'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house...
everyone was running around, frantically wrapping presents, cleaning, avoiding the hailstones outside, and trying to hide presents from each other.

There's only so much I can do to contribute at this point. I'm fighting off a cold - congestion, low fever - and anyways, it's unwise to have me tidy things up when I don't know where they go. At least I can wrap my share of presents! On the bright side, the traditionally-British constant supply of tea is wonderful for my throat.

It's been raining persistantly. A white Christmas is forecast for much of the UK, but I'm not sure Preston will be included this time around. I ventured into town yesterday for one last round of Christmas shopping. Town was a mass of humanity, but, strangely, not inconveniently so. It was as if a movie company had hired a lot of people to walk around making town look crowded without actually doing very much. No one was ever in my way when I wanted to look at some product or other, and the queues were all really short.

The most festive moment of my day so far was being offered a mincemeat pie from a trayful immediately upon entering the local supermarket.

Merry Christmas (and happy everything else which is celebrated around now)!