and so it is time again, look you see. the guide for tv, or if you like tv guide, for the final week of one year and the first week of the next has been purchased. over on the stereo is the magnificent b-side of the magnificent 12" of the magnificent song The Power Of Love by the magnificent Frankie Goes To Hollywood, featuring as it does the magnificent Frankies expressing their wishes, desires and ambitions for the season.
Christmas, it must be, that is here once more. yes, indeed, the season of goodwill, coming as it does but once a year. time now, then, for a round up of trees, so to speak, as is reasonably standard for me to do at this time of year. well, as and when i remember, and when i have the pictures to do so.
first, then, as is proper, over to Mum & Dad. it would be that they should be first for several reasons, but specifically in this instance it was so that they happened to be the first in the family (that i am aware of) who had the tree up. and what a magnificent one it is too.
the conversation around this was that Dad believed or felt he had been responsible for the family tree for the last 50 or so years now, and that for the next 50 Mum could jolly well get on with it. being on the other side of the world from them (more or less) allows me to allow them to get on with it. several of you shall have concerns, i know - but don't. i can assure you that my Dad is pretty good for that most splendid of toothpaste what has love beads shoved into it for quite some time; at least well north into the first quarter of the coming year.
celebrations at this time of year are not, to be sure, limited to Christmas. our family has, it sometimes feels, a disproportionate number of members who (whom?) celebrate their birthdays during the very same month. the most recent member to this special club is, as it happens, the one who celebrates it first during this particular month of December, and so here he is.
yes, indeed, William, resplendent in a hat his Grandad gave him, presumably to save himself the trouble of packing it and taking it to pastures new.
there are friends, family and those who know me that, for reasons best known to themselves, prefer not to keep in contact, but do choose to check in here once in a while to see how i, and indeed the family, are all getting along. just fine, really. should you be of a mind to remain a stranger, well, i can give you my assurance that William had a most splendid day of celebrations for his most recent of birthdays.
now, then, Richard enthusiasts will no doubt be keen to see what sort of tree has has up. last year, or perhaps the year before, he painstakingly drank several hundreds of bottles of beer so as to produce his magnum opus. in truth, i have no idea what he has done this year, for instead of a picture of a tree he sent along this image, which i have taken as being his interpretation of a Christmas greeting.
many of you will look at the above and be concerned that he is off for an operation - exploratory surgery on his arse, perhaps. well, fear not. Richard is in fact just the subject of a special, worldwide investigation. at this stage Richard is unique in his knowledge, his passion and his commitment to the motion pictures Convoy and Cannonball Run II. the UN have elected to fund research into how Richard has achieved this exceptional level, so that others may achieve the same, thus making the world a much better place.
on we go to our very own tree, then, for your viewing pleasure. although i am not convinced that i have taken the best picture possible of it. however, it will do, as it were.
perhaps you are looking at the above and thinking "that is familiar". maybe it strikes you as being quite like the tree i purchased for Christmas 2014; the cheapest one i could find with a sentiment or view that it "would do for one year and i shall sort out another for next". indeed, yes, it is the very same tree. that is now, i believe, 5 Christmases i have extracted from this £9.99, or if you will 1p south of £10, tree. maybe next year i will indeed spring the cash for another one, but don't be at all surprised to find that i extract a sixth seasonal use from this one.
further celebrations? of course. whereas James came along before William, his birthday falls on a day which is a date after that of his younger brother. if that makes sense. so we celebrate his after, on the appropriate day. and indeed, yes, it was one of those "milestone" birthdays, but i suppose all such birthdays are milestones, when you think about it. if you use milestones.
should James strike you as looking a bit baffled, if not perplexed, in the above, that is quite normal. it is down to a mixture of him being awake at a time he would consider unnatural for a weekend, and indeed attempting, valiantly, to read my handwriting.
how about a wander around the village, to see what decorations and other such signs of festivities are in place for the more public level of celebration?
the above is indeed what the elected parish council, in their infinite and infallible wisdom, have chosen to place in full display of the public to commemorate the coming of Christmas. what can i say but nice one. actually what else i can say is yes, that is William. we were off on a mission, as he decided that he urgently needed a packet of tic tacs and urgently required me to take him to the shops and purchase them.
an image of me? for no reason at all can i think of why you would want such, but equally for no reason at all can i think of motivation not to include one here. so, well, here.
that image was taken "by surprise", by James, on his new phone thing what has a camera welded to it. a pretty good camera, which it darn well wants to be, going on the price, but no matter.
indeed, that is a jumper which was provided for me by a dear friend known as Shanaz. provenance beyond that unknown, but possibly the Fordsburg / Crown Mines dynamic interchange in downtown Jozi. anyway, i have included it here as my sister reckons it is me with a "new look"; presumably a smart and sophisticated one, and not the scruff who or what is normally presented.
speaking of which (my sister, and not my fashion choices), yes, of course, she has indeed forwarded on a picture of their tree. a tree which, by her own admission, was erected (so to speak) late.
and what a beauty it is too. i particularly like the very shiny angel.
well, then, there you go. should you be reading this prior to the current (as in 2018) Christmas celebrations, perhaps needless to say you have my best and most fondest wishes for a splendid one. more, as and when, dear reader. as and when.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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