A festive week

Break from work until the 2^nd of Jan. 11 days to recharge and refresh for 2008. But before that, a week of partying at work. Everyday, there was an invitation for drinks and nibbles from another department. Huge boxes of chocolates, biscuits and bottles of bubblies kept appearing. Everyone's loosening up and chilling out. It was great.

On Wed., Muslims worldwide celebrated the Qurban. It is a ritual performed after the completion of the Haj. This is to remember Prophet Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice his elder son, Ismail, when Allah commanded him to do so as a test of his commitment to his faith. At the last moment, Allah replaced a ram in place of Ismail.

I brought a Malay sweet dish called Seri Muka (literally translated Seri's Face :-) aka Bright Face) to be shared with my colleagues. It is steamed glutinous rice topped with a coconut-based custard. I'm pleased that it went down well. This is my 2^nd time I made it.

Then it was the office Xmas lunch. We'd it at Radcliffe. Put on our party hats, pulled crackers and exchanged silly jokes. The menu was extensive. For starters, I chose the dainty tapas. It was so plentiful that it was a meal by itself. For the main course, I'd steamed lemon sole plus all the trimmings liberally smothered with onion gravy. Everyone's gone quiet, busy tucking in. Dessert was a huge sinful cheesecake portion with strawberries and fresh cream. Heaven!!!

We waddled to the lobby for Italian coffee and home-made mince pies. It's great been able to meet and get to know more colleagues in a very relaxed environment. Although some might have a serious hangover tomorrow. We toddled back to work at about 3 pm. At my desk, I was groaning. Shouldn't have finished the potatoes...:-). Sans dinner for moi. Luckily Kevin is happy with a cheese sandwich. Thanks Babe.

On the last day of work, Management held an 'away day' at the Learning Grid. The whole library will be closed for essential maintenance works. Staff was encouraged to take annual leave but I refused to do so. Management laid out an intensive itinerary to keep us busy. Tea and lunch was also supplied as an incentive.

Staff from each department had to put up a work flow chart. There was a Q&A with each Head of Dept. Short sessions on Web 2, Teaching Grid, Research Exchange, Wrap it (Warwick Repository), Marandet Project, Open Catalogue and new Millenium Functionality,Venice Library, Multimedia equipment demo, Digitisation Scanning Project and including hilarious You tube clips on libraries.

Surprisingly, these talks were very informative that we requested further in-depth sessions for Staff Devt. programmes. I was taken aback on how productive the day was. It was beyond our expectation. I even brought my electronic Sudoku in case I need to keep myself busy.

And they keep our bellies full too. Fantastic and very delish finger food for serious grazing. We finished at 3pm and there was another invitation for drinks with the VC at the lobby. I declined cos I'd a prior engagement. We planned to checkout the new hotspot in Coventry, IKEA.

Parked Benzy at our favourite spot and walked across the street. The surroundings scrubbed well and the building itself was huge. It was soo huge and spacious that it doesn't feel crowded. The lift brings you straight to the top 6th floor and you make your way down. A lovely view of the city with the Xmas lights switched on. Lots of things for my wish list too.

Yesterday was the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. We popped down to Tesco Arena for our final Xmas shopping. Queues, queues, queues everywhere. It's like the whole of Coventry had landed here. I already knew what I wanted to get so we made a quick dash. I'd forgotten the cream and onion rings. Never mind, there's always Xmas eve.

Today, we escaped to our favourite playground. It was a winter wonderland. Dense fog had enveloped the reserve and frost lingers on the tips of the undergrowth and on spider webs. It was truly magical. Reed buntings (Embriza schoeniclus), blue tits, goldfinches and rabbits were busy feeding along the path. We were followed by cheeky robins and even saw a sparrow hawk (Accipiter nisus), perched on a tree, eyeing its next meal. We were truly mesmerised by this magnificent hunter.

We went home when weather was starting to close in. My footsies was freezing even when I'd 2 pairs of thermal socks in my new bright red, sexy wellies. Couldn't wait to be in our warm, cosy casa. Not long till Yule now tho! :o)