Don't Tread on Peas: December {2025}

 

Dear friends. Here's how I spent December. It was quite lively. 

Monday Dec 1

First day of my beauty Advent calendar, this time from Next. The first product was a full size shampoo from Philip Kingsley. 

Rain held off for 5 mile muddy walk. Finished blog post for tomorrow.

Tues Dec 2

Trainer at gym. Sunny. Did weeding and pruned roses at front. Went into town after lunch. Have several gift vouchers for John Lewis and want to get a camel coat and long brown boots. Bought the coat (Hobbs) and would have got boots but very busy and couldn't get served. 

Below: in the new coat a couple of weeks later at the Royal Albert Hall. 

Weds Dec 3

Beautiful sunny day. 5 mile walk. Ordered the boots online. Planning a winter Skiathos trip for next Nov though will be hard to persuade J! Getting there will require two flights, the first to Athens followed by Skiathos  (or a ferry). Would like to see festival of Iconiclast. An icon showing Mary, supposedly found on the site of what became the monastery, is paraded through town with a marching band and procession. Later it gets taken to Volos for a few days. 

Thurs Dec 4

Rainy. Wore all purple for the annual Hanlon Xmas trip to Wildlife Photographer of the Year at the Natural History Museum, and a Christmas lunch. Very jolly.

Fri Dec 5

Blue sky shock! Rain was in the forecast for 2 weeks.  Went to gym. My new boots came. Very pleased with them. 

Sat Dec 6

Took some outfit pics as the weather was good in the morning.

Sunday Dec 7

Warm, overcast. Did forest walk. Started The Asset (Netflix). 

Monday Dec 8 

Warm, overcast. Walked to Buckhurst Hill to get bits in Waitrose for a hamper I'm putting together for a foodie. Wrote 2 blog posts.

Tuesday Dec 9 

Last session with trainer, using cables on the TRX.  Booked a Courtauld study tour in June:  Medieval Exeter and Devon. I was pondering a similar trip to Munich but left it too late - it was sold out in a few hours. 

Weds Dec 10

Blue sky, quite warm still (15 degrees!). Went to the Christmas Past exhibition at the Museum of the Home in Hoxton. Achieved my daily fitness goals as my trip included lots of walking. Afterwards did a stroll round memory lane, Leather Lane and High Holborn where I used to work in the late 80s. Leather Lane market is an olfactory treat now with dozens of stalls selling sizzling street food from around the world. 

Below: Christmas 1879 style in a house belonging to the wealthy middle class, followed by Christmas 1979. Remembered well the sideboard, the lairy patterned carpet, the pineapple ice bucket and hostess trolley. 

Thurs Dec 11

Don't tread on peas! This was the mantra today after I spilt a pack of frozen peas in the conservatory.  

Did walk, blue sky day. J not too well.

Fri Dec 12

Cloudy again. J a bit better. Went to running club Pilates.

Sat Dec 13

Whitstable meet up.  Met several friends on the train from Victoria.  Met the others in a coffee shop in the town centre. Did a browse of the shops and then made our way to Tankerton for lunch at the Marine Hotel. Jayne and I were wearing the same skirt from Kettlewell, quite a coincidence as it's a few years old. Mine was bought preloved. 

Sunday Dec 14

Did walk. Lunch with Rachel, Sean and Olive in the Queen Elizabeth. We haven't eaten here for a long time but it's recently been renovated. Very good. 

Monday Dec 15

Did 6 mile walk over at High Beach. Saw longhorn calves near their winter quarters. They will soon be living out in the forest.

Tuesday Dec 16

Gym, no trainer now. Rained pm. Switched from Disney to Paramount. 

Weds Dec 17

Went to the Courtauld to see Wayne Thiebaud: American Still Life. It wasn't a very big exhibition but enjoyed his paintings, mostly showing confections and very orderly and surprisingly restful. The gift shop had some fantastic Thiebaud inspired offerings including baubles. Then went to M&S to try to get a Big Munch tin. Sold out. 

Enjoyed the traditional scene of ice skating outside Somerset House.

Three of the pictures at the Wayne Thiebaud exhibition. The third is a close-up to show the textured paint and how it resembles frosting.

Thurs Dec 18

No exercise today, did a lot of present wrapping and tidying.

Fri Dec 19

Pilates at the running club. 

Sat Dec 20

Walked to Sainsbury's to get a few bits. Went to clubhouse as I thought I'd left my glasses there yesterday. Found them at home later. Oops. Watched 2 last episodes of Home for Xmas (charming)  and Furia.

Sunday Dec 21

Did 5 mile walk. Roast lamb. Afternoon and evening dragged. Very low today

Monday Dec 22

Royal Albert Hall carol concert with lunch at their restaurant Coda. A festive treat. The orchestra members came out in fancy dress after the interval. The highlight is always the 12 Days of Christmas. We were in the arena seats so our line was "And a partridge in a pear tree". Lots of hilarity as we kept standing up and down. Tickets are already on sale for next year. We haven't been for a few years. 

Tuesday Dec 23 

J did a bike workout,  I went for a walk. In the afternoon had Christmas shopping delivery.  We watched YouTube videos featuring an American woman bike packing across the Hebrides.  Not what I'd planned, but that's one of the nice things about being being retired. Sometimes you can rip up the rule book and do something different. 

Weds Dec 24: Christmas Eve 

Colder, a little sunshine. We did a walk. J went to his daughter's to sort out a problem with the Ring doorbell. Watched bike videos again. Did some cleaning and ironing. Watched last episode of Pluribus. A long wait now for series 2. 

Thursday Dec 25: Christmas Day

Cold, blue sky. Did short walk with J. We opened presents and then I started the lunch prep. A little tricky as the oven shelves became detached from the lock on one side. Had chicken rather than turkey,  with roast potatoes, red cabbage, peas, chantenay carrots, cauliflower cheese (for me), pigs in blankets and stuffing balls. No Yorkshire puddings. My view is they're an abomination with anything other tthan roast beef....(runs to hide). 

Watched Oliver! (1968), one of my favourite films.  Had to take out a Sky Cinema subscription for this.  In the evening J watched the latest Mission: Impossible film. Not my jam, I chortled away at Father Ted on my tablet.

Friday Dec 26: Boxing Day

Family lunch for 10 at a local restaurant/pub. Very busy. Had souffle followed by pork tomahawk with mash and hispi cabbage. The three children, aged 2 to 6, were very well behaved. We then adjourned to Rachel's house to open the rest of our presents. A riotous session. Predicably one of their cats was intrigued by a box...

Saturday Dec 27

Did a short walk  (3.5 miles) to Waitrose to get salad bits.  Always crave a salad after rich Christmas fare. Lots of tidying up. 

Sunday Dec 28

Cloudy and cold. J did a bike ride with Rachel and Olive. I went to the gym. Had roast ham for lunch.  J went go karting with Christopher.  He came last, but said he was the oldest by far. We watched the latest Knives Out film (Netflix) because we'd seen it being filmed in Epping Forest. The only thing we recognised however was the exterior of the church. It sent me to sleep, which is quite unusual.

Monday Dec 29

We both had a bad night's sleep because we consumed sugar before bed. I had chocolates and he had a mince pie with cream. Sugar very definitely has an impact on sleep. We did Pilates and a walk. I booked the last place on FitFarms' Derbyshire in January.  Wrote my review of 2025 which took a long time. Need to find a better way of putting photos aside for the same post in a year's time. Started watching The Beast in Me (Netflix).

Tuesday Dec 30

Went to the gym. Made chilli. 

Wednesday Dec 31

Sunny day. We did a long early walk, 6.5 miles. I went in town to see the Cecil Beaton's Fashionable Friends exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. I didn't know much about Beaton. He was famous for fashion photography, including Vogue, and setting new standards for photographing the royal family. He was also renowned for war photography and as a caricaturist and commenter on manners. The exhibition is in its last few days and was very busy.

Below: my favourite pictures including Beaton's sister Baba in a "Silver Symphony" picture (one of a series),a beautiful 1920s car and outfit, and Queen Elizabeth in Hartnell. The planned 20 minute session turned into four hours. 

We had curry for dinner and watched film Relay, 7 out of 10 (Prime, Netflix).  Deteriorated in the last 20 mins with a somewhat implausible plot development. Both in bed by 9pm as usual. I read until 11pm.  Was woken by the sound of fireworks. Happy New Year! 

Have you had a spilt peas incident?!  And was your December lively?  Do tell in the comments.

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