Since my regular soup reviewer won't be reviewing this one, I thought I'd try my hand at soup sampling once again. This month's NCG Soup of the Month is the hearty-sounding Chicken, Vegetable & Pearl Barley.

It has a leek and potato base making this a satisfying soup for the winter. However, the chicken and assorted vegetables (peas and carrots mostly) give it a more exciting flavour. The pearl barley adds something a little fun to the texture of the soup too. All in all, a fine winter warmer, although sadly not one that's vegetarian-friendly. There's always next month's Smokey Plum Tomato & Black Bean though, which promises to be quite a treat for tomato fans.

We were just passing so stopped to take a look for a couple of minutes. This little engine was pulling passengers up and down the short section of track in two carriages. Everyone travelling this weekend was being given a complementary warm mince pie.

At last, the end is in sight. Attentive readers may have noticed that my posts have been few and far between of late. The pre-holiday stretch at work this year has been somewhat demanding, taking up more of my time over the past month or so than it would normally have done. Work itself hasn't been excessively heavy, but we've been making lots of internal changes, which has devoured what few gaps I used to have in my working day.

I think we're nearing the end of that process now though, and in any case tomorrow is supposed to be my last day at work before Christmas, so I'm looking forward to a few days to myself and a swift return to normality in the new year. The weather has disrupted things - the office was closed on Friday due to the snow - so it's possible I'll have to do some work on Wednesday too to catch up, but I can do that from home in my dressing gown and slippers which doesn't feel so bad somehow.

The photo above was snapped on my way in to work this morning. It was taken in roughly the same spot as the snowy photo I took back in January - as you can see, it's a little heavier this time. Despite some rain today, the snow doesn't seem to be shifting, so no doubt it will continue to cause disruption for a few days to come.

I spotted this at Tesco the other week but hadn't got around to posting it. Not that it's hugely post-worthy. One of the refrigerators in the store broke down and, this being a rather small branch of Tesco, that unit was home to the store's entire range of fresh meat - which had to be taken back to the stock room. So for a day our Tesco store was mostly vegetarian. :)

I ventured outside for some fresh air this afternoon and met this fellow in a nearby car park. I thought he looked quite jolly. He even has a balloon!

Well, the first real snow anyway. It tried earlier in the week, but this is the first time we've had any snow lay properly. Apparently the office is closed today so I have a day working from home, which will make a nice change.
 

I overslept this morning. I woke up at 10am to the sound of my phone buzzing madly as people in the office began to panic. Somehow I managed to sleep through all of my alarm clocks; I have several of them so it's not an easy thing to do.

I think my body just decided it had had enough and it was going to ignore the outside world and shut down and get some sleep. It's been a hellish few weeks at work; I'm working two or three hours each evening at the moment just to keep on top of things. Family have been placing more demands on my time in the run up to the holidays. And, of course, I've got to make time for the rest of my life too. So sleep has suffered as I've tried to find an extra hour or two each day.

So tired... I really just want to put everything on hold for a week and spend the time sleeping or doing all of the little odd jobs that I don't have the time for right now but which gnaw at me day after day.