Photo of the Day 3

We put our decorations up today to the crooning velvet tones of Michael Buble. This is a photo of our tree in all its decorated finery. We used to have a real tree every year which we bought from Sandringham. Back then, we had no money worries and a car big enough to get the tree in. Now of course everything is different and we have an artificial one. It does though look quite realistic, just like the real thing in fact but without all the pine needles all over the floor. We saved the star for our son who placed it on the top when he came home from school. So no turning back now, it is really Christmas.

The gloss of the day was unfortunately tarnished by the arrival of an email politely rejecting my latest application for an IT position at a school between here and Peterborough. I did have high hopes as normal and as normal they were to come to nothing. So I'm once again feeling down and dejected and my optimism for any sort of future beyond January further erased. Oh well, must pick myself up and carry on I suppose... but for how many more times?

Photo of the Day 2

This is what we call the 'Veg Shed'. It's where we buy most of our vegetables and our eggs. It's run by a very friendly couple who always greet their customers with a smile and friendly banter.
Everything they sell here is grown and produced locally - far better than the stuff you find in supermarkets.
It's always open, whatever the weather and is popular with locals and those from surrounding villages.

Tuesday Gathering

I attended my little support group again today. There were more of us today having been joined by two women who are normally regular attendees. The talk again was very loose and I began to understand that there is no fixed format to the meetings, it's basically a free-for-all. The topics today consisted of Christmas, relatives and what it would be like to be homeless at this time of the year. There was also a fuss made about the date of the final meeting before Christmas and when the first meeting should be in the new year. This took a while to agree and for diaries to be synchronised. Such fun.
I was certainly more comfortable today, I think I've managed to gain the confidence of the group and I feel I can contribute to discussions. Two of those in the group explained that they live with their mothers who themselves have their own health issues to contend with. It struck me how difficult it must be for them and that in comparison, I really do have it very easy.
We spoke also about children and how this time of year is so magical to them. They were interested to know about my son and how we were planning to spend Christmas. It was nice to talk with people who really seemed interested in what I had to say and I explained that next weekend, we're taking him to see Santa at Sherringham. It'll be a real treat for him, and for me...

I have just completed one of the worst tasks of the year - extracting the decorations from the loft. While I was up there, I did discover (after nearly 9 years) that we don't actually have any lagging on the roof. I'm pretty sure there should be some and may go some way to explaining why there is an arctic blast when I open the door to the loft. We've decided to put the tree and decorations up tomorrow. Little man is determined he wants to help so we'll leave the tree until after school.

I collected our son from school this afternoon. One of the mum's is particularly friendly and we talked about open fires and whether we preferred coal to wood. She told me her shed is full of coal at the moment, which filled me with envy as we have none and can't afford to buy any. Instead, we make logs from recycling newspapers and magazines. They burn very well but don't last particularly long.

Photo of the Day 1

OK, here's my first 'photo-a-day'. It's my son's advent train. We've told him the chocolate pixies visit every night and put a chocolate in the draw - provided he's been good that is. He now wakes-up before 6 each morning and races downstairs to see if something's been left for him.
I really like this. It's very well made and a really good alternative to the usual advent calendars found in supermarkets which seem to get more prolific each year.

A Photo a Day

I'm going to start a little project, a photo a day. Basically I'll take a photo each day and post on my blog. I can't say what the photos will be of as I plan for them to be random. They may have some relevance to that particular day, or they may not. Complete randomness, that's the aim. I want to start tomorrow so I expect to have the first one up sometime tomorrow evening. We'll see how it goes...

Thoughts on Sunday

Christmas has certainly arrived at Asda. The store is decorated and the staff are all wearing Santa hats. I doubt whether this is optional judging by the look on some of their faces. Shoppers are definitely in that Christmas frenzy mood. They have no consideration for anyone or anything else. They are now simply programmed to get whatever is on their lists and at all costs. The ones in Asda today probably all had the same idea - to shop early in case anything runs out. It was busy, verging on overcrowded. If more than one person stopped in in aisle this would cause a bottleneck. Yet supermarkets are very much like roads. People drive about like idiots. They meander about in their own little worlds, their eyes fixed on their target - a box of sage and onion stuffing or the current two for one offer. I was glad to get out. I can stand those places for a limited amount of time I'm afraid and my clock was ticking.
Argos was pretty much the same but a little less organised. The store layout lends itself to chaos with people crossing each other and others just looking confused. Today we had a clear objective. We had to collect a toy dinosaur our son had set his heart on. It had been out of stock for a long time at all the local stores and it was only by chance that I was able to reserve one last week - the only one remaining. It has become so rare that examples have begun to pop up on eBay at ridiculous prices, £80 being the highest I've seen so far. The toy is just £39 normally. We also bought a nice portable CD radio which I don't think he's expecting. So I'm quite pleased with our work today.

No matter how hard I try, I simply cannot escape the fact that Christmas is almost upon us. For some, it is already time for celebration. My wife had threatened to begin putting up the decorations and assembling the tree this afternoon. This would have entailed a visit to the loft and the precarious job of balancing on the ladder whilst wrestling with boxes and bags of tinsel and other paraphernalia. It's looking likely that we'll do this on Wednesday. Our Son can help us after school - he'll love that.
It feels as if we've had just a couple hours of daylight today for it's now beginning to get dark once more. I do have a sense of what it must feel like for people who are affected by the lack of daylight. I really don't mind it too much. I preferred it when I was working as this would herald the winding down of the working day and home time. For me it was a 45 mile drive back from the outskirts of Lincoln. I loved the drive, it was the best part of the day.

It looks like we could see our first snow of the winter this coming week. According to the forecast, the temperature will fall and snow will begin creeping further and further south. They've already had a covering in many parts of Scotland. It'll be nice if it arrives in time for our trip on the Santa Express at Sherringham next Sunday.

It's a slow news day. The top story is the arrival of two Pandas from China, on loan to an Edinburgh zoo. It is ridiculous how much coverage is being given to this. People have been lining the route from the airport - as if they will be sitting in an open car waving at onlookers. With everything that's happening in the world at the moment, I suppose it's the only real bit of good news so I suppose we should enjoy it while we can. I'm sure it'll be back to doom and gloom tomorrow.

I won't give much time to this but I read an article in the Mail on Sunday and The Express newspapers regarding an attack on a toddler. In fact it is so horrendous that I won't repeat the article in any detail suffice to say that it sickened me to the bone and produced a feeling of anger and disgust I've seldom experienced before now. All I will say in response to this article is this. If there was ever a reason needed to justify the use of capital punishment, then this is it. I only wish that our pathetic justice system had the powers to inflict the same level of pain and suffering these people have inflicted. But it doesn't and the tragedy is that these scum will be served a slap on the wrist and be released into society. These 'people' are not human, they are wild animals and should therefore be treated as such.

Forever Children

Something happened earlier this week at our son's school. It was during the time the parents wait around and the children run around like mad things waiting for the bell to go. I wasn't there this time. My wife was. I can't recall what I was doing exactly but that doesn't matter. Apparently one of the children said something to another to make her cry. She sobbed terribly so whatever was said must have caused great distress. The child ran crying to her mum for comfort and told her what had happened. Well you'd imagine a sorry would be said and hat would be it. Instead, a war has been unleashed between the mother of the hurt child and that of the aggressor. For that afternoon, there were 'words' said in the playground which amounted to a threat which left the mother of the aggressor in tears. A few of us were spectators to this and although you try to distance yourself from it all, you can't help but want to hear what's being said.
Now all this must repeat itself in school playgrounds right across the land. But what has made this so significant is the reaction and the way in which something relatively mundane has exploded into a war of words between two parents.
Things were a bit calmer this morning. I heard that a teacher had discussed the situation with them both acting as a diplomat. But there was a distance between them this morning he size of a continent and it was difficult to know where to place oneself as my wife and I are on friendly terms with both. Surely we shouldn't be taking sides at our age...?
I really think that we are 'forever children'. The bickering and name calling in he playground as youngsters never leaves us. It just becomes more grown-up in its use of words, threats and the force with which it is delivered. The animosity between these two parents is so reminiscent of the fights and disagreements I knew as a child. So the playground this morning was frosty in more ways than one. I wonder how long it will take for them to start talking again? I suspect though that the damage has been done and these 'grown-ups' will forever be in a state of simmering conflict. Oh what fun!