and that was all we were going to get at Euston or the hotel, so we went down the road to St. Pancras where we went to Le Pain Quotidien. I had a butternut squash and feta frittata and it was as lovely as the French waiters accommodating us. Plus we saw the pretty Christmas tree but there are no F&M hampers on it this year. 

We got a cab to the hotel which was nice and functional. It was comfortable and had what we needed so we were quite happy. 

We watched Strictly and were pleased that Judy is finally gone, then X Factor and were indifferent about Jaz’s elimination, then I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here and Gemma is not going to cope. I feel very prepared for heat tomorrow!

The 17th of November. 

Heat day! It has just been incredibly surreal. Plus I woke up at four but never mind. Duck & Waffle breakfast didn’t happen because they didn’t get back to Jo, so instead we went to Curators Coffee, where I bought a bag of ground coffee because the flat white I had really delicious and I actually correctly identified country of origin which I felt a bit smug about. Then we went to Association Coffee and I had a pain au chocolat for my breakfast and Mommy had a ham and cheese croissant. We watched people’s rain faces from the window. The rain did abate eventually, and we went to Rinkoff’s and I got a cronut and some mini fruity biscuits. Paul A. Young has done some toast and marmalade chocolates to celebrate the Paddington movie so we wanted to get some of those. 

I wanted to get some treats for the team at heat, so we got a cab to Covent Garden where we had more coffee at Timberyard and I bought twelve cakes and cookies – just one of everything really! Then Mommy left me at Bauer Media and I was greeted by Gwen and we went up to heat which was exactly as I imagined, and everyone was very apologetic about the mess. We put the cakes on the crap table and I was introduced to everyone and they were all so sweet and lovely. I want to work there and be best friends with them all. I left at one and Mommy and I went to have lunch at Nordic Bakery (ham, cheese and mustard in rye) in Golden Square, then at two I met Lucie Cave in the radio building for Jason Manford and Olly Murs interviews! Jason was there very promptly so we went to find the appropriate studio and while Lucie and Rachel set up, I had a little chat with Jason about TCT and life etc and he is very nice and funny in real life. I had to suppress my laughter during the interview because random chuckling would be weird on air. Then it was over and we had a selfie, and we went to wait for Olly Murs! He wasn’t until half three, so I spent some time eavesdropping on his team’s conversations about his schedule and Lucie and Dan the photographer did some test shots for an interactive Christmas card pulling a cracker, which Olly then wanted to actually pull so we did! I won a tiny photo frame. Then he wanted to read me the joke, make me name the four US states that begin with I (which I did – Iowa, Illinois, Idaho and Indiana) then he did the charade of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe which I did get after a wee while! A lion is the opposite of a tiger, apparently. He’s great fun, very down to earth – the interview was vastly entertaining; porn star names and sex faces were discussed. Listen to heat radio on Saturday to hear it! Another selfie and many hugs, then Lucie and I returned to heat for Samaritans Club 7! I got to meet them all and it was like I was nine again. I was complimented on my hair and glasses, and I talked with them about how Bring It All Back was my first ever single that I bought. I talked to Paul, Rachel and Jo, then they had to do some filming so I went back to the office where I was presented with a bag of many goodies! I was leaving at five, so had lots of hugs and got a selfie with three of S Club as they were rushed out to go to Manchester, then I met Mommy back in reception and we left! I wanted to stay forever. 

We were fairly exhausted so just went back to Euston and had dinner at Ed’s Diner, then I ate my cronut and read my advance copy of heat on the train. Daddy picked us up, I crawled up the stairs and it was oxygen and sleep time. But so happy.