A Quick Hello Between Guests and Sherries...

I do hope you Christmas was simply marvellous - ours was, of course, but that's neither here nor there!

I've just popped into the study to fetch another botttle of something rather special and noticed I'd left my computer on, or at least someone has, so I thought I would grab the chance to say a quick hello! My brother arrived this morning with a simply splendid single malt -  the first of the the new batch from his highland distillery. It is delicious as ever, but one does tire of the annual temporary los of faculties. This year it was only my left arm, thank goodness. The year I lost my eyesight is mercifully fading into memory, as was the Boxing Day when Daddy lost the use of his... well, um... let's just say he was in the little boy's room most of the afternoon and a maid was dispatched to The Cottington's for extra 'supplies'. 

Dear Daddy is already asleep on the Louis XV (I still can not bring myself to write 'quinze') and Woman-Who-Absolutely-Isn't-My-Real-Mother is decidedly squiffy and rather irritatingly giggly. Silly goose. We are in day two of the annual charades-and-sherry tournament. The sherry is definitely winning... The new curate is racing over with young Grimes Jnr in his father's tractor to scoop up the vicar and the cat hasn't been seen since the entire Johnson horde came carol singing (after a fashion, the Von Trapps they are not!) with their pitbull-cross... and I should think anything which permenantly smells like that would be very cross indeed!


Must dash... but I promise to check in before all the New Year's nonsense begins.


Cheerio - and cheers!
Lady R xxx

Season's Greetings!

 So Christmas is less than two weeks away; how it suddenly creeps up on us! The dear, dear children from our village primary school filled our second-best ballroom yesterday and enjoyed cakes and fizzy pop, followed by a visit from Father Christmas (not 'Santa Claus.' One does admire our European and American cousins, but one doesn't have to bow to non-traditional outside influences, does one?!)

 Randomly Hall is looking wonderfully festive now that the hallways are decked and the Christmas trees (grown, of course, in the private forest on our sprawling estate) are trimmed. One has set today aside to write the many cards to friends, family, colleagues and aquaintances throughout Great Britain and the wider world. Throughout the year one meets so many new faces and one's diplomatic relations increase, but I do enjoy the personal touch of writing my own cards. Our dear butler, Chatsworth, has sent one of his girls into the village to buy a few hundred 1st class stamps. We are blessed with a darling postmistress, Ms Harris, who will be gracing us with her annual trip up to the Hall to weigh and frank our international post tomorrow. One feels a little sorry for the rest of the village, especially the elderly, trapesing uphill in the bitter wind to the post office to post their gifts. Lord R and I are so grateful that our busy schedules and local importance affords us this rather special treatment; one can't imagine having to walk into town - not in genuine Italian leather court shoes!

 If you yourself are about to send Christmas greetings abroad, here is a list of some ways to say 'Merry Christmas' in various languages. I hope you find it useful, if not educational:

• Welsh - Nadolig Llawen
• Irish Gaelic - Nollaig Shona Dhuit
• Scots Gaelic - Nollaig Chridheil
• French - Joyeux Noël
• Spanish - ¡Feliz Navidad
• Italian - Buon Natale
• German - Frohe Weihnachten
• Danish - Glaedelig Jul
• Dutch - Gelukkig Kerstfeest
• Finnish - Hyvää Joulua
• Portuguese - Feliz Natal
• Norwegian and Swedish - God Jul

Until next time, darlings,
Lady R x

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

So winter has drawn in and thoughts turn to warm woollens and cosy evenings beside the fireplace. Here at Randomly Hall the staff are busy gathering in the holly, ivy and mistletoe for the wreaths. As ever, fingers will be scratched and someone will discover a serious allergy to ivy, but one does have a duty to the expectations of visiting guests. Of course, I would do it myself but one is kept so busy with the local W.I.

Speaking of the dear ladies of the W.I., one of my favourite past-times is championing the world of Great British art and craft. My many duties throughout the year include judging the wonderful homemade items at the annual village fayre and after dinner speaking at various locations. My current favourite subject, incidentally, is 'Primark Lingerie - Saviour of the Working Class Woman or a Slippery Slope to Sagginess?'

With all this mind, I would like to whet your appetite for a warm yet stylish winter by presenting you with a selection of excellent items by some very clever and talented crafters and designers and all available at one's favourite 'handmade' website, Folksy.com. Do make a nice cup of tea and enjoy; a simple click on the item title will take you to the shop page:

Alpaca Rainbow Tank Top by afrayedknot

Fingerless Gloves, Recycled Lambswool - Artyzan Crafts

White Ceramic Cupcake Candle Holders - Lauren Ceramics

Reindeer Hoodie - Pierre Cochon

Huge Snug Cowl, Hand Knit in Graphite - Kydel

Winter Print - Sparklehen

So until next time, stay safe and warm, my darlings - and if you are heading out to the shops, do wear a good pair of shoes and sharpen those elbows!

Yours,

Lady R x

Welcome, Welcome, Welcome!

One thing 'they' say one should never do is blog randomly. One should have a clear agenda and not merely share one's impromptu and intermittent thoughts and findings, so as to avoid confusing one's readers and arousing the suspicions of Google, who apparently regard such blogs as potential spam. Well, I say poo to that, with knobs on. 'They' can take a long walk off a short pier, as dear Grandmother used to say. (I dare not make public what dear Grandfather ever said, without causing acute embarassment.)

I, Lady Randomly, hearby announce my full intention to bring into all our lives a new diversion, being a blog chock-full of posts covering a wide and hopefully interesting range of news, views, random thoughts and findings and anything else I see fit to share with all of you good people. I pray this be at least an amusing diversion for you and a successful exercise in sharing for myself. Lord Randomly has, on occasion, remarked upon my ability to 'think out loud' and 'determine to make myself heard, no matter what.' He has also made rather less flattering remarks along the lines of 'women who talk too much, yet say too little of consequence.' I paraphrase, of course; a good port served in too large a quantity has much to answer for. The current media makes much of 'foul-mouthed youths' and 'failing standards in education' but, frankly, even the most decent prep schools have, in my opinion, been in steady decline since the seventies, as my dear husband's frequent lapses in both common sense and socially acceptable vocabulary can attest.

Anyway, I digress; I do intend to follow some convention, purely in the interests of expediency. For instance, from here-on in I shall refer to my dear spouse as Lord R, as I feel 'Pugdy' is perhaps too personal to be understood and appreciated by those outside our marriage. I shall also include what I believe the technogically-minded call 'graphics.' I presume this maily means photographs... I hope it does!

So I shall leave you for now; I'm sure we'll all get along like the proverbial 'house on fire'.

Toodle-pip for now, darlings!
Lady R x