h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hello merry Christmas
Here's a song for you
and I hope this xmas
All your dreams come true
For the tickle fam'ly
Your own choir can sing
May you enjoy warmly
The gifts people bring
Welcome back Folerol
We have missed you too (2?)
There has been a lull
A void without you
I'll say hello to toots
Welcome any day
May you enjoy the fruits
In a special way
As for our dear Polly
Save the best for last
Here's a sprig of holly
Let all pains be past
So Mr Santa Claus
Come in,close the doors
and give us all a pause
From our daily chores
So....
Hello merry Christmas
Here's a song for you
and I hope this xmas
All your dreams come true.

My love at Christmas to each of you here - Toots, Rick, W4aT, Folly.

Have a wonderful day with your loved ones. I shall be with my darling daughter.

Christmas hugs and kisses.

Polly and Pixie


X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

Happy Christmas everyone!

Thanks for the poem, Rikii. You'd be surprised how many gifts people do give us. Mrs T's best mate, for instance, often pops round with a food parcel, and yesterday she gave us a whole load of fruit, including a huge pineapple and a large melon. Left-overs, of course - her family run their own catering business - but none the less welcome for that. And our ex-next-door-neighbours, who now live just down the lane, occasionally give us bottles of wine. They get them cheap in Waitrose partners' auctions and, if they don't like them, they give them to charity. They're usually jolly good.

The carol evening at the Moat House went really well. The choir was considerably under strength numerically, of course - hence the invitation to Grace 1 and 2 to join them - but performed heroically in the face of very enthusiastic audience participation. At the end "the crowd called out for more", but there was no encore - it was a pre-dinner event and therefore strictly time-tabled. I don't know if the free mulled wine was meant to be for the diners only, but I had a couple of glasses anyway.

Must go and write the annual Christmas letter. Have a great day.

Morning all,the thaw has started here now,the pavement outside my house has about a two inch thick covering of ice on it and I can finaly see two lines of tarmac in the road.I off in a short while to pick up my youngest son from his flat he's coming to dinner,were having a small piece of roast beef with Yorkshire pud'.
It's been rather quiet on the boards over the festive period,but I've had a lot of birds in the garden,Robins,redwings(the first ones I have ever seen)gulls,pigeons,male and female black birds,tits,wood pigeons,I have put out some peanuts,bread and grated cheese because all the fields and grassy areas around here have been covered by heavy snow.
Anything else happening out there?

Hope you had a pleasant dinner with your youngest yesterday, Rikii. And a nice quiet Christmas Day with the missus. It's nice to hear you're looking after the elderly neighbours so well, but, if I were you, I'd ask them to make it red wine next time - it's so much better for you than the white.

Our Christmas Day wasn't very exciting, but then it's never likely to be as long as MiL is here - for one thing, that means Mrs T can't have a tipple. Unfortunately, son-out-law was poorly and not his usual lively self, which didn't help. We had a nice dinner - roast beef - and opened mounds of presents, but we didn't even get to go out for a walk, which was a shame. I stepped outside for a postprandial smoke at 4:30 and it was lovely: a solitary star (well, planet, really) was shining in the clear but darkling sky, a blackbird was caroling in the tree and a red kite flew by high overhead.

Got some good presents this year, the best one being a new - wireless - mouse. The old one had a mind of its own.

I don't know what Toots got up to on Christmas Day, but I hear she has had a bad back ever since. Hope you're better soon, Toots.

A glad new year to you all.

I've just popped in for a minute. My daughter has her operation today so I am feeling very worried.... A dear church friend suddenly died yesterday morning. She was only 60. It has been such a shock...

Anyway, I wish you all a:

VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR

-X-

Hi all,Polly I do hope your daughter gets better soon,the 2nd of next month my younger brother will have been gone 2 years,my how time flies.

Hi Eveyone,

I hope your daughter is OK Polly and that the op went OK. I can't believe that it's two years since you lost your brother Folly it seems like hardly any time at all; mind you it's five years since my Dad passed away - where has the time gone?

It's nothing serious with the back it's a muscle spasm which doesn't want to let go. The daft thing is that it doesn't hurt when I stand so the ironing is up to date, however all the other plans for tidying up and preparing a bedroom/study for decorating have been put on hold.

Chandeliers all still intact Tickle I'm pleased to say.

A happy New Year to you all.

Toots.x.

Morning toots,we all make a faux pas from time to time,it's normally me at the guilty end.(LOL)It is nice to hear from you again,are you back at work today?back pain is awful although keeps it moving while you can and shake a tail feather.it's foggy and rather deprssing here this morning,but I hear they've arrested a 65yoa for the Jo Yeates murder,I just hope for her family that's the closure they need as It is allmost upon us all I'd like to wish everyone A Happy New Year.(with knobs on)

HNY all!! The new year dawns with a grey day and mizzly rain and not very welcoming, but, hey! It's our Ruby anniversary tomorrow so we're having some friends - 40 actually
(Ruby....40 years....40 friends....geddit? )
for lunch tomorrow so that'll be nice - we hope!

When we got married, it had snowed on Boxing Day and for a few days after and there was loadsa snow on the ground and as we walked out of the church, the sun shone on the snowy trees all glistening - superb - good omen, I suppose.

Hope you all have a good/better year than last and that Rik and Tick get plenty of work, and Toots and Poll sort out your aches and pains.
I have made a resolution to get my golf handicap down by 2 - that is a stretching one, believe me!

Hi Folderol2,you be careful slumming around here,you might catch something 40 years? it'll be 38 for me next September,Mrs cut-out is still having a dig at me for not getting her a card for Christmas,why do we all waste so much dosh on 'em anyway? I've had some delivered after Christmas it feels like a waste of time even opening them.
Well,I do hope me and tickle get a more prosperous year,here in Brum we've had bin bags piled up for weeks because of the binmen strike,mine were collected yesterday so Im grateful for that.BTW Folly I dont see much of you anymore on the odd pome threads which is a shame,still... perhaps I should get a life too.HNY and all that.R.

Dear Folly, that is wonderful news. I am sure that you and your wife will have a wonderful celebration.

Much love to both of you.



xxxx

Hi, Dear Rick. HAPPY * NEW * YEAR to you.

Rick, I am not very interested in all the Christmas cards that I receive. But the one that I get from my daughter is VERY SPECIAL. I treasure every card that she has ever sent me. I have a special box in which I keep them all. I still have all the cards that my parents or brother ever sent me. And I have all my childhood cards - lots of pop-up ones. I am almost certain that your wife would treasure a card from you. It isn't too late for a 'New Year' card.

Blessings to you and your family, Rick.

-X-

Hi Polly,nice to hear from you I hope you had a pleasant Christmas and that all's well with your daughter after her operation.I suppose as you still take part at your local church you do get masses of Christmas cards,I can no longer afford the quality cards that I could when I worked full time like I used to,I would rather buy MOH a decent bottle of scotch than a card,however Im hopeful that the new year brings me a lot more work than it did last year,at only 61yoa my muscle tone is disappearing from lack of work,I'll be getting bingo wings if I dont get a good spell of work soon.
I hope that this new year is kind to all of us and that your own health can improve too,evenn though Im too thick to get depressed I am starting to go a little stir crazy at home.
Anyway A happy new year to you too and if Im really lucky you'll keep on giving us all a wee bit of your own precious time where and when you can

Shall I tell you a little secret, dear Rick? A boyfriend, years ago, made me a Valentine's card. At the time (as I was so much younger!) I felt a bit miffed at it! But I kept it. Now I treasure it- and will always do so. Every now and then I take it out from the drawer look at it. It brings back many happy memories of being in love and the Somerset Levels - walking in the snow, seeing my first Jack Snipe, pheasant casseroles, and piano concertos.

It cost almost nothing to make --- but it still holds many beloved memories.

Congratulations on your Ruby Wedding, Folly. You - and Rikii, come to that - make me feel like a novice, having only recently celebrated Silver. If the weather here is anything to go by, you should have a nice sunny day for it, although it may be a bit cold to eat outside.

A glad new year to one and all.

Wow, Rikii! This could be a special year: only two days gone and Heskey has scored already. And you got a point at the Bridge. Things are looking up.

Morning all, well tickle when you're at the bottom up's the only way to end our white knuckle ride and I thought Heskey should have been sacked last season.Beckham at spurs?

Morning all!
Sitting waiting in my study for the sun to come up to see if I can see the partial eclipse. The sky is clearish in the east so I might be lucky. Got my camera ready to try and get some photos if poss. When the full eclipse happened a few years ago, we were abroad and nowhere near where it could be seen so we missed out completely, but my daughter and s-i-l saw it v well from Somerset and my bro and family in Cornwall said it was magical.

MOH started back at school today - a training day to start with - so it's back to the usual routine of me doing all weekday meals and general household duties - not that I mind - I have the time. Today it's clearing the Christmas decs and preparing for the weekend when we are painting all the skirting boards so that, in a few weeks time, we can have new carpet fitted throughout. We bought this house 6 years ago and the carpet was atrocious then - it's diabolical now!
Have a good week everyone

Morning all,hi Folderol2 painting?on your knees again?after you've sanded/rubbed down your skirting boards try one of those mini rollers instead of a brush they are much quicker and with the new water based gloss paints you can wash and reuse them.
Im just sat on my arris again waiting hopefully for a phone call,it's like when you've got the time to do those odd jobs you never have the money to do them.With the new vat going up to 20% today I think the future is looking bleak for the construction industries.