Call me Lazarus

Head Rambles Posted on by 7

Yes, I seem to be back from the dead.

It was a messy problem what required the assistance of someone with a younger brain. All those people were, of course, taking time off with the time of year that’s in it.

So the site is slowly being rebuilt after its worse crash in eighteen [or nineteen?] years. Some bits still aren’t working and the site is slow, so have patience.

It was a bit of a bugger period last week. My CCTV decided to go blank, this site came out in sympathy and a tree blew down. Luckily the tree missed the manor by a couple of feet.

The CCTV is still down. The tree is partially cut up thanks to Navanman. This site is creaking back to life and my new laptop is still playing merry hell with my nerves.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I had better get back to bolting bits on here and trying to speed things up.

 

Happy Birthday

Head Rambles Posted on by

Today is my dad’s birthday.

I always felt a little sorry for him, being born so close to Christmas. He tended to get just the one present to cover both events. Of course Granddaughter the Younger has now taken up that mantle as her birthday is on the 30th in a couple of days time.

Sadly, my dad is no longer with us. He died nearly fifty years ago, otherwise he would have been 122 today. 122 years old? Not bad going if only he had made it.

He would have been fascinated and somewhat bemused by the technology of today. I couldn’t even begin to describe stuff that we take for granted today but would have seemed impossible back in the seventies. How do you describe the Interweb to someone who has never seen a computer? How could you convince someone from the seventies that a little slab of material in the pocket is not only a personal phone but is also a computer in its own right? Plucking a thousand or so television channels out of the sky? You have to be joking. So many impossible inventions that we now take for granted.

Of course he never met Daughter, his granddaughter. Nor even his Great Grandkids. He would have loved them, just as they would have loved him. he was that kind of bloke. He never even met Herself, though she was on the horizon back then. He has missed so much.

Yes, he would have been fascinated and intrigued.

Happy Birthday Dad.

I’m thinking of you.

 

Was it all worth it?

Head Rambles Posted on by

So that’s that for another year.

I hope it was worth the weeks of build-up and frenzied preparation? Did you get your new sitting room suite delivered in time? Did you subscribe to Disney+ on the promise it was the essential commodity for a magical day? Are you happy with that mobile phone subscription that apparently was essential for happiness?

Now of course we have to suffer the endless sales where prices are even lower than they were in the pre-Christmas sales. At this rate they’ll soon be paying us to take their produce. Of course that sitting room suite that you had to buy to make your Christmas complete will have to be skipped to make way for the fantastic sitting room suite on offer in the New Year sales.

They’re still playing carols on the radio. Someone should tell them that they can revert to normal schedules now. Or maybe this is in preparation for next Christmas? It gets earlier every year so maybe we have just reached the point where the run up to Christmas starts the day after Christmas?

Personally, I shall just let it all wash over me. I’m too world weary to let all the hype get to me. I even managed to get through December without yelling at the television. Well, not that much anyway. You’d have to be a granite pillar not to yell at the television every now and then. Even Herself let roar the odd profanity which was worth a chuckle.

The title what I writ to this scribble made me think of something else……

 

Are you all set?

Head Rambles Posted on by

This is a question I am asked on a regular basis for the last wee while.

It puzzles me.

What exactly is expected of me that I should be “set” for Christmas? It’s not like a wedding where cars have to be arranged, florists hounded and speeches to be written. Christmas is just a day in the year that logistically is little different from any other day. The only real difference is the expectations that people apply to it.

The big thing seems to be food. For some reason, we are supposed to have a dinner of turkey and ham with roast potatoes and sprouts. Why? Most people I ask say that they don’t particularly like turkey but they insist on having it anyway. It tends to be somewhat dry and buying a full bird means the family is condemned to many days of turkey in various forms and recipes. So why subject yourself to buying a bird you don’t like, is difficult to cook properly and people only want because it is “traditional”? It makes no sense.

Yes, I have a couple of things to do before the Big Day. I have to collect medications as the pharmacy is inconsiderate enough to close for a few days, and get some cash out of the local ATM. That’s it. I might stick up the tree and decorate it in case the Grandkids call. The tree is the only tradition that I have nearly kept over the years – it is to be erected on Christmas Eve and lasts for the twelve days, and the twelve days only, before it is taken down again. The little lights decorating the living room just have to be switched on. I put them up five or six years ago and never bothered taking them down again.

Christmas at The Manor shall be a quiet calm day. Ironically we shall be tucking into turkey but only because Wiltshire Farms have laid on a feast in our freezer. There is no harm I suppose in suffering a bit for the day that’s in it? I might even have more than one Jameson’s in the course of the day.

All the above may incline people to think I am a Scrooge that hates Christmas. I don’t hate it at all. There is nothing wrong in having a day of peace and quiet with possibly a visit from the family or friends. There is indeed nothing wrong in decorating a house with a tree and lights. They brighten the place up on dark winter nights and are to be welcomed. There is even nothing wrong in wishing people a Happy Christmas though it does imply that you don’t care what happens to them on the other 364 days of the year.

Happy Christmas everyone.

And Happy Every Other 364 Days too.

Ho Ho Ho.