December

Here we are in December already and nearly the festive season. It soon comes round when you are full of colds and bugs. Its been a nasty few weeks of Covid and now man flu ( or lady flu ? it's hard to tell them apart ) The booster jabs have little or no effect. Anyway I wont go into the gory details. Lovely to have Archie home for a few days - here he is with his Mom - lighting up the traditional fuse. Or trying to. Soggy paper? Soggy fuse? maybe just a impregnated doily? A coaster? We shall probably never know. Anyway we shall attempt to eat drink and be merry despite all the germs and bugs. Same to you!

Xmas Fun

Putting up the decorations and lifting the tree from the garden to the house is always fun. Archie and Hazel enjoy it anyway. I was official photographer and used a special app that made everything look like it was from the 80's.

Archie Home For Xmas

Hoorah! Archie is home for Xmas and already constructed this personage from an old dummy body and a hairdressers Mexican wrestlers masked head.

Covid Christmas

 A bit of a weird Xmas Day this year for obvious reasons.  Went over to Hazel's Mom and sister's for a socially distanced shiver in the back garden> Hazel took a pile of logs and sticks and she made a fire in the mexican stove.  Pulled some crackers through the slit in the door.  Ate some mince pies.  Home for some cheese and crackers.  Had a nice zoom chat to Archie and Meriel who are hunkered down in Fulham.  The usual nut roast and all the trimmings later in the afternoon.  Bucks fizz and crackers.  Watched lots of nonsense on the telly.  Hopefully next year will be back to normal.  Fingers crossed!

Crimblemess Day

The usual traditional trek over to the next village and Granma Jones's and Audrey's house for Xmas dinner and present opening etc. The nut roast was made the day before and the Marmite gravy transported in a saucepan precariously balanced on my knee in the car! The usual fretting over the sprouts and roasties etc. We invited them to our place to save them the hassle but they like to suffer! Anyway, so ate too much and did tons of washing up. Played a silly game and nodded off in front of the Queen's speech on TV. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ! More photos to follow.

The Festive Season

The usual Xmas dinner traumas, silly hats, silly games and piles of washing up! We took our own nut roast with chestnuts and vege gravy - twice as much as Granma has a tendency to boil it until it evaporates! Plates piled high with food and then pudding and nibbles! We are collapsed with extreme bloatiness! Fell asleep during the Queen's speech - catching flies. Raced plastic elfs ( and one Santa ) from crackers across the dining table. Deja vu definately the order of the day! Home by 8pm. and further collapse in front of the telly.

Picking A Tree

The annual choosing of the Xmas tree this morning over at Marbury where they were reduced to half price - hooray! Our boy , who is home for a few days, helped out with the heavy work. Tough choice - they all looked a bit wonky but cheaper than last time we looked! You'll never notice once they are covered in tinsel and other gaudy trimmings!

Camdenhurst Street Stepney - Tuesday 3rd Jan. 1978

Dear C, R, A & W, Thankyou for the jolly card. I do hope you had a lovely Christmas. I had an awfully dull time at my parents - watching huge chunks of cake and eating the television ( also in huge chunks ) consequently I am covered in spots and have dark rings around my eyes - most unbecoming! Anyway, thank goodness it's all over for another year and I can get back to my usual routine. There were a couple of pleasant evenings spent in the company of old friends that I suppose made up for the horrible dull boring bits. I must admit I did receive some lovely pressies this year ( mostly from me!) New records by Ian Dury ( who I'm sure you must have heard about ) and Ry Cooder. A bunch of sable brushes from my brother and his fiance. An egg box cage thing from my friend Tony and a book of Chinese childrens propaganda paintings. Bill & Lynne gave me a twel full of rainbows and packet of delicious china tea. Lucky old me! Did you stay home for Xmas or did you stay with friends or family atall? Heard from Dinah lately? Lynne phoned her up last week and we all had a few pence of words with her. It wasn't very successful though, those sort of phone calls ever are. A squeaky voice said "I'm on a little cloud" or something like that Lynne thought she would be spurred to write after that but nothing yet as far as I know. Ho hum. Gosh it's ever so windy and cold outside. I'm glad I don't have to go out and get paparfin tonight. Egg chip sna beans for tea - yum yum! Yes, I would love to come and visit you again soon, and when I do, or WE do I must bring the colour slides of Alice to show you that I took when I was there last. Mind you i think they are still in the camera so better not count my transparencies before they hatch! I must shoot the rest of the film off soon, if only we had some sunshine- just a weensy bit. Anyway I must go and look at my loaf now. Hope you are all well. Love, Michael.

Rose Croft, Brentwood, Essex - December 21st 1972

Dear R, C, Elephants, pussycats, monkeys and anybody else with bulges in their back pockets. Thanks for the nice photos. I guess my Christmas greetings were a little premature. If not one thing, then another, as Mrs. Wibley would say. I'm afraid I've been rather thoughtless when it comes to sticking the right stamps on certain envelopes ( so Lynne tells me!) and certain that Kenya is still part of the Great British Commonwealth ( all stand up and face Buckingham Palace!) I've been getting away with cheap communications. I do hope you have not been acosted by pygmy postmen demanding reconpence! I shall abide by Her Majesties regulations in future ( Note - thin paper ). The other day, being Sunday, we all strode over to Weald Park in Bill's van and then dragged our feet around the wintry landscape, sniffing the soil and kicking up leaves, squirrels and anything else that lay in our path. It was very muddy but being resourceful chaps managed to negotiate the more hazardous stretches of quagmire by going back the way we'd come. We found lots of interesting fungus that Bill nibbled to see if it was poisonous or not ( He's not so daft as he looks!) And a lovely hollow tree with a very low door and a little round window to peek thru' etc. I'm reading gavin Maxwell's "Ring Of Bright Water" - excellent stuff! I've been wrapping up my Christmas gifts and still making things for people. I'm a little tired of it now tho'. Too much of a rush. Bill and I hitched up to Cheshire a week or so ago to stay the weekend with our old friends Trevor and Jenny, who ow live by the canal in Beeston. It's a beautiful place- the gently sloping hills around with sheeps and cows, and Beeston castle in the distance. The railway line is nearby too, so Trevor is really in his element being a chuff-chuff addict. The local brew is nice too, brought up from a cellar below in big frothy jugfuls, like in days gome by. We visited Chester too whilst we were there - another fine place with a wall that goes round the town and lovely old shops with verandahs and pedestrian walkways, years ahead of it's time! I really felt a comfortable glowing Christmas feeling there in those bustling tiny streets, nothing quite like it for a long time. Soon it will be snowing. Happiness among the animals and growing things.From Michael.