Emergency folding chair shopping advice: John Lewis does not sell furniture. Well, it does, but the furniture physically present within its branches are for display only. They don't sell off the shop floor. Fortunately, they do sell furniture immediately from the discount corner (at least on the Oxford Street branch), and I could make do with only buying one folding chair.

A reason to move: Our apartment has walls made of plasterboard. This is the worst aspect of the apartment. Yesterday, when diligently attempting to replace a burnt-out lightbulb before dinner guests, I pulled one of the living room light fixtures out of the wall. The screws are stripped. The elegant candle-lit ambiance that evening was by no means our original intention.

Graking: Definition: time spent simultaneously grading and baking.

Quince, continued: Thanks to ewtikins' creative efforts, I now have a bottle of quince-flavored vodka!

Advent calendar update: Thank you to all who weighed in on the difficult subject of what advent calendar I should acquire. It arrived four days after the beginning of advent, and chamaeleoncat generously put it together for me. I went with the pink unicorn set - which looks like a rose-themed Versaille, to quote chamaeleoncat - and a full non-advent set of jousting knights. By request of cliosfolly, scenes from Yvain (and possibly other medieval romans) will be forthcoming.