It’s hard to believe, but today sees my 4th anniversary as a blogger.

I wonder if I will ‘run out of steam’ before my fifth ?

Anyway I’m now off for a few days away from the computer, and so will leave you with my best wishes for Christmas and the New Year …

( With apologies again to Clement Clarke Moore).

… OK, so I know that it’s the same as last year, but what did you expect …

…    a bloody  SINGING REINDEER ?   🙂  

So the Americans have sent us a Christmas an Eid present of four detainees from Guantanamo Bay, and now once again the newspapers are full of pictures of grim looking (who wouldn’t be ?) bearded men and the usual depressing references to Al Qaeda and the like.

Now I’ve no idea if these men are guilty of anything other than ‘being in the wrong place at the wrong time’, so I’ll leave it at that, and cheer myself up by remembering other more happy reports in the press this week which had a not so serious ‘Islamic’ theme. 

I loved the story on the TV news about the young Muslim man wearing a Scottish kilt delivering and erecting Christmas trees for Christian people in London: and the little boy celebrating the festival of Eid who, when interviewed, told the reporter that he was also looking forward to opening his Christmas presents. … Wonderful, and almost as funny as my local Muslim pharmacist dressing his lady counter assistants as ‘dodgy looking’ Christmas trees.   🙂

I also had to smile when I read that a TV show’s competition to name a baby lamb had to be cancelled because 95% of the people taking part suggested the name …  Yes ! You’ve guessed it.

Now we learn that the very same name will soon be the most popular boy’s name in this country and overtake ‘Jack’ for the top spot; so could it be that many non-Muslims are naming their children after the founder of the Islamic religion ?

If this is true, I do hope that none of our Islamic friends will be offended by this when they are walking around the supermarket, and hear some scruffy, loud mouthed mother yell at her out of control offspring …

…   “Cum ‘ere Mohammed yer littl’ bleeder !”  😉   

No, I’m not spending Christmas on some palm fringed beach as you might think from the photograph on the left. In fact it was taken on my Sunday morning walk, and this ‘blow up’ Santa was the nearest thing I saw to a human being on my way to the sea shore.

It wasn’t only Santa’s reindeer that had red noses, as the weather was bloody freezing.

When I reached the beach there was not a windsurfer or yachtsman in sight. Even the usual dog walkers were nowhere to be seen.

I had the place completely to myself …

I enjoyed a few minutes of solitude and sea air before setting off at a brisk pace towards my Sunday lunch.

I was soon joined by a feline friend who had decided, like me, that he was tired of being alone out in the cold.

My furry companion followed along behind me until I was almost home.

I wonder if I should invite him to lunch ? I thought.

Perhaps he would enjoy some roast beef and Yorkshire pud.

I turned, but he was gone.

Could it be, I wondered, that he preferred …

… hunting inflated reindeer ?   😉 

I am always amused at this time of year by the number of newspaper advertisements for ‘white goods’.

Do husbands really buy their wives washing machines for Christmas ?… and do husbands wake up on Christmas morning to find a refrigerator under the tree.

Amongst all the ‘must have’ things and unwanted ‘gizmos’ that the electrical retailers seem to be ‘pushing’ this year, ‘Sat Navs’ seem to be very much to the fore.

I wonder how many people really need to be guided to their destination from outer space ? I used to drive around 40,000 miles a year, and a map and a pencil and paper was all that I needed to find my way around the country.

The news is always full of ‘horror’ stories of juggernauts stuck up country lanes and old ladies driving into rivers because they followed their GPS machine’s instructions; so it would appear that ‘sat navs’ are just as good at getting you lost or into danger as they are at getting you to the last place in the motorway traffic jam.

I must admit that I have never used one of these navigation devices and have no desire to do so, for I may be wrong, but to me, using one when on the move seems to be just as dangerous as using a mobile phone when at the wheel, and this practice is quite rightly banned.

Let’s hope that ‘she who must be obeyed’ isn’t planning to put one in my stocking this year, because …

… I would much prefer a dishwasher.  🙂

Today I discovered that I had won a prize on the national ‘Lotto’, but don’t get too excited for it wasn’t the first prize of £1.25 million, nor was it the second prize of £37,000, and it wasn’t even the third prize of £873, but … Yipeee ! … me and 45,914 other people are now £34 ($70) richer, as winners of the 4th prize.

Well I was richer until I decided to stop off for an enjoyable lunch at the local pub after a little Christmas shopping with my wife.

Over an ‘oldies’ steak pie lunch and a bottle of Chardonnay ( I know that it’s the wrong wine) we had a pleasant conversation about all sorts of subjects, including food, family, finances and friends. In fact we chatted away as we always do.

As this pub attracts many elderly people at lunch time, the tables near to us were occupied mainly by other old farts, all tucking into their ‘seniors’ specials’, but with one noticeable difference …

… None of them were talking to each other… It was all eat and no speak … In fact it was total silence all round !

Perhaps there comes a time in life when you have nothing left to say to each other… or perhaps the nosey bleeders …

…     were just listening to us ?