My Month in Numbers 2014: December

Hello hello.

Just after Christmas is a tricky time of year to be documenting your days with numbers ... after all, you may not feel much like totalling up how much you spent on gifts, how many calories you consumed ... or how many days you had flu after being perfectly healthy the rest of the year!![For the record it was: 7 days feeling awful ... plus a few more feeling vaguely less awful!].

So I've tried to steer clear of all those statistics and instead focussed on the fun stuff that involved daleks and dolls and getting to see your heroes ... stuff like this ...

2 = the  number of Daleks that followed me around at the start of the month.
 Just after I finished work on campus on the 1st December I tweeted: "Just gone past an office which had 2 Daleks inside. ‪#‎Truestory".

And it was a true story. And a very confusing one.

"Maybe it was just a broken fan or something" my student had said when, after we'd walked past the office I told him what I'd seen. But no, as unlikely as it sounded, I knew what I'd seen!  Then, after we'd walked back that way again later on my student turned and said "Julie, I don't know much about Dr.Who ... but those are definitely Daleks".  Which was a relief really ... at least I hadn't been imagining things.

And then ...

3 days later I had cause to tweet again: "You know how I saw 2 Dalek heads in an office last week? Well now there are two dalek bodies in the stairwell!"

So far, so strange don't you think? I mean ... it's not as if there was any good reason that the campus should be over run with Daleks. Then a day later, with all thoughts of Daleks gone from my mind, 4 of us travelled 20 miles to Carmel College in Darlington where we had tickets to see Mark Gatiss.

Oh, yes, have I mentioned that we went to see Mark Gatiss, co-creator of Sherlock [where he also stars as Mycroft] and writer for Dr.Who etc, yes, that Mark Gatiss live, in the flesh? - well ...

... and yes, I did just mention that he's a writer for Dr.Who ... and yes, I already know what you're thinking ...

4 = the number of Daleks who were in attendance at the Mark Gatiss event!
They included these two in the foyer, which moved and spoke ... 

And then ... once we were inside the auditorium there they were! The two that had been following me all week! It turned out that the event planner at University [where I work] had also planned this event. Which is a rather mundane explanation really ... it's more fun to have thought, as my sister did, that I might just be the new Doctor ...

But, as interesting as all the Dalek sightings were ... this was the really exciting part:

It was a charity event for the local mayor's charities and, seemingly it doesn't matter if you're a famous writer and actor, when the mayor knows your Dad and asks 'Would your Mark come and do something for us?' ... you apparently come and do something! Hurrah!!

2 x very excited fan-girls:

Mark chatted with the editor of the local paper for around 1.5 hours about all kinds of things including, of course, Sherlock. At which point I had to do everything in my power to prevent me from squeaking with awe / standing up and telling him how I've watched all 9 episodes around a billion times. Give or take a few.

After the formal interview part there was an Q&A with the audience [no, I didn't ask anything ... I would have shown myself up!] and then  ... then there was this ...

Mark Gatiss reading out prize-winning raffle numbers = now there's something I never thought I'd hear.
Who would? As the event was in aid of charity there was also a raffle and he got to pick and call out the winning numbers.

A moment which is going on my 'Well, I've seen everything now' list.

£5 = my pay-out in a cake-related bet.
In case we got peckish in the car on the way home from seeing Mark Gatiss [did I mention that we saw Mark Gatiss? We saw Mark Gatiss. Yep, we did.] I took with me, in my bag, some slices of Christmas cake. And when James had asked why I was cutting so many slices of cake he bet me £5 that there was no need for me to bother as my sister wouldn't want any.

In amongst the Mark Gatiss excitement I told my sister I had cake in my bag ... yet I didn't mention the bet. But on the way home, she said unprompted: "Where's the cake? I was promised bag cake!" ... and I let out a cheer knowing that that £5 was now mine!!

Considering how many Christmases I've spent with my sister ... and how many slices of Christmas cake I've witnessed her eating ... James was a fool, a fool I say! to have made the bet!

3 = the number of vintage dolls who came to live with me this festive season:
One is called 'The World's Smallest Baby' which I haven't taken a photo of yet .. you'll just have to imagine it. If you're trying to imagine its scale ... there's a clue in the name!

Then there was this one who, like James said when I opened her, is in need of some TLC [But aren't we all?]:

Her stringing elastic has gone, her hair's been chopped off and her jumper's unravelling ... and yes, of course, I cried when I saw her! It's what I do!

 

Meanwhile I bought this festive fairy for myself from a box of vintage decorations. She's currently having a pose-off with the little ceramic figure on my sideboard:

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 And that's where I'm going to leave my numbers for this month and for this year! and, if I'm honest, it was almost forever ...

I wasn't sure if I was going to continue documenting my Month in Numbers in 2015, after all I've been doing it for 5 years now! 5 years month in, month out, without fail! But. it's hard to let go ... so I'm going to keep going ... and see where my statistics lead me in 2015.

As always ... you're welcome to join me, if not this month [goodness knows there's enough to fit in already!] ... but next year? Maybe? What do you think? New Year, new start, new number-crunching adventure?

Trust me, if you do, in 365 days time, you'll have a whole host of stories and moments to look back on. And if you keep going for 5 years like I have well ... that's ... erm ... 5 times 365 which is ... now ... did anyone get a calculator for Christmas ...

But, whether or not you decide to count your moments... here's to 2015 bringing you moments that count!

Julie x