Tuesday / Wednesday

Tuesday:
Woo! We had snow in the morning. Some of it was even settling.
I'd forgotten today was a bank holiday, and had (before Christmas) arranged a meeting for "the 27th". Thankfully vampwillow was able to offer a lift so all was good in the end. The meeting was over by about 1300 something, so I then made my way to South Kensington to see stuflyer and saintmaryuk for a bite to eat. We were pondering heading back to the Science museum, but it was too late, so we stayed in the pub for a bit and then made our respective ways back. You'd harly think I'd left Manchester the frequency that I'm seeing people ;-)


Wednesday:
Got a haircut today and did a bit of tidying in the flat.
Went out for dinner this evening with Russel (WINOLJ) and met up in the cold in Leicester Square. I feel like a native already; I had 3 groups of people ask me for directions, and better yet I was able to direct them :-)
We went to a lovely vegetarian place called Woodlands and though I was a little hesitant due to my fussy eating habits, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I guess I'll be returning again some time soon.

End of year meme, 2005 version

What did you do in 2005 that you'd never done before?
Live on my own.

Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't think I made any - I don't usually. *checks* OK, so I made one: To get my PPL. In retrospect, it wasn't plausible due to my previous job with the insane hours. I guess I'd like to renew that one.

Did someone close to you give birth?
Noone comes to mind.

Did anyone close to you die?
No, thankfully. Each year this question fills me with dread; I wonder how long it will be before I give the opposite answer.

What countries did you visit?
Wales. Scotland. Ireland. All for work, though I made an effort to tie in some pleasure elements with the trips to Scotland :-)

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Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2005:
4 inter-connected statements: Life's too short; do not hesitate. Instincts are often accurate. Trust your first impressions and have the confidence to act on them. Things will eventually sort themselves out.

Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
Not just for semantic content, but just because I love bounciness of the song:

I cannot turn my feelings down.
Beyond my means to turn my thoughts around,
Expressed in every word I will ever speak.

NYE /

Does anyone have any NYE plans?
I've left it a bit too late to sort anything. Though I have invites, travelling to Manchester would take too long this close to work deadlines. I'd really rather not go to a pub/club because the cost to get in will be atronomical, and secondly I'd much rather spend time with people in an atmosphere where I can actually converse with them, than having to shout over loud music.

Realistically, my options are 1) have a small gathering at my place (Islington), 2) Gatecrash someone else's gathering.

Who'll put up with me? :-)
Rar! I've got two invites for parties, both in South London. A long way, perhaps, but good company is always worth travelling to.

I've decided on this one. Looking forward to seeing you there.

And for those that are elsewhere, have a fab time and I hope to see as many of you as possible over 2006.

Buskers

Whilst coming from from seeing Russel and Richard last night there was a busker at Leicester Square station. Nothing new there, except for what he was doing. He was playing the drums, but had about 4 or 5 sticks. He was juggling and playing at the same time, with an extra flare on every catch. Incredible, and mesmerising to watch.

Ages ago in Manchester I remember passing under the covered area at Market St (where Shouty Raster Man plays his guitar) and there was a band playing brass arrangements of well known classical piaces such as The Arrival Of The Queen Of Sheeba.

What buskers of note have you encountered?

Cooking question

mhw and valkyriekaren you come to mind, but I'm sure there are other cooking gurus on my flist.

I have an idea for what I want to do, but not how to do it.

I have some chilli chocolate, and I'd like to cover orange peel in it to make a snack. My question is how to sweeten the orange peel. If I boil them in sugar water will they just go soggy, or will they (as I hope) caramalise and become less sharp? What can I do with the flesh of the oranges?

It's beginning to sound a bit like a jam or marmalade, but I've never made either of those so I've noting to base it on.

Does anyone have any bright ideas?