2010 in a nutshell

On New Years Eve my brother was staying at a friend's house for a New Years Eve party. My parents and I decided to order a Chinese takeaway from the Peking Palace, in Caversham. We would have liked to have eaten out, but I was just recovering from flu, and had kindly given it to my parents in my quest to get rid of it.

While eating we had a lengthy discussion about 2010 and the good and bad points about it, both personal, national and international events.

• the Haiti earthquake, 12th January - Haiti is still recovering
• the wettest Easter weekend on record - through which I was plodding, loaded with a tent, sleeping bag, trangia and food, through fields in monsoon conditions - see corresponding post. 
• the best sleepover epico of human existence (because of course dinosaurs had better sleepovers) - see corresponding post
• the Icelandic volcano - thousands of tourists couldn't get home from their Easter holidays abroad
• General Elections 2010 - leads to the Coalition, and thousands of jokes concerning Nick Clegg's inability to keep his word
• One of the most civilised meals I have ever had - see corresponding post
• My Aunt's Wedding
• 2010 FIFA World Cup - South Africa - yet another world cup where England didn't win
• The holiday of a lifetime ie. The Cruise - see corresponding posts
• the collapse of the San José Mine, leaving 33 Chilean miners trapped - the news feature that received the most interest worldwide, with people logging into live feeds at 3am to see their progress 
• Another very civilised meal - see corresponding post
• And last, but certainly not the least - The return of Harry Potter - see corresponding post

Christmas

I am so sorry I haven't written in so long. I have been very busy, and have had other things on my mind. I will quickly talk about what has happened over Christmas.

I baked, iced and decorated two Christmas cakes. Here are some pictures:

A Christmas Pudding Christmas cake

A Christmas wreath

I hope you like them.

Despite the snow, we nearly managed to get everyone over and all the food was eaten, so it was just as well we were a few people short - otherwise my and I would have had to wave goodbye to our third helpings of the stir fry (we are all infamously piggish at Christmas, having starved ourselves to make room for the stir fry and the roulade and chocolate gateaux).

Unfortunately, my grandfather had a heart attack three weeks before Christmas. He was discharged from hospital on Christmas Eve, and so my parents had to drive through treacherous weather conditions to Gravesend to pick him up. Although my parents had visited him in hospital, because of school, my brother and I hadn't had the opportunity. I didn't appreciate how frail he was until he came to stay with us over Christmas. We seemed to spend all our time caring for him, spoon feeding him. It was really distressing. And it was only last Christmas that my grandmother died. The Christmas weekend always has brought bad news. But I have to try and look at the bright side of things. The snow was beautiful and my sisters cheered me up during their stay just before Christmas.