All Change

Hello, and a Happy New Year to you all. Josephine here with the all new Daily Mumble, totally redesigned in a kind of it-looks-just-like-it-did-before type way.

Victim of its own success, that's what it is. My server is groaning under the strain of over 19,000 visits a month ...and thus demanding further finance to keep it in Weetabix for another year. Alas, poor student that I am, I am unable to lavish it with such niceties, and so in an attempt to cut the volume of traffic passing down this particular disinformation dirt road by 45% I am resorting to a day-by-day approach to bringing The Daily Mumble to your doorstep. Of course, if you're clever and use RSS this won't really affect you in the slightest, except for having to change your bookmark. The rest of you, you'll just have to lump it. Dial-up users - I am not pandering to your patheticness, it is merely conincidence that ths move is beneficial to you.

In order to relieve you of the guilt that I know you feel as a result of spying on my private life, I now give you the option of sending a donation to help with the upkeep of The Daily Mumble (Paypal donation button above right). It's my brithday soon (13th Jan), so why not donate, say, £25 / $50 dollars, and instruct me to use it to take my darling girlfriend out for a romantic candlelit dinner - then write all about it in The Daily Mumble, with full credit given to YOU! Yes, YOUR NAME in the Mumble! I know, I should set a minimum donation of about $400 for that, but no, you can donate as little (or as much!) as you like!

So, 2006 indeed. I must say, it's been bloomin fantastic so far, as I have done precisely NO work and precisely NO study. No, instead I have been trying to come to terms, yet again, with how amazingly sexy my *cough* is, as pictured below on a hill that overlooks my home county of Herefordshire.

Anyway, I will tell you all about it over the next few days. But for now, that's your lot, as I need to go to bed and dream of my cutey, who I hope is sleeping peacefully 3 hours north of here.

Later...

New Year's Eve

Seems like it was last year.

As is traditional, the day hosted the the big Tame Family Annual Gathering. Initially pretty stressful (as family gatherings can be), everyone mellowed out as the evening wore on. In fact, one of our company got a little too mellow, following in my Christmas Eve footsteps and getting completely trashed on gin, locking themselves in the bathroom and causing a huge flood. Hardly surprising considering the stress they were under.

My baby and I didn't really see any of that though, as we were in bed by 11.15pm. "lightweights!" you may cry, but I tell you, the fireworks in the valley below went off at just the right moment - the perfect way to see in the new year tee hee...

New Year's Day was a lovely affair. Woken from our slumber at 10.15am by siblings singing 'We Wish You a Merry Christmas' outside the caravan door, after morning necessities, slowly hauled ourselves into the house, just in time for a fantastic Christmas / Birthday / New Year celebratory dinner (NYDay being Dad's Bday too). The meal, which mum had been planning for a few years, was bloomin gorgeous, and everyone was happy and joyful and larks sang their little voices out, before dad managed to catch them and carve their heads off.

I received some lovely presents... but the lovliest was the mere presence of my *cough* (here seen holding my nephew edmund).

I don't quite know how, but she somehow managed to survive meeting my entire family. Parents. Siblings. Partners. Children. Not only that, she also met a big bunch of my friends at a reunion thingy, AND mums #2 and #3.

Every day she got cuter and cuter, even though she was incredibly cute last year. We spent quite a bit of time with my super groovy nephews too - they being jamie and eddie, and mum, Jessie, who is definatly the most amazing mum in the whole world ever.

The evening was spent... er, it escapes me, but I'm pretty sure it was all very nice and groovy..

It really has done me the world of good, having this break from it all. I feel super relaxed for the first time since last summer. Hurray for Holidays I say. Raaaa!