Wednesday 30th December 2009

Today I officially became British (dance). My passport was delivered to the door and considering it is a little over 3 weeks since I applied for it and it has been the silly season and the application process included an identity interview in Brighton I am very very impressed!!!!!

Over and above the added lift said delivery gave me I have had a lovely past two day. Yesterday Kerry and I hit Brighton for her birthday "day without children" and after getting completely drenched in the rain we decided a long lunch at Jamie Oliver's restaurant, Jamie's Italian, was a much better idea then trudging around shopping. The atmosphere was wonderful, the wine perfectly chilled and the food delish and of course the company fantastic - after around 3 hours we finally made our way back to the station having only seen the inside of about 3 shops -such fun that we have decided to make it our birthday tradition.

This morning Catherine collected Nicholas and I nice and early and it was off to the Garden Center in Ditchling to take advantage of the fab new year sales. England goes sale mad from 27th December until the first week after New Year and items are often reduced by as much as 75%. I had a wonderful time choosing my new Christmas tree and considering before Christmas it was £100 and I ended up paying the princely sum of £34 after all the discounts I was a very very happy little shopper and now can't wait for next year to use my new "baby"

Tomorrow Linda and family arrive for 3 days so such a lovely time to look forward together, and hopefully it bodes well for a fantastic 2010.