Snap Crackle Pop!

...went my ankle. That was the major event of my weekend. Joy!

I had an absolutely lovely Friday evening. I went for a dinner and a drink with one of my work colleagues, Jess. We went to Bar 38 for a cocktail, and then off for a late dinner. It was so nice to get to know her better – I really don’t know the people I work all that well. So I had a great time!

Saturday was a day that SHOULD have been great (and in all honesty, it wasn’t that bad). I actually slept in, for the first time in ages! I think my body clock has shifted, and if I wake up at 8am, I feel like I’ve slept in. But Saturday morning, I came downstairs at 10am (and felt like I had wasted half my day. I’m getting so old!). I had a leisurely breakfast with my new roommate, Marine (I think that’s how you spell it). She is staying here for 2 weeks to take an English course. She is French, but she has lived in Tahiti, New Caledonia, and, most recently, Paris. She is absolutely lovely and I wish she was staying longer. I spent the early part of the afternoon wrapping Christmas presents! I always feel the pressure when I wrap Christmas presents – my sister is an absolute professional when it comes to wrapping gifts, and compared to her, my presents looked like a 5 year old wrapped them, and threw them across the room – just for fun. I was due to meet a friend for tea at 4, so by 3:40 I was out the door, and life really set me up for a fall. I was walking down the road and decided to play the Glee Christmas song  “We Need a Little Christmas” – one of my favourites. It is so bouncy and cheerful. I clicked play and started walking quicker, and I was smiling and then BAM! Snap Crackle Pop went my ankle as I stepped on the curb, and over I went. The best part was when I was sitting on the sidewalk, with my legs straight out in front of me, and people just casually strolled past. I called my friend to come and pick me up. What I should have done was gone straight home and iced my ankle and stayed off it for the rest of the weekend. But after tea, we were going to the Cathedral for a couple of our friends’ baptism and confirmations. It’s a church service – we’d be sitting, right? WRONG! We went for tea (where I could sit), and then we VERY SLOWLY walked over to the Cathedral. And then we spent about 45 minutes of the hour long service walking up the length of the cathedral and standing in the quire. And then it was off to the pub to celebrate with them. If we take the swelling joint out of the picture, the evening was absolutely wonderful. I had great conversation, and was able to support two friends in one of the milestones of their lives. And then I met new friends, and had more great conversation at the pub. There was definitely pain, but there was definitely gain!

Sunday: Normally I try and go to the 10:30 am and 6:30pm services at church. But I didn’t have to help with confirmation class, so I took the morning off to give my ankle some much needed TLC. I spent the day reading National Geographic (all about the development of the teenage brain – apparently it is evolutionarily advanced), wrapping the rest of my presents, and watching Friends. I had volunteered to serve coffee at the 6:30pm service in place of a friend who popped over to Abu Dhabi for work (like I said, I’m not on the same life page). So I cabbed down, and did a lot more standing and walking. After church, I decided to skip the pub, but realized that I had forgotten my cell phone with the number for the cab company, so I ended up walking home. What should have been a 20 minute walk became a 45 minute one. Awful. Happily, I came home to one of Andrew and Judy’s dinner parties, which meant there were copious amounts of delicious food and desserts and wine – it’s an ancient painkiller.

And I am paying for it today, folks. Work has been slow going for me. My ankle is an extremely artistic colour palette – periwinkle blue, navy blue, plum, emerald green...

And on that graphic note, Happy Advent!