Domestic comfort

It's cold out, and since Friday I've been feeling strangely sick to my stomach whenever I go out. So I'm staying at home today.

Home is a very good place to be. My kitchen is immaculate (yes, I know - I don't have children). I'm armed with coffee and food. Very nice Columbian coffee, which I'm drinking as I write (intermittently - not literally taking a sip every time I start typing). I just finished my breakfast - a lamb chop and eggs on toast. I've got everything I need for a comforting winter beef stew for supper. I'm listening to the second movement of Beethoven's seventh symphony (which, for anyone out there who doesn't follow Beethoven, is comfort food for the soul). I've turned the heating on. I'm wearing big woolly socks which either Jennie or Anne Marie gave me for Christmas about 10 years ago. And I'm settling in to work on my little novel project, interspersed with a bit of viola when I need to think my way through a difficult passage.

November is just around the corner, and with it Thanksgiving, probably the most perfect holiday. This will be my third in a row with family, and this year I'll be in Connecticut with Mom, Papasan, Ben, Jennie, Megan and Annie - the first time we've all been together since Ben's wedding. There will be lots of kids, too. The only thing that could make it even better would be to get Brad, Ben, Anne Marie and Mandy on board, and have a giant mega-Thanksgiving.

The day before I leave for the US, I have another family event. Barry and Anne Niblock, my quasi-family in Northern Ireland, will be in London for my citizenship ceremony, followed by a gathering of my friends in London for celebratory drinks. At the ceremony, I will have to make a pledge to the UK, and more controversially (for all you iconoclasts out there) I will have to swear by Almighty God to be faithful to the Queen and her successors. I had a long conversation with someone on this point last night. My friend was saying that she thought that it was ludicrous that the government should single out the monarchy for an oath of loyalty when the UK is, in effect, a modern republic. I asked her what she would replace the oath with, and she suggested an oath to Parliament. As I said at the time, Parliament is only the legislature. What of loyalty to the executive and the judiciary? It seems to me that, as a starting point, the only oath that would make any sense would be an oath which captures the entire government of the UK. For better or worse, the government here is run in the name of the monarch. That is to say, the government is 'Her Majesty's Government', and all of the powers exercised by the government are powers delegated by the Queen. As a necessary mechnic within this constitutional framework, the Queen must make any decision which is reserved to her alone - generally these are decisions which cannot be delegated (e.g., dissolving Parliament, confirming the appointment of her Prime Minister, etc.). However, these powers are, for the most part, exercised in form, and not in substance, or with any real discretion. I'm sure that, because I am defending the monarchy, some people will think me a witless romantic, nostalgic for the 'good old days' (particularly as I'm an outsider to the whole system, at least for a couple more weeks). But whatever you may persuade yourselves are my reasons, I think that the current constitutional set-up works admirably well in this country (although I wouldn't dream of trying to impose it elsewhere).

I'm feeling more connected to all of you out there, now that my internet teething troubles have ended and I've finally been granted a reprieve from applications and tax filings. As Brad said, we played a bit of Halo 3 last week, and it was just like old times. Yesterday was Ben K's birthday, and to mark the occasion we had a Halo session. As we were playing, some of my friends began to arrive - a couple of friends from Merton, and Matt, my old roommate from Freshfields. After about an hour of playing there were five of us, fighting as a team against prepubescent boys in the Far East. Needless to say, we lost. But as Ben so cogently observed, "playing with you guys makes me look good". Happy birthday, Ben.

Time to get some more coffee.

Ben asked for a picture of my setup. Well, here's a start, at least.