reynardo | I have a lot of lovely friends...

...and thank you to all those who sent love and good wishes and other things. And truly, guys - it really does get better as you get older. Life is bloody wonderful.

I had yummy duck dinner with the immediate family (including

lederhosen,

da_norvegicus and his father, my mum and brother Ben,

waitingman,

xmas_chan, and joining us for dessert,

quatranoctal. What more could I ask for? And then I received evil chocolate, lovely DVDs and CDs, a coffee grinder and a dubious game of "Zombies", which

lederhosen is investigating right now.

We tested the coffee grinder tonight - it turns out that coffee beans which have been in the fridge for 6 months are a touch too damp to grind properly. We'll try some drier ones later. Never mind - the caffeine is keeping me going for a couple of hours, long enough for dinner.

And then sleep. Sleep would be good. Us old ones need our sleep.