Went to High St Kensington to get the last minute odds and sods for Christmas. It was really quiet, which surprised me as I was expecting it to be pure hell. It's the first time I've been shopping for frivolous stuff for ages and was a great break from the normal stresses and strains.

The woman in front of me at Tower Records was pulling a bit of a cheeky stunt though. She was trying to return a CD case, 50 days after she bought it because shed 'suddenly realised that the case didn't have a CD in it'. The shop assistants were very polite, if skeptical, but she got really quite narked at their skepticism and kept asking for the manager. I'd have thought she'd have realised how dodgy it looked and been polite, but she'd clearly been of an assertiveness training course of something.

That aside, I now feel prepared for Christmas. The food has arrived (OK, most of the 'food' is actually alcohol but hell, it's Christmas) The tree is up and decorated. The pressies are wrapped. Tomorrow, I'm working again but I know that I've got another break coming up, if only for Christmas Day, so I'm happy.