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Ron Dough
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« Reply #45 on: 23:32:16, 22-12-2007 » |
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Have a good circuitous trip, green one.
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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #46 on: 12:31:46, 23-12-2007 » |
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Lone Protest Against Commercialisation Of Christmas Ends In Tragedyhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7158095.stm(French Police report receiving calls after the incident from a man describing himself as "an Australian clarinettist", enquiring about the possibility of "sangliers")
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"I was, for several months, mutely in love with a coloratura soprano, who seemed to me to have wafted straight from Paradise to the stage of the Odessa Opera-House"
- Leon Trotsky, "My Life"
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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #47 on: 13:31:05, 23-12-2007 » |
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Chinese Police Collaborate With French Colleagues On Apparent Collusionhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7081397.stmr3ok members are advised to act with caution, and report any suspicious hogs or swine to the appropriate authorities. There is no telling where the hogs will strike next. Anyone for The Boar's Head Carol ? 
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"I was, for several months, mutely in love with a coloratura soprano, who seemed to me to have wafted straight from Paradise to the stage of the Odessa Opera-House"
- Leon Trotsky, "My Life"
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Andy D
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« Reply #48 on: 13:48:52, 23-12-2007 » |
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This one looks very dodgy to me!  [cotitsalv] |
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Andy D
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« Reply #49 on: 14:25:53, 23-12-2007 » |
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MabelJane
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« Reply #50 on: 21:12:21, 23-12-2007 » |
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Merely corroborative detail, intended to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative.
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Ruth Elleson
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« Reply #51 on: 09:31:13, 24-12-2007 » |
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I am almost ready for Christmas. I set off for work early this morning so as to call in at the Borough Market branch of Neal's Yard Dairy on the way in for a selection of cheese. As has happened with everything else I have bought this year in preparation for the Christmas period, I went a good 50% over budget  Still need a few other things: dessert wine (for Christmas pud), limes (for G&T) and a present for the dog, as I got a message from my mother last night saying "Please get a present for the dog - she found the one I'd got her and ate it early"  |
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Oft hat ein Seufzer, deiner Harf' entflossen,
Ein süßer, heiliger Akkord von dir
Den Himmel beßrer Zeiten mir erschlossen,
Du holde Kunst, ich danke dir dafür!
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John W
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« Reply #52 on: 09:58:03, 24-12-2007 » |
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(already posted this in the Morning thread)I expect everyone will be racing around today like me doing last-minute deliveries of presents to friends and sorting out Christmas food. Delivering presents? Now that is something we never do here now. When our kids were little my wife and all her friends got fed up with Christams and the waste of buying silly toys, and they all made a pact NOT to buy each other's kids presents. At the same time our brothers and sisters all agreed that buying presents for all nephews and nieces would cease. And it all made Christmas so much more enjoyable (for the parents), we just visit each other and the kids (all grown up now) are just happy with what their mum and dad (sometimes just mum) bought them. My wife is a teacher and there's 20 teachers at the school. Again stop the silliness of everyone buying for everyone. They do a secret sort of raffle where each teacher picks a name from a pot and they buy a present ONLY for that teacher. And they have to keep it secret who they are to buy for. Limit £10 and these presents all appear at school on Xmas Eve. It's fun for them guessing who bought them the present and some clearly are more generous than £10. I forgot to ask my wife what she bought this year. At work (when I was employed) we had over 100 staff. When I was Quality Manager I suggested NO Christmas cards at work but instead there was a box for charity, and was pleasantly surprised that we collected over 200 pounds each Christmas. We used to take the money down to the Birmingham Children's Hospital (when it was in Ladywood) and put a photo in the company magazine. Christmas CAN be fun without all the cards and stuff
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Milly Jones
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« Reply #53 on: 10:05:08, 24-12-2007 » |
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Bah Humbug!
These presents to be delivered today are for one of my sons and his family so that they can be put on Santa's pile and for a friend of mine with a mentally handicapped daughter. I always visit them on Christmas Eve. The "child" has always been very easy to buy for as she has been trapped for 40 years with a mental age of 6. She loves those Thorntons chocolate Santas and reindeer and I've bought her mother some nice perfume.
The other family presents are all under my tree for Christmas Day visitors before our lunch in the restaurant.
I agree you don't have to spend a lot to enjoy Christmas. Being with each other is what counts for the most. There'll be 10 of us on Christmas Day. The only really heavy expense I've had this year was going to Lapland, but that was well worth it! The presents I've bought are novelty ones and stocking fillers.
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We pass this way but once. This is not a rehearsal!
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BobbyZ
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« Reply #54 on: 11:07:51, 24-12-2007 » |
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Can't find Ron's thread about which disks you find yourself returning to at Christmas, so I'll post here about a BBC Music mag cover disk from back in 2000 which was issued in collaboration with Hyperion and covers "Christmas Through The Ages" from medieval Spain and England through to Britten, Poulenc and Tavener via Bach, Corelli, Gabrieli, Praetorius, Berlioz etc. Then there's also Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band and last year's release from Richard Hickox and the City of London Sinfonia of Vaughan Williams's Fantasia on Christmas Carols, On Christmas Night and The First Nowell Nativity play.
I'll also use this as my post to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas, peace and good health.
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Dreams, schemes and themes
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time_is_now
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« Reply #55 on: 13:39:51, 24-12-2007 » |
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They do a secret sort of raffle where each teacher picks a name from a pot and they buy a present ONLY for that teacher. And they have to keep it secret who they are to buy for. Limit £10 and these presents all appear at school on Xmas Eve. It's fun for them guessing who bought them the present and some clearly are more generous than £10. We did that in the office where I work this year, and I was quite amazed and astonished and very happy that someone actually had bought me something I really really wanted (Peter Hill & Nigel Simeone's book on Messiaen)! Normally even my family struggle to know what presents I'd want unless they actually ask me for specific details, but this is something I might even have thought of myself. ... It costs quite a bit more than £10 though, which made me embarrassed. Some people in that office are involved in the music business so I hope whoever bought it for me might have got it cheaply. |
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The city is a process which always veers away from the form envisaged and desired, ... whose revenge upon its architects and planners undoes every dream of mastery. It is [also] one of the sites where Dasein is assigned the impossible task of putting right what can never be put right. - Rob Lapsley
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Don Basilio
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« Reply #56 on: 14:18:37, 24-12-2007 » |
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Ah yes, Secret Santa.
I've played that game before. If it gives others innocent amusement and teaches me to be generous it can't be bad.
I remember one Christmas party when the one Muslim in the small office (a nice, cheery lad from Birmingham) was given a bottle of red wine. Being a good chap he laughs and has it opened for all the others to share. Good on him, but the gift struck me as in the Worst Possible Taste (and I can guess the oaf who did it. He was the deputy manager.)
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« Last Edit: 15:17:04, 24-12-2007 by Don Basilio »
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To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh: a time to mourn, and a time to dance
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MT Wessel
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« Reply #57 on: 14:47:35, 24-12-2007 » |
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 Merry Christmas Everyone
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lignum crucis arbour scientiae
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Don Basilio
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« Reply #58 on: 15:21:29, 24-12-2007 » |
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And the same to you, M T. Do non-churchgoers object to being wished "Happy Christmas"? I am sure I would be charmed if a Muslim wished me "Eid Mubarrak".
The American "Happy Holidays" sound twee to me, and although "Seasons Greetings" are a good British equivalent, it sounds a bit precious.
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To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh: a time to mourn, and a time to dance
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oliver sudden
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« Reply #59 on: 15:26:34, 24-12-2007 » |
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Personally (as an atheist) I don't have any more of a problem being wished Happy Christmas than I have calling the current year 2007... I suspect 'Happy Holidays' isn't so much for the benefit of the likes of me as it is for the benefit of those of other religious persuasions. |
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