3 December 2010

Nick was still off-colour and had a high temperature but went to work regardless. I hope they appreciate his dedication. Emily and I got up at 7.30 but it was so dark I honestly wondered if the clock was wrong. It turned out to be due to a veritable wall of water that fell mercilessly for another half an hour and then abruptly stopped. For the next couple of hours it began to clear up but just when my guard came down there would be a sudden deluge for a minute or two. After that it was clear and sunny and ended up well above 20C.


After aerobics I did a lightning present raid in Yurakucho. The only place I can put all these gifts is in the closet in our room and I hope I can keep Emily out of it. I'm sure the inconvenience to me organising both events simultaneously will be nothing compared to the frustration on her part in the years to come at having her birthday fall so close to Christmas.


I picked Emily up from nursery at 3.30 and got her changed into her party frock. She was very sullen and clingy but as soon as we got outside she was her usual sparky self. Though very warm the wind had really got up and it felt almost hurricane strength at times, so we were very windswept by the time we got to Nick's office for the annual family Christmas party. I was glad she had taken a short nap at Ui so she was not too fazed by all the bustle and dozens of strange kids and grownups. First we visited the clowns, who made her a balloon monkey.



Then we went to the face painting room where she chose to have a green and blue flower on her cheek (her two favourite colours, and no coincidence that they are the colours of Thomas and Percy!).



We spent a while tucking into the masses of scrummy party food. I tried to fill up on veggies so there would not be room for chocs but could not resist the call of the Lindor truffles a few times. Emily happily accepted a carton of jelly beans from one of the helpers but her pleasure was soon dampened as she picked out a spicy one first. I had forgotten about the odd flavours they come in as they look so brightly coloured you thnk they must be fruity and sweet. If it put her off sweets for a while it's no bad thing. She sat on Santa's knee but he was not very good. He was not at all rotund and did not have the jovial patter. I assumed they had paid to hire him but it turned out he was a member of staff so I'll let him off. Emily liked the person walking round in a Rudolph costume though.



We got to have a quick shuftie at Nick's desk as we had never been there in all this time. I think he was very uncomfortable with the idea but I was glad to see it and am now able to visualise him sitting there at least. I felt a bit awkward talking to his colleagues and was terrified I would appear gauche or just plain dumb. I should have gone after I had had a glass of wine to loosen me up.