Today's been good.
Sherlock was up bright and early, demanding breakfast and wanting to go out right then and start having fun.
He was persuaded to sit down and eat his breakfast on the end of our bed. Then, once he'd settled down a little, he was persuaded to re-enact his parts of the play yesterday.
It was slightly hard to tell what was going on, given that he thought I'd somehow be able to work out exactly what all the missing characters were also doing... but anyway, he was a nasty storm, and very angry, with lots of lightning bolts, at first...but then, through some sort of...well, I'm not really sure why, but eventually he ended up showing that the earth needed his rain to grow things, and...he stopped being so nasty? Turned into gentle rain? I'm unsure... there was singing, and violin playing, and it all seemed to end well, which was the main thing, I suppose? It would have been nice seeing all the other kids. But from John's photos I think there were farmers/gardeners, plants, some animals...and assorted other things. A rainbow, there was definitely a rainbow.
He might be able to explain more, if he chooses to. You know what kids are like, once his attention is elsewhere, this will seem so unimportant it's as if he can't even remember it.
Anyway, Mycroft took us all ice skating at the Natural History Museum this morning, once we'd congregated. I do wish there was a way we could get the dogs on the ice - they'd be hilarious. But we can't. And luckily they aren't allowed in the museum, or they'd be on their toes with half a diplodocus before you could say 'sit!'.
Whilst John, Mark and the kids all dived into the museum (well...John may have been dragged... entry is not made faster by Sherlock quizzing the security guards, I believe. "Are you looking for bombs? Have you ever found a bomb? What would you do if you found a bomb? Why would people want to blow up a museum?" etc...) Nicky and went and found coffee and had a chat about Mum. Well, Mum and her house, all her stuff. She can only take a certain amount with her, into her new place. She's being very unhelpful about it, and Nicky's got the hard task of going through everything. Dragging up a lot of memories. I feel bad for not being there, but...well, I'll go down as soon as I can. Sam's been back and forth, helping. Danny hasn't, but I feel sure he'll turn up at some point, see what he can get.
Anyway, then Mycroft cooked us all a lovely dinner, with only a bit of help, from me and Carla, and Sherlock helped make mince pies, and took some down to Mrs Hudson (and probably ate most of them while he told her about our day...we'll take her some more.)
And finally...peace.
Tomorrow Nicky etc. have to go home, so in the afternoon there is a rumour we may buy a tree....
85 comments:
If you want help at the house, we can come down too, put things in boxes as directed.
The security guard at the museum may actually have been a saint in disguise - answered every question. Although the people behind us may not have appreciated it so much...
My left knee is one enormous bruise from the skating.
I think at least one person would find it very boring, us finding things and talking about them, and deciding what to do with it all...
Can I kiss your knee better? And suggest you become ambi-knee-strous with your falling over? Or maybe santa will bring you some knee/elbow pads in your stocking... ;)
I haven't been ice skating in years and can't go this year but I think next Christmas my eldest will be dragging me off to embarrass myself by falling all over the place on the Christmas open air rink! I'm glad you had fun with it :-)
Nicky, if you ever see this, you are a good woman sorting things out for your mum, she's lucky to have you :-)
I hope peace lasts until you and John have had some good sleep Greg ;-)
Probably, but it won't kill him to be a bit bored. He can always bring a book or ten. Anyway, it's up to you.
You can, and I only really fell over once. Well, twice. But the second time I got taken out by a fast skating toddler and it wasn't my fault.
Mmm. True. I don't know, I'll see when I might have enough time off to go.
Small children are a menace on the ice. They should be forced to wear bells around their necks and have flashing lights on.
I nearly sat on Sherlock when he skated into the back off me at top speed and grabbed me around the knees!
Sherlock should be forced to wear light-up bells around his neck as a matter of course.
Good point well made, Mycroft. And quite possibly be attached by bungee cords to nearby solid objects for much of the time.
Definitely anyone under the age of five should. It should be a law.
Mycroft, get onto that, when you're running the country.
I'll also be sure to outlaw murders during school plays.
Excellent. And I think you should bring back dog licences, but add child licences to that.
They should also be microchipped, clearly.
I nearly said that...then remembered your recent battles with your mum.
I'd hate for you to have to gnaw your own arm off just to get away from it all.
I did wonder if she'd done it, actually, but I think if she had, she wouldn't be so irritated now. Although I suppose that could simply be to make me think she hadn't.
Pop down to see Molly one day, she'll do you a full x-ray and scan, like she does some of the bodies she gets. We'll see if we can spot anything!
Although your mum could probably arrange to tamper with the equipment...
I'll consider it.
I'll steer clear of the mortuary for a few weeks, in case your Mum gets me my very own drawer in the freezer for suggesting such a thing ;)
How are you feeling about your mock exams? Okay?
Yes, thank you. I don't think I'll have any trouble.
Good. I'm sure you won't. And they're only mocks - anything that you do worse on than you expected is just a warning to revise it more, I guess.
I think your whole attitude and approach to school and work - and everything else - is wonderful. You're an example to us all.
Thank you. That's really very kind of you to say.
It's just the truth, kiddo.
And I need to go to bed. See you in the morning.
Good night.
And I really do appreciate it.
We're going to get a tree later!!
Excellent, hope you get a good one!
Wow, how exciting, Sherlock. Are you going to get the biggest one you can find?
Enjoy your day with your family everyone, are you off out and about again today or just taking it easy. Have fun. :)
Yes I want a massive tree or three trees and at the moment we're walking the dogs in the park because we had breakfast so late that it was my second breakfast or I would have starved and we're going to walk through the Winter Wonderland and then everybody else has to go home and we can get our trees.
There will be some soundbite stat at the end of the day - every hour, Sherlock pulls up a pine forest the size of 800 football pitches, in his quest for the perfect tree...
Have fun finding your perfect tree, and I hope today proves to be as good a day as yesterday!
If we don't go soon we'll never get one.
I see you are not a believer in, "All things come to he who waits." (Don't worry, they have LOTS of trees!)
Trying to hold on to Sherlock as we say goodbye to everyone at the station is like trying to hold onto an eel which has developed a force field and covered itself in lube.
So apparently it snowed in Egypt for the first time in a century?
I know it snowed in Israel--but it's snowed there more recently than that! Still brought swathes of the country to a standstill--they don't know how to cope with snow.
It snowed here, too, yesterday, several inches. I was out in it last night and it was beautiful, all sparkles, like fairy dust. (I know it was tiny ice crystals--it was more than cold enough!--but it was lovely all the same!) Today it's all grey slush and ice, though, and last night it was too dry for packing, so Sherlock doesn't need to feel jealous. :)
You and Nicky have my sympathies on the going-through-mom's-stuff front. My sister and I are still doing that. I think it's been an ongoing process for the past 8-10 years. But, the advantage to going through them WITH her is you can get the stories. It will take more time, but could be worth it both in terms of goodwill and getting to keep your family history, whatever it is.
I hope she settles in ok at the new place. If it's anything like assisted living places over here, there is usually a lot more opportunity to socialize than she may have had before in the house, which one hopes is a good thing... it was for my mom, but she could chat up anyone short of a corpse I think!
S
It did snow in Cairo, at least. And there is a fake picture of a snow covered Sphinx doing the rounds (and some real pictures of snow covered streets and palm trees).
I've been checking news sites, and the snow doesn't seem to have caused any damage in Egypt (still looking, though). It's certainly not been good for Syrian refugees, though, and there were (at last report) four snow-related deaths and 20,000 without power in Israel. I don't think anyone in the region was expecting a storm like that.
Yeah, looks like the Gaza Strip has flooded pretty badly. Assume that'll only get worse before it gets better.
Yes, that's a growing mess--Hamas actually asked Israel for aid via the UN (which was promptly granted, of course).
Most of the immediate damage was in the hills--Jerusalem and northern Israel--where there were downed power lines, collapsed buildings, impassible roads, and flash floods.
(LATimes, The New York Times)
John just had to rapidly step in...I think Sherlock was threatening to track down and kill the Christmas tree seller, if the non-drop tree dared to drop a single needle...
hahahaha!
He didn't actually threaten to kill the man. He just said "I will find you".
It would be enough to frighten most people, especially those who have watched Sherlock pick through trees for what must feel like half a lifetime.
It's one way to enforce truth in labeling...
I'm not sure you're going to be able to find the perfect tree Sherlock. I think my mother might already have found it. I wasn't able to go with them to cut down the tree this year (very sad to miss that) so she sent me a picture because she's been spending all weekend decorating it. I guess I'm glad they did so well without me. But it does make me feel even less Christmasy now in my tiny apartment with my half dead plant on the windowsill.
What's the fun of a tree that doesn't lose needles? I'd be sitting there wondering if they'd played with its DNA.
Sherlock's play sounds like it must have been great fun. I bet he made a wonderful storm. And one without complications afterwards. We had snow, and then rain near the coast, and are now looking at the temperature dropping ten degrees (F) in ten minutes as the cold comes back, which is freezing all the slush and making walking downright dangerous.
We didn't cut one down because we would have to wait FOREVER before Lestrade could come but we got a nice one and it's a good shape and colour and smells nice and it's taller than all of us.
Well, then, you have a tree that hits all the important points! (Especially the smelling nice--I think that must be very important.)
And now you get to decorate it!
I'm glad you were able to find a good tree! I have a friend who waters the tree with a cup of boiling water every day. She says it melts the sap, and the tree just drinks it up! Plus, it makes the tree smell really good!
I hope the rest of your day is a good one!
That sounds like a perfect tree, Sherlock. Congratulations! Pip, I'm going to pass the boiling water idea along to some friends. It sounds effective.
We have a tree more or less upright in our flat.
And Peter O'Toole has died (unrelated to our tree...) which is very sad. But boy, did he live a lot of life. We shall raise a glass to him later.
I was hoping to get a tree this weekend, but we had a lazy weekend instead. I do love the smell of a new Christmas tree though, that's the thing that makes it Christmas for me.
Sad to hear about Peter O'Toole - read a story just now that he once went out for a drink in Paris - and woke up in Corsica :-)
It is a nice smell.
Sherlock was untangling the lights...now Mycroft is doing it, so that we have lights, not random scraps where Sherlock has demolished them in haste.
O'Toole once said "I will not be a common man. I will stir the smooth sands of monotony." Which I rather like.
You have to lift me up to put the star on the top because it's my job and we haven't even been out and bought our special decorations this year yet so we have to leave room for those too.
Hope your humongous tree is looking splendid in all its glory. We've just done ours too and are now tucking into the festival nibbles.
Very sad about Peter O'Toole. He was in one of my favourite films, How To Steak A Million with Audrey Hepburn. His eyes were just so blue and delightfully mischievous.
The tree is...largely dressed.
Next year we'll have to have a small one, as I won't be able to lift Sherlock. Although maybe I could just lift John ;)
It's looking...chaotic ;)
If you get a small one, you'll need two...to hold the decorations, of course. :-D
It's looking...chaotic ;)
The best kind!
Thank you for being supportive of my wishes today, and when the subject was first raised.
Carla and I had a nice time walking around all the stalls, just the two of us. I appreciate that my behaviour last year could easily have made you think we were not responsible enough to do so.
You know how I feel. I'll support you all the way. You're a young man, soon to be independent, if it's what you want. I'm glad you two had a good time.
We know you're responsible, Mycroft. I don't think even your mum is arguing that. And as L says, I'm glad you two had a nice time together.
You could always change your public persona to be more...um... well, make you a less attractive kidnap prospect.
I keep telling Sherlock he's not in any danger - give it a day and they'd pay us to have him back ;)
(How O'Henry!)
...I have no idea what that means.
This link is for the summary; and this one is for the short story.
John just almost fell out of bed, because my feet are so cold (he blames the feet, anyway)
Morning all. Hope nowhere else is as miserable as London this morning.
I just did the thing where you wake up feeling rested before your alarm goes off, and immediately assume you must have forgotten to set the alarm and overslept.
Weathers nice, though.
Ella
The sky is now pale grey as opposed to black, so I suppose that's an improvement.
It's mostly sunny here at the moment, but below freezing, so all the slush still on the ground is now ice. Ice everywhere! (We're supposed to get another 2 to 4 inches of snow tonight/tomorrow...)
It's foggy and way too early here. It's one of those days that makes you want to crawl back into bed and not emerge until Spring.
Cold, sunny, Monday. One out of three isn't sufficient. I never enjoy the mornings when I need long johns for the commute, knowing I'll be baking once I get to work.
And I'm back home, two hours after leaving, thanks to a Mazda SUV not watching where it's going. I have many ice packs.
Ella
Wow, that sounds painful, hope you feel better soon!
That's terrifying, Ella, take care of yourself please!
Hope the ice helps. Or that you at least get a doctor as lovely as mine out of the deal. Wishing you a speedy recovery.
Thanks all. Unfortunately I have no doctors, lovely or otherwise, but I think I'm just going to be very sore.
Ella
There were quite a few sexy firefighter/paramedics, but I didn't think to get their numbers. Drat.
Ella
We got to light grey earlier. Now back to rain rain rain.
Are on your way home in the wet, L?
I hope you don't need a doctor--but that you see one if you do!--Ella. And giving yourself some pampering!
yeah, just wrapping up - literally and figuratively - and heading home.
How are you doing, Ella?
I hope you stay dry, then, L! (I imagine there'll be something hot waiting for you at home.)
(TEA! I meant TEA! Or maybe dinner!)
There will be tea at the very least.
Hope you're doing all right, Ella.
Cheers. I have acquired medicinal ice cream. I know it'll probably feel worse tomorrow, but at the moment I'm mostly okay.
Ella
medicinal ice cream is the best sort, as it contains no fat or calories ;) just like medicinal brandy.
Hope it helps.
I am supposed to ice things, to reduce inflammation, I'm told. Inner and outer icing.
Ella
Ella, hope the ice cream works and that you don't feel too bad tomorrow.
Gosh, Ella, I hope you're not too badly hurt. And that the ice works sufficiently that you're not in too much pain in the morning.
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