Hogmanay round-up of news

This evening the first evening without any staying guests since the 21st of December. It feels great. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy our visitors but I was glad to say good bye to the last lot earlier today. I have a lot of conversations in my head but I am not famous for conversing with people. I often find I have nothing of interest to contribute and with many conflicting thoughts all tumbling through my head at once it is difficult to keep track of any vivid conversation. By the time I am finally ready for my contribution the conversation will have moved on. I don't know how I manage to maintain friendships or other relationships but luckily, I do. It is so much easier to write, the thoughts follow the typing fingers and order seems more easily achieved.

Anyway, I hope you all survived the festive period without family feuds and jeans buttons that seem inches away from the button hole. I disassembled the Christmas tree today, dusted every ornament and packed each away neatly in their respective boxes. It is a funny thing with Christmas trees, I really love to have one for a few days but there comes a moment when I just can't bear it any longer. I left the star fairly lights in the bay window because I love gazing through the windows when the light are on and even if they aren't.

I am tired today. We all are. We hosted a Hogmanay party and it was fun. It was great to have enough space for all our guests, from few to quite a lot and back again. I am finally getting used to people coming or not coming or stopping by for a while, on the way to or from another party or two, at any point during the evening. It appears that whilst Hogmanay party going might be slightly random, in the end, the same group of people gravitates together for hugs and kisses and good wishes. I wonder if any anthropologist has ever studied the Hogmanay habits of Glaswegians? As a relative outsider, I can assure you that it would be a subject worthy of deeper study. It is by they way quintessentially non-Swiss to host a party with unknown and fluctuating numbers of guests and a defined beginning and bizarrely it has been one of the most difficult challenges of successful acculturation. Getting there.

I have to share a party drink with you. Have you ever enjoyed a Partick Swayze? No? I am not sure who first coined these tequila based shots but I think the origin is in the Sparkle Horse, a Partick pub (Partick being a neighbourhood in Glasgow). Correct me if I am wrong! There is no Google return if you search the world wide web. I think these small shots are going to be a firm party tradition. It involves layering coffee tequila with Baileys (carefully) and topping the layers with a Malteser. As with all shots, sipping is not allowed. Laughing is not recommended because of potential accidental inhalation of a Malteser. It is just as well that parties are not that common an occurrence.

The teenager has been busy being social on Hogmanay and left home at some point after midnight with his cousin. I am not sure what the aim of this expedition was but they stayed in touch by text so all was good. They returned 15 minutes after the last guests departed. I am urgently needing to get used to roaming teenagers. Two days ago, Sam and his cousin went out to the Irn Bru Carnival and returned briefly for dinner with three further teenagers in tow. It was lucky that Richard roasted a gigantic four rib roast on this day. The cousin has now left and Sam has resumed his normal life style. For now.

Forgive my rambling, it has been a long day. As is tradition on this blog, I am neither looking back nor forward on this first day of 2017. Taking one day at the time seems like a pretty sensible approach to life, don't you think?

Thank you for visiting all year long and leaving your comments. Interacting with all my blog friends is one of my big joys in life. xx