In with the New.

Busy day with the two great-grandchildren, so not much to say except to express the hope that the New Year brings us all health, happiness and good fortune.

My wish for each and every one of you is that your dreams come true in 2012 and that it is a very good year for love and peace both in the world and in our families.

God Bless us every one!

A Blast from the Past.

Well, it has been and gone, and a very good one it was too, hence my absence from writing for a while! Family, friends, very good food, plenty of tasty drinks, pina colada was the cocktail of choice this year, and some pretty amazing presents made it a great week for me and those around me, thanks for the memory.

It is, of course, a time to think of those we haven’t seen for some time, I find as I get older I especially wonder about relatives and friends that no longer form part of our usual daily lives, people that have not been seen for years, yet because of past memories hold a place in my heart.

I usually send a Christmas letter out to those people in case they are wondering what this year has brought for me and mine in the same way as I wonder what the year has brought for them and theirs and I am always delighted when similar letters arrive at our house.

This year was especially good as I received news from two cousins about what was going on for them and one of them also included info about her siblings.

There was also news from several friends who regularly send a Christmas update and this year I was very pleasantly surprised upon returning to work to find an e-mail from old friends that I had not heard from properly for a very long time.

It had been one of those when do you let it go scenarios, I had continued sending birthday cards, presents, letters etc. but getting no response for a while I had decided that the investment, just wasn’t worth the return (I mean emotionally not fiscally!) and it was time to move on when last year, out of the blue, a Christmas card arrived with a note inside and a promise to get back in touch properly after the holiday period was over.

I dropped a note back in January with an anniversary card and some of our news. Birthday cards went out in April and June and still the promised contact did not come, so when I sent this years Christmas card and letter for some reason I put a return to sender note on the back in case they had moved.

Well it didn’t come back, at least it hasn’t yet! But surprise, surprise when I opened their e-mailed Christmas letter they had moved this winter to Spain!

Spooky intuition or what!

White Whine

Well the good news is that the gutter is fixed, that is we have a nice new white gutter ‘cos the old one actually couldn’t be fixed but I was kind of expecting that. Only problem is that the sparkling white gutter now shows up how badly the rest of the conservatory needs cleaning!

So to the other white bads, the washing machine thankfully is fixed and working, it is churning away as I write. The tumbler is another story and here is the abridged “U” certificated version.

The man arrives takes it apart drinks tea and tuts, needs a new drum and a couple of other bits, will have to order them, we will let us know when the parts are in.

Not too long and message on the answer phone, parts are in man can come and fit them. Man comes, drinks tea and fits the drum and other parts, demonstrates drum turning and no more grating noise, good-bye.

Put wet washing in tumbler, all turns, all heats, no noise but the floor floods!!!

Phone man, oh dear, must need a pump now, will order one.

Few days go by, phone call, man can come to fit pump.

New man comes, other man’s company gone bust, new man looks at tumbler, drinks tea and tuts, new drum not been fitted properly, takes it out, takes out fuse, machine is dangerous cannot be used, has to be condemned!

Probably be a while for the paperwork to go through, then have to get new machine, will be in touch!!

I’m dreaming of a wet washing Christmas!

Drop the Ball.

Now under normal circumstances I get my film reviews from “Awesome Wez” as it’s really his forte. However, as I found myself giving a quick critique of ‘New year’s Eve’ to a young friend of mine who I know to be a Bon Jovi fan, I thought I’d share my review here.

It is a well orchestrated ensemble piece, with a pretty solid cast, Robert De Niro, Hilary Swank, Katherine Heigl, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sarah Jessica Parker, Zac Efron, Ashton Kutcher etc. Jon Bon Jovi equips himself well as a rock star and for any Glee fans out there he sings with Lea Michele, who plays a backing singer looking for the big break. Okay, so not exactly any casting against type but it really isn’t Shakespeare and it works well, possible because no-one is trying to deliver a performance that is outside of their reach so the whole thing is convincingly acted and no-one lets it down.

It is light, probably a chick flick, a romantic piece with a few comedic moments and a bit of drama, not too cheesy and definitely a feel good Christmassy film that reminds us about forgiveness, family, new beginnings and the importance of love.

The action takes place on New Year’s Eve leading up to the Ball dropping in Times Square at Midnight, the story of the characters all start off from their separate place. Yes, it was somewhat predictable, you knew that there was going to be some happy endings, it’s a Christmas release film for goodness sake!

But there was enough mystery about who fitted with whom character wise, some come together quite early and the uncertainty is about what will happen with their relationships. For others it is not until the end that we know which stories are going to link together.

And that’s all I’m going to say plot wise, anymore and it will be like some of the trailers they do these days where you get to see in two minutes all the best bits of a film!

All in all it was a very comfortable, relaxing, pleasant couple of hours after the bustle of Christmas shopping. Final thought is that it was orange Wednesday but I would have paid full price to see it!!!

Guttered.

So the other day the wind was whipping around the house and a crack and a crash resounded through the conservatory. Now this sort of noise usually heralds the arrival of pigeons or magpies having a stroll across the roof.

However, this was particularly loud and the moving shadow tracing back and forth in my peripheral vision was particularly large. Was Santa doing a practice run, had the reindeers gone astray and stopped for a rest, unfortunately not, it was my gutter broken loose with the force of the wind.

So up the ladder, strangely not great fun, as the wind was blowing a gale and as far as I am concerned anything above 18inches off the ground counts as high altitude work.

Having donned hard hat, affixed the pitons and the safety line I ascended at least three feet, that’s nearly a metre these days, to the summit of the conservatory. Adjusting my vision, to compensate for the vast expanse of white up there, I found that the gutter was seriously broken and like poor old humpty couldn’t be put back together again, so we were in for an expense repair job just before Christmas.

Of course this was the third thing to break as the washing machine and the tumble drier had both broken, so maybe everything else will stay in one piece until after Christmas, oh yeah that’ll happen!

The gutter needed securing somehow, until I could get someone to fix it, otherwise it was going to do more damage as it danced about in the wind. Tricky business this as both hands had to let go of the step ladder but out came a roll of insulating tape and leaning my body mass into the wind and with hardly any thought for my personal safety I performed first aid on the gutter and strapped it up like a sprained ankle.

OK yes, obviously I used white tape so that it matched the uPVC!

When a Special Child is Born.

I was moved by a re-working of the night before Christmas poem that was written by a parent and published on a site related to autism. It was found by an in-law and passed along. There are many different special children in the world, some the medical and educational professionals slot easily into nice little boxes that can be conveniently labelled, others fall outside the boxes until, as the years go by, new boxes are erected.

If you have a special child in your family the boxes are only helpful if by opening one you find the right support and tools to help your child to fulfil his/her full potential, to help them live as well and happily as they can, in other words to give them the best quality of life that is possible. Of course if your child falls outside any accepted ‘label’ or outside of the criteria for entry to the ‘box’ 9 times out of 10 you are on your own and then the judgemental attitude and lack of understanding of others really hits home.

I was Portage trained back in the stone-age, 1981ish, when it was first brought over to this country and was I was sold on the simplicity and efficacy of the system, we saw such amazing results in such a short time I can still remember how good it felt.

I know it is still around but don’t know how it has evolved or devolved over the years but I would certainly recommend checking it out.

Dark Night!

For the second time in less than a month I have had to apply the brakes when people have stepped out between parked cars, and yes I was well within the speed limit, luckily!

What is worse both times it has been women pushing prams out in front of them, the last one was at night in a not particularly well lit area. The pram was black, not a flash of white blanket or light colour and the woman following it into the flowing traffic was dressed completely in black or very dark clothes. So all that was visible even when she and the pram were in front of me was a dark shadowy silhouette, she didn’t even look right or left but ploughed straight across the road with her head down.

Very young children may be forgiven as they are learning their road safety for an occasional lapse, when something exciting chases across their concentration, but what planet is a parent from who pushes her child’s pram out into traffic. Obviously the safety of the child should be paramount but when people cross the road like this the driver also needs to be considered, if people can’t see the traffic when they come out between parked cars they need to remember drivers can’t see them either and whilst if an accident occurs the pedestrian will likely be more seriously hurt physically, the mental trauma from running someone over, especially a child, even if you are blameless, will last a lifetime.

At the very least be aware of how invisible you are in the dark and wear something light at night. Better still what about fixing reflective strips on prams to give the children a chance to grow up and the poor motorist a bit of warning!

The Rocky Road to Christmas

Several people have recently asked for the Rocky Road recipe that I use, well here it is. The basic recipe was given to me by a friend but the adaptions and suggestions are mine, hope you enjoy all the variations.

Basic mixture:-

125g/4½oz                soft butter

300g/10½oz              best quality dark chocolate

3x15ml/tblsp            golden syrup

200g/7oz                  plain biscuits

100g/3½oz                marshmallows

You can use mini marshmallows but I prefer to tear up big ones into several irregular pieces, I roll them in the biscuit crumbs so they do not stick together.

Substitutions:-

·         Vary the biscuits, I tend to use digestives, but you can use any kind you like.

·         Replace some of the biscuit pieces with honeycomb or maltesers.

·         Vary the chocolate, either 70% cocoa solids for a rich dense mixture, ordinary dark chocolate, or milk chocolate if you like it sweeter.

Depending on what I feel like I add variations of the following to the mixture:-

200g/7oz                  glace cherries, halved

100g/3½oz                desiccated coconut

200g/7oz                  nut pieces, pecans are particularly nice.

·         Melt the butter chocolate and golden syrup together, if you want a softer topping take out about 125ml of the mix and put to one side, if you want a harder toping then ignore this step.

·         Put the biscuits in a freezer bag and bash with a rolling pin until you have both crumbs and pieces of biscuit.

·         Mix the melted chocolate mixture and all the dry goods together.

·         Line a 9inch square tin with foil, pour the mixture in and press down evenly.

·         Either pour over the reserved chocolate mixture or melt some fresh chocolate for a more solid topping, or leave plain and dust with icing sugar when solid.

·         Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, but preferably overnight.

·         Turn out and cut into 2 or 3inch squares.

If you want to make and serve it as a cake then line a 7inch round tin with foil, refrigerate overnight then turn out and decorate, I usually use dark chocolate to cover it and white chocolate for detail.

For the softer version I use well crushed digestive biscuits, ordinary dark chocolate and add in the glace cherries and coconut then put in a foil lined 10inch square tin so it is also a bit flatter.

ENJOY!!!

Parking Mad.

So the news is filled with the pain and angst of motorists, who are now going to have to pay to park up town evenings and week-ends. Now I am a great believer in public transport for inner city areas, as congestion is getting out of hand and we do not have the roads to cope with the volume, but and it is a big one, our public transport is not that good, especially at week-ends when so much of the maintenance work is undertaken. If people decide that they can’t rely on public transport and can’t afford to park then they are going to go elsewhere to pray, shop and spend their leisure time. In the horror landscape that is the edge of the seat economic situation we inhabit, surely we do not want any more ghost town areas with boarded up shops where people have lost their jobs.

The best quote, in all of the pros and cons being expressed, for me was that to encourage people, to still come and park, by telling them that it wouldn’t cost anymore to park than it would if they had paid for public transport.

Obviously no-one thought to factor in petrol at £1.30 per litre!

Up the Downs.

We were talking the other day about the worry of children being out and about on their own, what with gang fights, muggings and knife crime it is kinda scary anytime they are out of sight. Yes, they have mobiles now which we never had and I must say I found it a godsend when our youngest was in his teens ,but the mobiles the kids have now are more of a crime magnetic as they worth so much money. Mind you I think my mobile may soon be worth something as an antique!

When I was about 8 or 9 my dad got hold of an old bike which he stripped down painted and fixed up for me, learning to ride it involved me peddling like mad, him holding onto the saddle and running along behind me up the middle of the road, (there was no traffic in those days, maybe one or two car owners in the whole street) until I realised he was no longer there and I was on my own.

Once I had my own transport my friends and I would go out all day in the summer months, I had a basket on the front of the bike, in which my packed lunch would sit, the boys had saddlebags, and off we would go, usually up the South Downs for the day. We had a watch, instructions to stay together, not to talk to strangers and to be home in time for the evening meal, we were always home on time because it didn’t cross our minds not to be, besides after all that cycling and playing we were starving and ready for dinner.

They were glorious days, we were carefree and had no worries or fears of might befall us and more significantly nor did our parents, sadly it is not so easy for parents these days.