Lets get on with New Year then !

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Picture 1 is the big room prior to the arrival of the family on Christmas Eve. The sausage-fest idea worked very well again. They need minimal preparation and cooking and, therefore, can be enjoyed as much by the hosts as the visitors. The meal comprised multi varieties of hot sausages, with a big bread board and a good selection of breads (slice your own) followed by cheese and biccies, and jelly and stuff for the little ones.

Christmas Eve also happens to be Sky's birthday and this year, it was lovely to see her on the actual day. Her present was an MP3 player of the type she wanted, and she is thrilled with it. As Santa had left some presents early we all felt it was OK to open a few. Picture 2 is Hannah's white slippers. Aren't they great ? I want a pair !

Moving forward to Christmas Day both Y and I had some super presents. And so much thought had gone into what Santa was asked to bring,

I wont list everything because I would need too much room, and other people's presents, like holiday snaps, have only a limited appeal.

David was still suffering from his pleurisy and the pain was drawn on his face and in his eyes. I will use that disputed word again and say that, in my opinion, he was very brave to come. Obviously I have spoken to him since and he sounds a little better. Only a little though and it seems a shame that he is being ill in his own time. I don't know when the new term begins but I will be surprised if he has fully recovered by then anyway.

I have an announcement about the future format of the blog -

Over the Holiday period my RadioGandy blog was discussed and people made several points, most of which were encouraging plusses. A recurrent minus point however, was the off-putting length of some blog-comments, which, on occasion, are longer than the blog itself. I pointed out that these need not be read in detail. If desired a little icon at the top left of a ‘comment’ can be clicked which reduces the comment to the contributor’s name only.

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However some potential contributors feel a need to read through the whole of everyone’s comments in order to establish that the ‘comment’ they are considering making hasn’t already been made. As this can be tedious the end result is that they don’t bother to add their own ‘comment at all.

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For a trial period therefore I would ask that ‘comments’ be restricted to perhaps 200 words and we will see how things pan out. I do not want to go down the path followed by many bloggers of moderating comments before they are allowed to appear. Most of you fall well within the suggested word-count anyway so the change will not affect you at all.

As a rough guide, the above words in blue, total 191 words

I know the restrictions will be irksome to some, but I am trying to be fair to all readers.

Comments

bungus ...... Re film/digital and infra-red. For a full explanation as to why it needs film you would need Roy or Rob to give you the accurate low-down. One reason is that most digital cameras, for sensor reasons, have a filter which cuts out infra-red light.

Rather than compare your blood curdling activities with a Victorian surgeon my thoughts went to the same period but to Jack the Ripper.

Jill ..... I have a feeling in my water, as they say here in the Erewash Valley, that you are going to succeed with this pavement versus glasses business.

I'm with you re 'meat on the bone'. Maybe 'on the bone' is marginally more difficult to carve but, I find anyway, the meat remains moister and tastier.

So Strictly come Dancing has finished for another year. But we have our tickets to the live tour to look forward to. I note, could have been in the Telegraph, that there is a move to restrict the judges to just commenting on, not voting. The voting to be entirely in the hands of the telephoning punters. Sounds a brilliant idea to me. Put the pompous p***ocks in their rightful place ! Mind you Bruno isn't at all pompous is he?

And with no doubt at all, Y and I are with you about 'can't be bothered shopping in the last hour of supermarket opening'. Even if you find bargains you've then got a storage problem and, if you didn't really need it, it works our expensive anyway.

AnonymousRob ...... Many thanks for your seasonal greetings. And to extend the idea behind todays title. -

I always think New Year's Eve should be the day after Boxing Day. This rather void period until the New Year annoys me. When I come to power I shall remove 4 days from December and insert them into February to balance things up.

Anonymous ...... I read about the Beeb's reasons for not revealing the voting figures. Mind you, I also read that a member of The House of Lords, is considering using the Freedom of Information Act to winkle it out of them. That would be a laugh.

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Quotation time .........

"A liberal is a person whose interests aren't at stake at the moment"

Willis Player

n.b. That whole blog-post was 896 words. Editor .....

"Sleep tight - catch you tomorrow"

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