M went over to no 81 on Monday morning to look after the kids as they had a viewing for their house. I went for a follow-up appointment with the consultant (Mr Constable) about my cataract op. All looking good and he's put me forward to have the right eye done. Tony came round for a rehearsal after. We played the Castle Tap Open Mic in the evening. Did Can't You See, White Rabbit and Rooster. All on the dobro. Jake joined us on fiddle for White Rabbit. Their were quite a few there and some new faces. A lot of dreary stuff though. Tony had filmed us so spent Tuesday editing the video down to 3 separate tracks. Went to see URZ draw 2 2 again this time to Exeter. Just me and Ralph as usual. A cold wet and windy evening. On Wednesday I tried out Sunday's society walk and it was very wet. James came round with the kids for tea. Amy was up in Scotland. An AFD. Tried a drier version of the walk on Thursday. Had some paving stones deliver from BnQ. Met up with Penno and Clive in The Allied early evening. On Friday we started laying the paving stones.I popped over to RSAC early evening to help set up for Atilla The Stockbroker. He'd said he wanted a Bluetooth connection so I took along  couple of receivers to if they would work but he didn't need them in the end. On Saturday we went up to London for the annual Shenanigans. This time it was a Hidden City treasure hunt all done on the phone. Great fun and arounfvtge inns of court area. Here we are planning except for Sue

James brought the kids round on Monday morning as he was looking after them and their car needed to go in for a service. Picked up some framing from Ralph after. Tony came round later for a rehearsal. An AFD. Popped down to RSAC on Tuesday to take some stuff down the tip. Another AFD. Booked up some more of the Canada trip on Wednesday. Another AFD. Met Mike and Judy for lunch on Thursday at this newish pizza place called Zia Lucia. They do different bases including a charcoal one.

Tony came round in the afternoon for a rehearsal. Did a couple of songs on the dobro. An AFD. On Tuesday it was Carolyn Webb's funeral. It was family only but we watched the cortege leave the house and then went to the wake afterwards in The Rising Sun. They had framed pictures in the bar. A good turn out.

Took down the Christmas decorations on Monday. James popped round with the kids for an hour or so in the afternoon as they had the cleaners in. Went to a meeting at RSAC in the evening. An AFD. Had a bit of snow on Tuesday morning. When M was tidying up the old office she found that the futon mattress had been nibbled a bit. Hopefully this was down to the mice we had  while ago. Anyway I took it down the tip. Another AFD.

On Monday we heard the very sad news that Carolyn Webb had died. James popped round with some ham for us to try and to print off the Canadian crossword. M went out for lunch with Mandy and Fiona. I did a ride out to Maker Space with Kelvin and Stuart. Amy popped round with more ham on Tuesday morning as I ate most of the previous batch. Spent most of the day doing Christmas prep. On Cristmas Eve we picked Madeline and Owen up from nursery. Warren and Mary Ellen came round for tea. James and Amy picked the kids up and then the grandparents went to Derek and Steve's party.

Last week I got an Xmas animation from Penno that I assume she'd made and one from my cousin Linda that she definitely hadn't. Anyway as a result I thought I'd make one and started in earnest on Monday. An AFD. Warren, Mary Ellen and JAMO came round for the traditional lasagne tea on Tuesday. Madeline found my selfie stick. On Wednesday I finished my Xmas animation. I went up to London later to see BRMC with Wynn at The Troxy. I went up early and walked from Embankment.We met in The Clement Attlee which was rammed. Support was from Night Beats who were OK but their recorded stuff is more interesting. They were just playing as a straight 3 piece, guitar, bass, drums. I really enjoyed BRMC. Quite a mixture of stuff from folk to heavy rock but they didn't have much off as they would say up north. One of them also seemed to be having medical issues and we found out later from a review that they had flu. We left before the encore so I could get the 23 32. Meanwhile Edith had been singing. Went swimming on Thursday morning. In the afternoon went up to London again with M to meet up with Anne and Wynn. We were staying in The Hazlitts Hotel in Frith Street, Soho. We had drinks in the library honesty bar then went to Zedel for dinner. Had a bit of a walk round then went the Arts Club that M has just joined.

Had a bit of a lazy day on Monday but did book an AirBnB in Vancouver. The one I picked out originally had gone. Maybe because of the World Cup. An AFD. Went up to London on Tuesday and met Tom for lunch at the Apulia restaurant in Farringdon. It's opposite Smithfield Market. We went there once before on our way to The Barbican to see Nicklecreek. In the evening I went to see URZ lose 2 1 to Peterborough with Ralph. They conceded in 2 mins pulled one back after about an hour, both soft goals. They then made a couple of subs and briefly looked threatening before conceding a well taken goal. It was a dire performance all round. Nobody played well in spite of what srats may say. On Wednesday I did my Theale, Pangbourne, Mapledurham ride.A picture showed up on M's online feed showing Blackheath in the winter with the frozen lake near The Princess Of Wales.Went to BnQ to get an Xmas tree but they didn't have much of a selection do didn't bother. Did The Retreat quiz in the evening and came third. We've called ourselves The Quizlings for the last 2 quizzes. What we didn't realise was there was already a team with that name and Mike the organiser originally gave our winnings to them. We also think they may have got our winnings last time. I put some lights round the tree stump out the front on Thursday. JAMO came round for tea then I went to first Thursday drinks at The Hop Leaf. Tim Monk put in an appearance. We got our Christmas tree on Friday. I popped into RSAC later to set up the PA for the salsa disco. M put up the rest of the Christmas decorations on Saturday apart from the tree. On Sunday she sanded and polished the kitchen worktops. I did some weeding.