A Bracing Walk Along the Seafront Always Energises One!

So that was the Xmas break!

One minute Xmas records seem strangely alluring, partly because of the excitement of what is to come, and then all of a sudden they become highly irritating and something to be put away until next year, because the excitement is over and a new year looms.

We’ve had some beautiful blue skies with a cold biting wind to remind you that you are alive.

We like to have a walk every day that we are off, and this year the weather has actually been pretty good for a period every day. Even when it rained hard, there were a couple of hours early on when we managed to get out and get some fresh air.

The feeling of fresh air in your lungs is hugely energising. For someone who spends most of the week in front of a computer screen, a decent walk for an hour or two in the countryside just puts everything into perspective. The concerns that seem so immediate subside and the important things come to the fore. Spending time with your loved ones refocuses your mind just in time for the new year.

It is now downhill to the start of the New Year, catching up with all the little jobs you don’t get around to under normal circumstances.

And what a year 2017 has been!

There have been various highs – I could never have imagined chasing a weasel around the top of my lounge curtains, probably something never to be repeated, (or at least we hope not).

But sadly several lows too – Our cat Tango’s sudden illness somewhat took the gloss of the last couple of months of the year and a rather unsatisfactory number of missed blog updates due to travels with work.

But gladly most of these lows have been temporary and even poor old Tango is on the mend. He is gradually regaining his ability to be destructive, (more on this later).

We have recently had the longest sustained attack on the garden by badgers and squirrels. The front and back lawns now look like we have been burying bodies as fast as we can. (Really officer - the people sized holes in the lawn are nothing to do with us!)

The badger has not only scratched the surface but in places we can see the sunshine coming from our Australian cousins the holes are that deep!

But at least this seems to have stopped the moles from gorging on the garden. Last year at this time, we were wondering how to stop the moles from turning the lawns upside down. At least we can now see the creatures doing the damage, although this is not much of a consolation.

The Cold Has Created an Amazing Ice Roll On The Car Window

On the Saturday before Xmas I set off early to take on the Xmas food shoppers. This day is always very busy and the concentration of early shoppers is suddenly much higher than on any normal Saturday.

I battled the crowds, just like most of you I am sure.

On returning home, I unpacked the car and was taking in the last bag of shopping when my better half noticed a consistent pattern had been walked into the house and had been rubbed into the carpet by the lounge.

Oil is one of those things that you never want to introduce into your house. Once it gets onto something, it will get carried around easily and ruin anything in its path. Thankfully we have a tiled hallway that we were able to clean it off, but the carpet was ruined. Significant expense for the holiday number 1.

Realising that it would not be able to be replaced until after Xmas, and not wanting it to be spread anywhere else, I covered the stain over with plastic and stuck it down with gaffer tape.

I awoke next morning and rose from my bed to find that the cat had obviously found another patch of oil from under a car and had now donated that oil to the sheet on two beds – ruining them, and the pillow on one bed.

At first I didn’t know it was the cat and we searched around trying to find what had caused it. Eventually, I noticed that the cat still had the oil in a patch on its back. Later we tried to clean it off, but failed as it was just too matted and engrained. Tango now has a second patch on his back that it unlike the rest of his hair. He didn’t object as we gave him a seasonal haircut. He is a good sport!

Just to add insult to injury, the boiler broke down yesterday, just as it was at its coldest. An emergency call-out later and we are now down a new carpet, two new sheets, a pillow case and two new parts for the boiler over this Xmas period.

As I write this blog I discover that the two new parts have not fixed the boiler as it has just broken down again!

Trashed Plastic Cover

On Xmas day I went to bed with that wonderful feeling that I didn’t actually have to rise at any particular time in the morning. I have an inbuilt clock that gets me up early every day, even at weekends. But on special days, I actually manage to override the clock and sleep in a bit later. Boxing day is one of those days as long as I am spending it at home with no one visiting.

At 2am on Boxing day morning I was awoken by a strange feeling. I felt like Violet in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. My stomach was expanding as I watched it and I had a huge need to “deflate”. I know we have all had this feeling at one time in our lives, but this was my penance for enjoying too many vegetables on Xmas day.

On reading up about this, I discovered that the true source of this feeling was not the cursed sprouts that I love so much and are famous for wind, but the parsnips which are apparently worse than sprouts, the other vegetable I had gorged upon.

Now I can cope with being inflated like the best of them, but there is a point at which when your heart is being pressed into your throat that you feel suddenly very vulnerable to naked flames.

Two hours later, I had deflated enough to feel comfortable. The relief was immense. I finally dozed off.

Within a few minutes, I could hear lots of banging and crashing in the lounge. Not really sure what on earth could be making that noise I went to explore.

The cat had obviously found something to play with. It had placed it on the plastic sheeting that was covering the oil. This had now been severely trashed, screwed up into a ball and the oil stain was there for all to see. Quickly covering this up, I ventured into the lounge.

All the Xmas wrappings and some of the decorations / presents were now strewn across the floor. It looked like the presents had exploded. Our usual tradition is to open any presents and then place then at the base of the tree until we use them or put them away.

Tango was sitting at the base of the tree peering into the presents that were still there. He raced across the floor and then crashed into some chairs on the far side of the room. I am pretty sure that this was doing his back healing any good whatsoever.

He snatched up a mouse from behind the tree and headed out of the lounge and down the corridor. I ran ahead and closed every door in the hall until he finally reached the backdoor. I opened it quickly and he stepped out.

“Thank god for that”, I thought. No further excitement.

As I climbed back into bed, Tango make a reappearance with the mouse still in situ. He dropped it outside the lounge door which I had shut and watched it scuttle around. I snatched him up and shut him in the bedroom.

My favourite occupation stood before me, mouse catching at 4.30am on Boxing day morning.

As brave as I have felt previously, I had never seen a mouse this energetic before. It jumped about two feet into the air and out of the natural catchment area, and mounted a large candlestick sitting on top of the candle, looking at me in disbelief.

“How the hell am I going to catch this one”, I thought. I opened the porch door to encourage it outside. I found a long piece of plastic tubing. Somehow I used this to flick the mouse off the candle towards the open porch door.

It jumped back towards me and the candlestick. In seconds it was back – heckling me from on top of the candle.

This time I was more accurate with my flick technique and the mouse flew through the air and out of the door to the porch. I shut it quickly and trapped it in the porch. I could see it scuttling around trying to find an exit that didn’t exist.

Would I be quick enough to open the porch door and then open the front door before it ran in again?

Well I had to be. I dextrously lent in, opened the front door and shut the porch door.

I went back to bed, this time confident that I wouldn’t see that mouse again.

Two hours later, I could hear further action in the lounge. I raced in, and found Tango once again scrabbling. This time I think he was searching for the mouse that I had long since let go. He was just making lots of noise in looking for it.

Tango is back to his destructive self – of that there can be no mistake.

One of Our Walks Found Us In An Amazing Ruined Iron Works

What does the New Year promise?

A win in an ashes test? – not likely even from our current position

A Brexit that will not feel like – “what has it all been for?” – not likely, I think we are already seeing that nothing that was promised is likely to come to fruition

Another Premier League win for Chelsea? – it’s a Manchester year this year

A better year for wildlife in the valley of Friday Story? – We are trying to encourage a wider variety of insects through creating better habitats

An improved survival rate for Toads? – My better half has just signed me up for Toad watch duty

A break-through in the battle for plastic waste? – Well Blue Planet certainly highlighted the problems, so let’s hope that we can find a solution soon. I know I am going to stop buying water in plastic bottles and if we can all do this what a difference we can make

What have you promised yourself that you will achieve next year?

New Year’s resolutions have a long history – originally being something that the Babylonians promised to their gods. This has continued throughout the past 4,000 years until the present day, albeit we no longer promise our gods, but each other.

Research in America has shown that while 45% of people make resolutions, only 8% achieve them.

Abstinence and more exercise lead the way in most people’s list. For me, the blend of being healthier and having a better work life balance will usually last until mid-January when circumstances will dictate otherwise, (or that’s my excuse anyway). But starting off with the best of intentions is not a bad thing!

I also like the notion of a dry January, but as my birthday occurs during the month there is no chance of me sticking to that.

So a renewed focus on the things that matter and a commitment to enjoy life a bit more will have to do. I want to evolve this blog again next year to freshen it up, so look out for a few different things in the coming months. The invitational contributions seem to have been popular, so expect more on this theme.

My better half and I will have been married for 30 years in 2018, and we have plans to do something special and unusual each month to make the year more memorable than most. It’s not every day you reach such a milestone. Hopefully that will make for an interesting blog.

I have been playing a compilation of 50 year-old records off and on during the holiday period. The Summer of Love still provides an excellent background soundtrack even at Xmas.

This tune is one you don’t hear that often.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_FIFQvEwRc

We also went to the cinema recently and watched Paddington 2. It’s a long story, but we went during the day and were two of only four people in the theatre. It was surprisingly amusing and something to take the kids to if you haven’t been.

Have a great New Year!

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