No New Year Blues for Me!
I can't understand people who get the "post Christmas Blues". After all it is mainly hype by retailers, the news media and the like that creates this sense that we should all be having a jolly good time over the Christmas period. The religious message does seem to be coming more to the fore these days which to me is a good thing - we got quite a few Christmas cards with Wise Men, angels etc. But I'd say 80% were secular in terms of their imagery. I enjoy Christmas but to me Birthdays are more special. Especially as now I have more or less the impression that I am on "borrowed time", and I intend to make use of every minute of it and to me each Birthday is a milestone.
I got sent, without asking, a Titan Tours "Escorted Tour" catalogue yesterday - if I had the money I would love to go off on a 14 or 21 day tour of, in no particular order of preference:
New Zealand & Australia
New England - Maine, Vermont etc
Canada and the Great Lakes
Scandanavia
Russia and the Baltic states
Most of the tours appear to be around the £2000 per person mark. Maybe if my Premium Bonds win anything significant...
I have also fancied going on a Battlefield tour by Holts or Midas Tours to, again in no particular order:
Gettysburg
The battlefields of the Penninsula Wars - Salamanca, Talavera, Badajoz etc
The Western Front 1914 - 1918 & the Somme
Waterloo
The Stalingrad campaign
I have read much about all the above and I think for me Stalingrrad would be of most interest - just the sheer horrors of the battle and the scars on the landscape there you can see would be deeply moving. I have a copy of Stalingrad by Anthony Beevor - tells the story from both sides.
Our cat is still missing. OH let a couple of her colleagues know and they all, independently, came back and said "he's been pinched". I guess though unless he were shut away somewhere that Graeme would come home if he was unhappy where he was. Its just upsetting not knowing. Still, the missus is going to Bristol on Saturday to pick up Valentine.
My dad had a fall on New Years Eve - he was outside on the patio and bent down to do something - God knows what - and felll. He says he wasn't pissed and he has got a big capacity from years of practice. Having said that I was at a mate's house a few years ago now and fell off his back doorstep, and landed face down. There was quite a bad cut on my cheek and when I went to work next day everyone thought I'd been fighting, but I was just very drunk and fell over. He now has a tooth through his cheek, grazing down one side of his face and he's got a reinsurance meeting in Gibraltar on Sunday - so he'll probably be alright by then but there was a lot of bruising and I don't think he was looking forward to making any public appearances! I will phone home tonight and find out how he is.
I got sent, without asking, a Titan Tours "Escorted Tour" catalogue yesterday - if I had the money I would love to go off on a 14 or 21 day tour of, in no particular order of preference:
New Zealand & Australia
New England - Maine, Vermont etc
Canada and the Great Lakes
Scandanavia
Russia and the Baltic states
Most of the tours appear to be around the £2000 per person mark. Maybe if my Premium Bonds win anything significant...
I have also fancied going on a Battlefield tour by Holts or Midas Tours to, again in no particular order:
Gettysburg
The battlefields of the Penninsula Wars - Salamanca, Talavera, Badajoz etc
The Western Front 1914 - 1918 & the Somme
Waterloo
The Stalingrad campaign
I have read much about all the above and I think for me Stalingrrad would be of most interest - just the sheer horrors of the battle and the scars on the landscape there you can see would be deeply moving. I have a copy of Stalingrad by Anthony Beevor - tells the story from both sides.
Our cat is still missing. OH let a couple of her colleagues know and they all, independently, came back and said "he's been pinched". I guess though unless he were shut away somewhere that Graeme would come home if he was unhappy where he was. Its just upsetting not knowing. Still, the missus is going to Bristol on Saturday to pick up Valentine.
My dad had a fall on New Years Eve - he was outside on the patio and bent down to do something - God knows what - and felll. He says he wasn't pissed and he has got a big capacity from years of practice. Having said that I was at a mate's house a few years ago now and fell off his back doorstep, and landed face down. There was quite a bad cut on my cheek and when I went to work next day everyone thought I'd been fighting, but I was just very drunk and fell over. He now has a tooth through his cheek, grazing down one side of his face and he's got a reinsurance meeting in Gibraltar on Sunday - so he'll probably be alright by then but there was a lot of bruising and I don't think he was looking forward to making any public appearances! I will phone home tonight and find out how he is.