Cold, Dark... London

It's sleeting outside... or it was. We came home from church, arriving at the station in time for a nice walk home in the cold, rain, and sleet. Brrr. At this point, I have to say that I am very grateful for the warm coat I bought earlier this year. It has proven to be quite nice, as the temperatures have finally gotten to the point where I wear it out every day. In Fahrenheit terms, it's been dropping to the lower 30's every night, rising to the upper 40's in the day. Once you factor in the wind (it is perpetually windy here - it is truly rare to have a "still" day), it's quite chilly. I've even taken to wearing a scarf. Of course, another difference is that I'm walking back and forth in the weather, rather than feeling it only while I heat up the car.

Still, up until today, it had been rather dry, but the forecast for the upcoming week doesn't look promising. Wet, wet, and more wet. We've discussed Thanksgiving, but haven't figured out exactly what we're going to do yet. While there's a service at St. Paul's, it's at 11, and Thursday is still a regular school day for Dalton. I'm sure that we'll end up doing something, but I'm not sure exactly what. Thanksgiving is not generally celebrated here, so there could be some pangs of homesickness this upcoming Thursday, as we gather around our table with only the immediate family.

Not a lot going on this week, at least from a blogworthy perspective. Dalton did manage to lose another tooth two days after the first. That means that while he faced last Christmas without his two front teeth (which, funnily enough is now captured for posterity in his passport photo - the French border guards made him smile to check his teeth), it is quite likely that he will go into this Christmas lacking the teeth on either side of his front teeth. I suppose I could bore all with the details of my busy work week, but I doubt that the non-accountants among you would find the discussions of accruals and residual values interesting, and quite frankly, the accountants probably would tune out as well. We have generally recuperated from our illnesses, so that is a plus - we also finally managed to get our Christmas photos taken for the annual Christmas cards. Otherwise, things have generally tended to move along in the way that normal life moves, which is probably another indication that we've managed to settle in a bit more now. We did stay in for the first Saturday in a while, which was good, although the daylight hours are beginning to make me worried. When I was in the states, it was rare for me to sleep past 6 to 6:15. In fact, I had long ceased actually setting the alarm, with the knowledge that I was going to just wake up on time. Now, on the weekends, when I don't set the alarm, I'll sleep until 7:30, although I strongly suspect that it's because it doesn't get light outside until after 7 at this point. (In case you're wondering, it's dark by 5, thus the title of the post.)

I am looking forward to the next few weeks, as the Christmas lights come out. I'm hoping to take Mich and the kids ice skating at one of the many temporary rinks that come out, and I'm anxious to see the tree go up in Trafalgar Square. Until later...