New Years Eve

Another very cold start - not so bad now - probably not so bad tonight.

I've been invited to a party, just down the road, nice people, no fuss - probably going to give it a miss - I'm terrible at house parties - something bad always happens. I don't have the social skills for standing around talking to people I don't know in other people's houses - explains a lot.

Watched Mapp and Lucia Episode 1 last night. Hated it. They managed to make Rye look just like... Rye. They took absurd liberties with the books - apparently episode 2 is worse, and left me grinding my teeth in frustration. I don't understand why a good actress like Miranda Richardson needed to play a panto dame version of Prunella Scales, or why they wasted time and money on Steve Pemberton's crude, clumsy, pointlessly camp Georgie. It was Acorn Antiques meets League of Gentlemen. Absolutely no subtlety, far too much incidental music - and clearly an issue with the sound (shooting in real houses is always a nightmare) I suspect the whole thing was dubbed post production. I won't be watching any more episodes.

Last night I did enjoy 'Argo' - the Oscar winning Ben Affleck movie about the rescue of 6 members of the US Embassy staff alongside the greater siege in Afghanistan, which I remember well. It wasn't bad - factual inaccuracies aside, but I fail to see why thee needed to be a scene with Affleck shirtless, and lets be fair - he's a very wooden actor with no emotional range whatsoever.

If I stay in - I have 'Under The Skin' tonight - or I may just go to bed, somehow I find myself spectacularly tired today. I can hardly keep awake.

I threw caution and common sense to the wind and bought myself a 2nd Xmas present - to sit alongside the computer software training manual I delighted myself with - I bought a very good, well priced (under 20 quid) duck down mattress protector from Aldi. Delighted with that - I intend to sleep much better tonight.

As it's New Years Day tomorrow - then Friday... then the weekend... I'm clearly not going back to work until Monday... so I'm kidding myself I'm having that holiday I always promised myself. I did start thinking about work and money again last night and ended up having a panic attack in bed ad wasn't able to sleep.

138 days to the next general election - which looks so far like a repeat of the last one, with even less optimism at the end. I really want to see the back of my MP, she's excruciating. She doesn't even live here - I can 100% guarantee that she will already have packed her bags before the day. I'd be amazed if she has renewed the lease on her flat yet.

Still in two minds about later.... I bet I stay home.