Oh jolly dee. It’s that time of year again. Sleigh bells, Nativity plays, mince pies, hangovers, overdrafts and thirty six new pairs of socks. Oh yes, and the annual update from Planet Smellie.
Animal tally much as last year although Meg had a close shave earlier this year. Copious quantities of steroids later and she has bounced back tremendously, they don’t seem to have done much for her farts however which are now more pungent than ever. Not bad for a 15 year old springer though.
We have finally understood why the Dancer’s bedroom is so heart attack inducingly messy. For she has applied to medical school and when she starts rummaging around in people’s insides she will already have had plenty of practice locating hidden objects and will thus have a head start on her more tidy colleagues.
The Singers have been choosing their A-Level options. We can only hope that deciding on the answers on the actual exam papers will be easier. Final decisions have now been made and their minds have moved on to where they would like to do their work experience. Singer Two has opted for a law firm and Singer One for the Police. That is quite handy. Should you plough your car into the central reservation, The Dancer will patch you up, Singer One will lock you up and Singer Two will stitch you up.
I have finally left Choristers, only two years after I originally gave my notice. I am now a lady of leisure. Although I maintain I got more peace and quiet when I went out to work. And as The Boss pointed out I got paid as well. President of the Brancepeth Village WI does not bring in any remuneration but is a lot more fun.
The Boss has managed to get himself on the more interesting lecture circuit after years of Leeds, Nottingham and Glasgow et al. He and his helpful bag carrier spent three wonderful days in Padua in October, even if we did have to wrap the truffle risotto mix in eight plastic bags in an attempt to keep the smell volume down. It didn’t work by the way and The Boss’s jumpers would have been lethal had he worn them anywhere near a sniffer dog. In February our intrepid pair are flying off to Australia. This is both extremely exciting and extremely worrying as The Dancer is being left at home as the “Responsible Adult in Charge”. No we do not want to hear your horror stories, we have heard enough already and have very vivid imaginations.
So that brings our news to a close. We hope 2013 has treated you well and wish you a peaceful and happy 2014.
one pair of shoes at a time 
Gillie, your girls look absolutely gorgeous in that photo. I hope your trip to AUS is enjoyable. And let us know if you make it to Cairns in Far North Queensland (to visit the Great Barrier Reef). Happy Christmas to you and yours.
Sadly not. The closest we will get to you is Brisbane and even my dodgy Australian geography can work out that is one heck of a long journey. My uncle (now in Sydney) used to live in Cairns. He is a besotted sailor and I think that was why he chose it!
You will enjoy Byron Bay ~ probably more than Cairns. Very nice!
I am looking forward to that bit a lot !
A delightful read. You have some gorgeous looking daughters, full of character. And I hope we can meet up on your Australia trip. It seems 2014 is a year of blog-visitors to Australia: Seth Godin, The Minimalists and you 🙂
Thank you. They are certainly full of character… 😉 Where exactly are you? See above post – my Australian geography is a bit dodgy but we will be in Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and Byron Bay (the holiday bit of the trip!)
We are at The Entrance, which is a little over an hour north of Sydney
I like this idea of a years recap post. What a good little verbal snapshot in time. Happy holidays, Gillie, to you and all the family.