First Sighting Of The Year

Today, 23rd September at approximately 10.30 a.m. I had this years first sighting of Father Christmas. He went past my shop on the back of a lorry, waving and ringing his bell. Unfortunately I was too slow to get photographic proof, despite him going round the block and coming past again 5 minutes later.

Look out for Easter eggs, presumably coming to a shop near you soon. 

First Signs Of Spring

Cuckoos? No

Daffodils? No

The council tractor spotted cutting the grass on the green outside our house? Yes

That's it then. Winter is officially over :-)

That's That For Another Year Then

That's that then - Xmas and New Year over and done with for another year.

Some things never change.

• It wasn't a white Xmas
• Everything worth watching was on BBC1
• The break was too short
• I spent far more than intended
  
• Turkey sandwiches are simply the best
• New Years Eve is still the most depressing night of the year.
• For a week or so, no-one knows what day it is
  

One change I did notice this year was the lack of outdoor lights round our way. Outdoor light displays - some, it has to be said, more tasteful than others - have been a growing trend over the recent years but this year they were conspicuous by their absence. Whether this was down to the size of electricity bills nowadays, an environmentally friendly conscience or simply not being arsed I don't know but I kinda missed them .


The tree and decorations - or what little of them the kittens allowed to remain intact - are put away, the lounge looks twice as big and twice as tidy again and everything looks back to normal. And as much as I look forward to Xmas, normal is what feels best.

Happy New Year everyone - only another 356 shopping days to Christmas.

We Shall Remember Them

On Sunday I went to a local Remembrance Day service at nearby Hedge End, where my stepson was taking part in the parade with his cub pack. Despite being a relatively small town of about 18000, it was pleasing to see around a thousand people or more in attendance. It was also good to see how many young boys and girls were attending representing local groups from the Scouts and Guides Associations. These groups, if uniform sales are anything to go by, are certainly seeing a resurgence of interest in recent years.

I thought the service itself was very respectfully done. Held around the village war memorial it did what it said on the tin, being an opportunity to reflect and remember with only the slightest of religious undertone.

It was an overcast day, thankfully the rain held off until minutes after the service ended. There was a very poignant moment when, as the 2 minute silence ended and the bugler played the last post, the sun broke through the clouds to shine brightly just for the few seconds it took for the the various assembled groups to raise their dipped flag standards, and then it was gone again. If a Hollywood movie had done it it would have been corny, yet in real-life it seemed so symbolic.

The one aspect of the service that really brings home the effect that the wars - particularly the first - had on the local communities is the reading of the roll call of the fallen. The list of names seemed endless - as it does when read at the service in my own village of Bursledon - yet the population of both villages at that time would have been but a tiny fraction of what they are today. It relly must have seen virtually every family affected in some way.

The whole Remembrance Day / Poppy Appeal is part of our English way of life. With so many aspects of our national identity being eroded (usually through a misguided fear of upsetting other nations) this is one tradition that should never be allowed to die. If I have a criticism, it would be that it's "reason to be" seems to concentrate too much on the two world wars. I only recently realised that despite us living in an era of "peace" there has only been one year - 1968 - since WWII ended that we haven't lost a British serviceman on active service. Whilst they continue to make the ultimate sacrifice we must continue to make this small but important effort to ensure that they are never forgotten.

A True English Tradition

Yesteday I visited the Bat and Ball pub at Broad Half-Penny Down near Hambledon.

This pub is generally known as the "cradle of cricket" . In the late 18th Century, Hambledon CC, based at the pub and the pitch directly opposite, were the top team in the country, and consequently the whole world. Regularly they would take on, and beat, England themselves. And it was here that the rules of the game became standardised forming the game as we know it today.

The pubs bars are full of fascinating cricketing memorabilia covering hundreds of years, and to add a level of authenticiy to it's status as the home of England's Summer sport ........... it absolutely poured down !

Good Friday - the Best day of the Year

Not that I am the slightest bit religious - but it's Official Hot Cross Bun Day.
So I can eat as many as possible without feeling guilty - and apparently they can't make you fat on this one day of the year.
Cold, with thickly spread butter - food of the gods.

And About F@*#ing Time!!!!

"Our tolerance is part of what makes Britain Britain. So conform to it or don't come here" Tony Blair 8th December 2006.

For possibly the first time since the smarmy faced git came to power he has made a public statement that I 100% agree with.

Firstly I do not consider myself a racist. Simply proud of my own country.I have no problem with anyone from anywhere in the world coming to live here, on two caveats. One, the country has sufficient resources to support them. The second is that if they come to live in this country they must live by the ways of this country. I have no objections to mosques and other places of worship being built, religion is a personal choice and there is no reason to restrict what an individual does in private. But there is no way our country and it's people should have to adapt our customs and daily lives to accomodate "outsiders".

Whenever an immigrant comes here they do so through choice. A few ,out of necessity have to leave their own country, but there are still 191 other countries that they could go to. They don't have to come here. Presumably they do come here because they want to, because they know that on the whole this is a good place to live. So why, untill know, has this inept government seemed hell-bent on changing things to ways that they consider will suit the newcomers. They presumably like it the way it is or they wouldn't come, if they don't then there's plenty of other places they can go to. Surely even this incompetent regime can recognise two simple facts of life, - one,you can't please all of the people all of the time so do't even try, - and two, if it ain't broke don't fix it. Let the people that want to come here come, but insist on them fitting in with our ways. If they want to lie their lives the way they did in their own country then a word of advice - stay there. Can you imagine Saudi Arabia's response to the British ex-pat community insisting on a pub on every street corner because it's what they're used to at home?

At the moment I am sure that this new rhetoric coming from Messrs Blair, Reid and Straw is just that - nothing but hot air and lip service . They have finally awoken to the realisation that a majority of their voters think enough is enough. If they don't do something, or at least sound like they are doing something, then the BNP and others on the far right will be taking a lot of their votes come the next election. One thing that they have got right is that the British are a tolerant people, we tend to take most things in our stride. But tolerance only stretches so far, and when the British tolerance finally snaps it snaps in a big way. Words are fine but let's see some action and see it now. Stop changing our school assemblies and lessons to suit a minority, tell my local council to stop printing it's literature in a dozen or so different languages, bring back golliwogs, stop events such as the Asian Games taking place, do allow people to fly the countries flag without having to go through acres of red tape, don't ban workplace decorations and stop hiding Christmas behind names like Winterval - I could go on and on. Great Britain has that first word in it's name for a reason, let's make sure we keep it that way.

Now if only Mr Blair's speech had referred to England instead of Britain he might even have swayed my vote - but that's another issue altogether.

I've started.

Xmas shopping that is.

What is it with these organised people that have all their Xmas shopping done and dusted by bonfire night. Where's the fun in that? Part of the traditional fun of Xmas involves that last minute panic buying presents - the aimless 2 or 3 visits to town totally lacking in inspiration and returning empty handed, only to find on that third - and last possible - visit that everything you pick up suddenly seems to fit the bill present wise.


I hate the over-commercialisation of Xmas, to me it comes too early. It should not be mentioned anywhere until December, not for any religious reasons, just that it simply drags on too long. I usually refuse to even think about my shopping this early. But today I broke my own rule ! It's cold wet and windy outside so I was sat, bored, at the computer. One thing led to another. A quick look at someone's list, a few quick visits to 4 major online sites to compare prices and a couple of clicks later the item is on it's way. First present bought and still November.!

No crowds, no hassle, no parking fees, must have taken all of 5 minutes - I think I'll try to get most of it done this way.

But I'll have to leave a few items for "proper shopping" . After all we have to maintain the true spirit of Chritmas don't we ?

Children In Need

Once again the annual event BBC''s Children In Need comes round. For me it's part of my autumn ritual, Halloween, Bonfire Night, Children in Need. An excuse, as if I need one, to plonk myself down onto the settee for 7 hours of continuous viewing. And, as if to justify it, it's all for a good cause.


Every year (if I can) I watch it, and every year it's the same. A mixture of decent acts promoting themselves under the disguise of helping a charity, and other performers prepared to make fools of themselves to entertain the public - the Newsreaders efforts are always enjoyable especially bearing in mind their performances in relation to their normal "day-job".


I always watch in the hope that some massively entertaining cock-up will happen, yet year on year it seems to get even more professionally produced. In the earleir years it was the amateurishness of the show that gave it's appeal (no pun intended). There's always the thought that being 7 hours of live tv something earth shattering will happen, it never does. Except once, when apparently late on in the programme many years ago Joanna Lumley performed a live sponsored strip - and I missed it.!


And as always it was all held together by the master himself, Sir Terry Wogan. Along with Eurovision, this will simply be no longer worth watching if the master of the self-effacing ad-lib ever decides to call it a day. In years gone by he made a great team with Gabby Roslin, this year I would say he managed to survive it despite the hindrance of Natasha and Fern - if these are BBC's "anchor" females for the future God help us.

As usual I managed to fall asleep before the end but having fast forwarded through the last 2 hours on video I know that the total had exceeded £18m by the end of the programme, a new "on the night" record. And quite rightly it all to goes to UK charities. I am sure that some of this appeals funds used to go abroad, I could be wrong ( I noticed that Terry quickly corrected himself at one stage from "children all around the world" to "of the UK") but in my opinion charity should begin at home. The efforts of the fundraisers and the willingness of the general public to donate year after year never ceases to amaze me.


Three thoughts from last night.
1) What on earth was Fern wearing in the first half ?
2) When they do the regional round-up why does my region - BBC South - always look like a school production in comparison with otherr regions?
3) Could it be the "random" prizewinner of the drawing up of a family tree coming from Norfolk was a fix. Surely that area of the country comes up with the easiest family trees ever. As the song goes,

"Your father is your brother,
your sister is your mother ......"