h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Apart from a short break around 3pm, there has been some form of precipitation going on all day today. It started with a few desultory snowflakes, being blown about by quite a strong wind which couldn't make up its mind which direction it was coming from. Then changed to hail, then sleet, then very cold rain.

Haven't done anything much. I had a list of things I planned to get done during this long break from work (nearly two weeks) but have hardly done any of them. Why does this always happen? I come upstairs with good intentions of tackling the bookshelves in my study, which haven't been properly sorted out since it was decorated more than two years ago, and end up spending a couple of hours in ML and here, or playing Sudoku on the computer (my boss's fault, since she gave me a CD for Christmas!}.

Anyway, I have invited some people in for 'drinks and nibbles' on 7 January, so that will at least make me do a bit of cleaning. I am generally very unsociable - that is I am very unconfident about having people round for food/drink and never do it, so my best friend was a bit shocked when I announced that I was going to have this gathering! The food will be from M&S or Tesco though - I draw the line at actually cooking for other people, it will be stressful enough having them in the house.

Probably the most enjoyable thing I've done this holiday is to go on a historic walk in the city centre (including two of the larger Colleges) with a local historian/roadsweeper, Allan Brigham. He does these great walks for local residents, attempting to educate us about Cambridge history. Normally (in the summer) they are very big groups, but on Wednesday there were only 10 of us and that was really nice. It had snowed overnight and there was a VERY cold wind, but it was bright and sunny and Cambridge looked absolutely stunning. The highlight for me was seeing the oldest house in Cambridge - it's a merchant's house built around 1200 and therefore a pretty rare example of medieval domestic architecture, now part of St John's College. You can see a photo at: