Missive: Christmas Bliss for this Miss

Greetings and salutations, woefully ignored readers! My deepest and humblest apologies for haven forsaken you for so, so long. The past two months have been a time of highs and lows, activity and sloth, trips away, hotel stays, meeting new people and visits from old friends. Let's jump in, shall we?

Let's go all the way back to the start of October. I did a very grown-up thing: I, Mickie, daughter of Bernice, heir to the Hickman "feed-em-all" dynasty, cooked Thanksgiving Dinner. All by myself. And not a tiny one either. Throwing all caution to the wind, I invited [all of my] 4 friends over to my flat and promised to treat them all to a traditional Canadian Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving isn't celebrated over in these parts, so it was to be a brand new experience for all of them. Preparing the whole thing was a new experience for me too - I had helped Ma with the stuffing and pie before but the turkey had never been left to my charge and I had certainly never been responsible for coordinating and timing the whole shebang. But I am thrilled to say that with a little help from Google - and A LOT of advice texts from Ma - I managed to pull the whole thing off rather successfully (if I do say so myself). I overcooked the broccoli a wee bit and my gravy was a little thin, but considering that my goal for the night was to not give anyone food poisoning, I consider those errors to be forgiveable. Besides, each of my guests was kind enough to bring a bottle of wine, so by the end of the evening, I don't believe anyone was really focused on minute details like those.

Shouldn't be too much work...

The traditional bucket-thaw method used by our ancestors

That's 20 lbs of tasty

Gud Fud

Nature's steamed, roasted, mashed and jellied bounty

Dainty desserts

Courtney, Rachel, Allan and Michael - my brave guinea pigs

Finally at the grown-ups' table!

The bulk of my November was occupied by my training for my new job. In September, I was notified that I had been hired to work as a customer service agent for one of the UK's major train companies. My role officially falls under the category of "on-board catering." Basically, I'm one of the peeps who strolls through the train coaches and offers the passengers tea, coffee and snacks (free for first class, for a small fee if you travel standard like a noob). The classroom training - although full of a lot of corporate "Rah rah! Motivation!" stuff - was actually quite enjoyable. It took place in York (England), which is one of the most charming towns I have yet to come across. It's like a living, Medieval, Gothic-y Christmas card. Brilliant. Best of all, the train company put me up in a hotel during the training, so I got to have a mini-holiday in the off hours. I used my free time to explore York a little bit and to take advantage of the hotel's 24-hour pizza service a lot.

Living in style at the Hampton Inn York

York Minster Cathedral poking its head up to say "Good morning Mickie! Go learn about trains!"

The following two weeks were occupied with the second stage of my training: job shadowing on a real-life, moving, passenger-filled train! I was anxious the first day, but it didn't take too long to get used to the rhythm of the journey. And I didn't even injure anyone, which I had considered an eventuality. I have since officially graduated to the status of full [probationary] employee. This doesn't exempt me from the possibility of injuring anyone, but if I'm lucky, I'll frequently get put on tea- and coffee-making duty, meaning that the only person I could scald, bruise or lacerate (what, you've never cut yourself brewing tea?) would be myself.

I've been thoroughly enjoying the train job so far. The days are about ten and a half hours long, but they fly by. Or chug by, to be accurate. Every day we leave Edinburgh at 11:00, get into London at 14:21 (yes, exactly) and then head back to Ed-Rock at 16:00 (approximately). Everything said and done, I'm usually home on my couch watching Rachel's Netflix by 21:45. It's very surreal to have my lunch break in London every day. In North America, we grow up with this idea of London being this faraway, almost imaginary place in a country that many people only ever dream of visiting. And now suddenly I'm popping down there a couple of days a week and poking around the local shops or grabbing [incredibly addictive] tofu curry from Wasabi in King's Cross Station (I do this more than I should). It's a wiggidy wack world, y'all.

Despite the turkey and the trains, this Autumn hasn't been my happiest time. Although it's nowhere near as cold here as in Ottawa, it is very dark. Yes, Ottawa winter days are short. But it feels like here the daylight hours are virtually non-existent. Maybe I'm right about this or maybe it's just that I'm still trying to get accustomed to this place and I just need something to blame for feeling down. Either way, I've had a really difficult time finding my get up and go lately. I haven't really been able to bring myself to exercise or sightsee or do much of anything other than work and sleep. My hope is that a daytime job will get me back on a healthier sleep schedule than I've had with bar work and I'll be able to make a move back towards my normal self.

Back to happy things! Although I have just spent the previous paragraph whining about the winter blues, I have to admit that Edinburgh does the holiday season pretty darn fabulously. You want lights? You got 'em! Giant Ferris wheel? No problemo! Christmas tree maze, German market, hot apple toddys, two outdoor skating rinks, soft pretzels!!! We've got it all! Really, I wish that you all could be here to see it because it is spectacular. It would look even better with a light dusting of snow, but no sign of that yet. The temperature hasn't even dropped to zero yet, so it looks like Christmas is gonna be brown and rocky here.

Browsing for baubles

Sparkly shinies in Princes St. Gardens

         

       THE CAROUSEL IS A BAR. REPEAT - THE CAROUSEL IS A BAR!

And now for the happiest thing of all! The stars have aligned and they have bestowed upon me the very best of Christmas presents: as the song goes, I'll be home for Christmas!!! YAAAYYYYY!!! Through some creative scheduling (and possibly a bit of dark magic), the rostering lady at my work - the benevolent and talented Liz - has managed to adjust my schedule so that I have a little over a week off, right at the crucial, yuletidey moment. Unfortunately, I have neither the time nor the financial means to visit my beloved Ottawa companions this time around. It goes without saying that I really wish I could see you all. However, Ma has staked her claim on the bulk of my time. I'll be lucky if I get a chance to see my Dad and sister through her lovingly constrictive bear hugs. So that means it's straight from Edinburgh to NB for me! Well, not exactly straight there...... Since I got my tickets so last-minute, it's a bit of a roundabout route that I'll be taking to get home. On Monday, I leave Edinburgh just after 10h00 (UK time), from which I fly into scenic Newark, New Jersey (woot!). I have a relaxed 8 hour and 20 minute layover there before I board my two-hour flight to Montréal. Once there, I get to wait an easy 10 and a half hours (overnight) to board my plane to Saint John. Forty five minutes in the air will finally bring me to Gate 1 (out of 1) in YSJ where my mother will no doubt have shoved aside staff, children and feeble old ladies in order to be closest to the door to greet me. I am so looking forward to being home. I've done my shopping. I've got my Santa hat. But what I really need in order to feel Christmasy is to be cuddled in front of the fireplace with my family. And eggnog. Apparently they don't "do" eggnog here. Fools.

Lots of love and warm holiday wishes to all of you! I promise [to try] to write again soon!

P.S. I still haven't forgotten that I was chronicling my and Margaret's exploits on our Euro-trip in May. Expect another instalment soon......