December 2005

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Christmas 2005

Christmas 2005

Mum and Robert arrived early in the morning on the 23rd, and the rest of that day was set aside for them to catch up some sleep.

In the evening we all went for tea to the same pub that we went to on my first night here, so that was nice. The table was all laid out with Christmas Crackers, so we began to get into the festive mood, and Robert made us laugh by modelling the bright red plastic lips and moustache that he'd got in his cracker!

We went to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, at the church where my cousin Sean had got married and also where my Nanna and Grandad are laid to rest. The entire service was held in a mixture of Welsh and English, so sometimes we knew what they were saying and sometimes we didn't!! The prayer books were also printed in both languages. It was interesting to try to follow in the book what the minister was saying in Welsh. The singing was the best part of the night though, because the Welsh are very fond of singing and also (usually) quite good at it! There was no embarrassment or shyness in this church, every voice was full bodied and lovely to hear.

The next day we had Christmas dinner at Jeanette and Stefan's house. In the morning we exchanged the mountain of gifts that had gathered under the tree, and that took over 2 hours!!!
Dinner was a lavish affair, with meat and about 6 different vegetables. Jeanette is vegetarian so she had got herself a quorn roast but she forgot to put it in the oven until it was too late, so lucky there was so much veg! The only down side to the day was that the Christmas pudding had been forgotten at my Aunty Jeane's house, so we had no Christmas pud, and had to have chocolate pudding instead which was just not the same!

Starting Work

Starting Work

Well, I finally started at the hospital on the 5th of December, that is, I began the two (mandatory) days of corporate induction. Following that I was required to complete 3 days of manual handling training prior to beginning work on any of the wards. I was booked on a course on the 17th of December but then, being so close to Christmas that one was cancelled and postponed until the 12th of January!!!! Sooooooooooooooo frustrating because of course, no work, no money! (I did get paid for the induction days though)
I am surviving the Christmas period on the pocket money I make from doing the odd driving job, and of course my mum and brother came over on the 23rd so my lovely mum is seeing me right! (what else are mums for!!)