Back to Life,

If nothing else, Christmas and New Year's are great for the amount of down time the average person gets. Granted, if you're on shift work or your office is one of those open 365 and a 1/4 days a year, you don't get the same, but for a lot of people, it causes a week or two of lull in necessity, and you get a pretty decent break. 

Being in university means that I get about three weeks off, which is great. The fact that my university doesn't run January exams - which isn't actually such a great thing when you look at the fact that half modules from the Michaelmas term (last lectures for which are in mid December) aren't examined until May - means that the time off isn't earmarked for revision and stress. 

This Christmas, I went home for about five days, got caught up in the train traffic caused by all the "storms" (definition for those not in the UK: stronger winds than we are normally used to and a higher amount of rainfall), then finally got to come home to an empty house and a boyfriend who's off work until tomorrow. 

I'm not going to pretend it's all a walk in the park; we spent yesterday cleaning the house from top to bottom and with me tidying my room, which always puts me into a bit of a mood, but the great thing is that the time of year gave us that time together, that we don't normally get. These last few days are the most time we've spent together end to end, and it's been beyond brilliant. 

Granted, we brought in the new year with a bottle of cider (his) and a Radler (mine) watching The Hobbit  - the first one - but it was what we wanted to do. The great thing about that much time together, just the two of you, is that you only have to decide between yourselves. 

Since it's January 2nd tomorrow, he's back off to work, and really, in the spirit of a new year, a new start and all the bull**** I really ought to get back to some writing or editing or something roughly productive, other than knitting, so I guess it's back to life as normal in a way. 

And in the spirit of That, I'm going to get into my jammies, curl up on my side of the bed and watch a couple of episodes of Grand Designs. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you.