Christmas diarising

Lyndsey had a party at her studio last night, which was very nice. I got to catch up with people I've not seen enough of lately, which was fun although I spent a lot of the evening feeling flustered and spotting people out of the corner of my eye who I felt like I was ignoring. Lynds and Jo's studio is full of plants - with the addition of a few strings of Christmas lights and the deduction of some traditional wattage, it made for a dark, cosy, festive environment. Beers nestled in buckets and bottles of rum were slowly emptied.

Vanessa showed me a year of her life on the photos section of her mobile phone. It's an oddly efficient way of catching up; we watched the empty rooms of her new house slowly fill up, her nephew gradually growing, and the South Downs slowly changing colour as the year advanced. We embarked upon a swift psycho-analytical tour of our various friends' psyches, comparing notes, and concluded with a brief deconstruction of the joys of family arguments, during which I enjoyed myself by reminding Van that she is adorable but quite impossible. Me and Lynds did our traditional "who can hug Nessie the longest" competition; frustratingly I think L won this time.

Today my dad is having an operation and I am watching the clock ticking down to its commencement. And to Christmas.