2007 December | Head Rambles

Archive for December, 2007

Christmas has come early

Grandad December 23rd, 2007

I know some of you have been celebrating Christmas since last July.

It has apparently been the sole topic of conversation in some quarters.

Here at Head Rambles Manor, we try to do things traditionally, but through force of circumstance, we have to start Christmas early this year.

Tomorrow, we are expecting K8 and TAT, along with Laughing Boy and Puppychild to come and stay. They’ll probably change their minds and not turn up, but that’s life.

So I am starting Christmas today.

Later, once I have plucked up the courage, I will venture forth into the estate, and will proceed to freeze my nuts off while cutting copious amounts of holly and ivy.

If I survive that, I have to fight with the strings of lights, and find which of the many sets actually work, and try to find where the hell I put the spare bulbs from last year.

If I survive that, I’ll decorate the place.

We have a strange house that doesn’t lend itself to large Christmas trees, so we have a very small one, just for the sake of tradition. I decorate the room with lights instead.

If I survive that, I might have a drop or five of the hard stuff. I’ll need it.

Most of you are sensible, and confine your blog reading to office hours. Let the company pay, I say. I can tell that from the visitors to the site. You usually start surfing around ten in the morning. It’s good of you to put in an hours legitimate work.

The really sensible ones will be reporting for work tomorrow. There is no point in wasting a days leave when you know the day is going to consist of drinks in various offices before everyone f*cks off early.

So I don’t expect many readers after that.

So, I wish you all a Peaceful and Happy Christmas, and to my American friends, lest you be insulted, I wish you a Peaceful and Happy Holiday.

Saturdays

Grandad December 22nd, 2007

What the hell is it about Saturdays?

When you are retired, days have less meaning because the week isn’t defined by work days and rest days. I like that. I don’t dread Mondays any more.

I like to have a routine, so I set my alarm for nine on a weekday, just so that the weekend can be different. But I usually wake before the alarm goes off anyway.

But still Saturdays are different.

I seem to be brain-dead on that day. I have nothing to say. All the fizz is gone out of the brain. I just want to sleep.

And it is always the day that they want me to record the Kilos of Craic Podcast. And Baino, Brianf, Dr. Don and JD don’t seem to suffer the same shut-down of the gray cells, so once again, I’ll just let them waffle away.

And after the podcast is done, then I’ll probably just doze off.

I can’t even think of anything to write now.

The Great Crazy Eight

Grandad December 21st, 2007

I have been tagged again. Twice. Despite all I have said.

Dave over at Cognitive Edge has tagged me for eight things about myself, that people don’t know. I’d throw rocks at him for that but he says nice things about me, so I won’t. However, I have done this one so many times [twice? Three times?] that there is nothing left to say. He’ll have to make do with………….

A meme from Summer-Raine.

This one apparently is known as the Crazy 8. These memes are like bloody viruses.

Do not assume any significance in the order I have placed these!

8 THINGS I’M PASSIONATE ABOUT

1 – Honesty

2 – Freedom

3 – My dog and other animals

4 – My family

5 – Spelling and grammar

6 – Life

7 – My home and garden

8 – Peace and quiet

8 THINGS I SAY OFTEN

1 – F*ck

2 – Have they not gotten rid of Harney yet?

3 – I can’t remember

4 – Did you see my pipe anywhere?

5 – I’ll do it tomorrow

6 – Yes Dear!

7 – What?

8 – It wasn’t me. It was the dog.

8 BOOKS I RECENTLY READ

1 – Sacred Stone – Clive Cussler

2 – The Throwback – Tom Sharpe

3 – A spot of Bother – Mark Haddon

4 – Wilt in Nowhere – Tom Sharpe

5 – Frankly I read so many books, I’ve forgotten their names

6 – ditto

7 – ditto

8 – ditto

8 THINGS TO DO BEFORE I DIE

1 – Finish the book what I’m writing

2 – See my grandchildren grow up

3 – Grow old

4 – Finish that damned jigsaw Herself gave me

5 – Fly a light aircraft [just once more]

6 – See Ahern declared bankrupt

7 – See Dubya convicted of war crimes

8 – Pay that bill…

8 SONGS I CAN LISTEN TO OVER AND OVER AGAIN

1 – Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen

2 – Brothers in Arms – Dire Straits

3 – Behind Blue Eyes – Limp Bizkit

4 – Fotheringay – Fairport Convention

5 – The Four Seasons – Vivaldi

6 – Eine Kline Nacht Musik – Mozart

7 – Adiemus – Karl Jenkins

8 – The soundtrack from ‘Shipping News’ – Christopher Young

8 THINGS THAT ATTRACT ME TO MY FRIENDS

1 – Honesty

2 – Humour

3 – The ability to forget themselves

4 – Untidiness [tidy people scare me and minimalists freak me out altogether]

5 – Modesty [I dislike people who brag]

6 – Must be able to tolerate the smell of pipe smoke!

7 – Not hypocrites

8 – Animal lovers

8 THINGS I LEARNED IN THE LAST YEAR

1 – Apparently I can write

2 – You can make friends in the strangest of places

3 – Not all Americans are rotten

4 – The older you get, the better life is

5 – Life is full of surprises

6 – Acacia is a very fast growing tree

7 – Three year old granddaughters are the funniest people

8 – Windows Vista can actually work, with some patience and hacking

8 SUCKERS WHO ARE GOING TO GET DONE WITH THIS MEME

Now I have a problem.

I can either tag total strangers, which would be nasty, or I can tag people I know won’t respond, which seems a bit pointless. Or I can get revenge on all the people who have tagged me. But I have been tagged so many times recently, that I have used that store up.

So I’m going to pass on this one.

No I’m not. I’m going to pass it on to Kirk at Just Thinkin’ because he is daft enough to accept it.

If you are up to a challenge, then you too can try it. It’s better that the usual “7 things you don’t know about me” because it requires a little thought. Not much; just a little.

Memes , Rambles
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Don't forget your anti-freeze

Grandad December 21st, 2007

At last.

One of my best days of the year.

Newgrange has seen the sun, and from now on the days get longer.

newgrangeint

I got a new laptop recently, because the old one was getting rude. I put everything I needed on it like Firefox and Anti-Virus and things like that.

But I forgot to put in Anti-freeze.

We had the first real hard frost of the winter this morning, which is appropriate, because this is officially the first day of winter. But my laptop was frozen solid.

I knew what to do though as I am a resourceful person. I filled a deep baking tray with warm water and immersed the laptop for a while.

The trouble then was that it was wet. I tried a hair-dryer, but that didn’t work very well, so I put it in the oven for a bit. That was slow going though, so in the end, I put it in the microwave. That worked perfectly.

So my laptop is now ice-free and nice and clean.

I am now going to go out and dance naked in the garden to celebrate the Solstice.