Clearing up and carrying on . . .

Not a very inspiring title: maybe we'll change it later on. In fact, you may well find the links (in green) will take you to more interesting places than the actual blog, though I say so myself.

We had a big post-Christmas clear-up day, after the decorations were taken down and Alice (eventually) managed to put them away, up the ladder on her own - more logistics than balance.

Everything got moved off the sitting room floor, which was a huge task, as some of it had been lying there for many, many months.

Then the elderly Hoover - the machine not the man - was brought out of a rather long retirement. Ba was intrigued when I explained that the vacuum cleaner actually sucked in the dust and debris and whooshed it up the tube to a waiting bag. She's not usually interested in mechanical things . . .

By the way, that's a great title for a website, isn't it?  We'll use it again, I'm sure.

After the job was over, Ba took another look at the underside. She could see that most of what was whoosed away was lots of long grey human hairs (guess whose those were) and fallen green plastic "needles" from the Christmas trees.

Yuk! Ba was shocked by the contents of the receiving bag, mostly very ancient dust - but also dead moths from much ealier so called "Spring Cleans". No, nothing to do with that book, though it's on our Wish List since reading His Dark Materials.

We've only posted a small version of the double image, in case you're squeamish about this sort of thing.  But if you click on it, you can view the full ghastliness of it all. Oh, "The Horror, The Horror."

Poor Alice is only just recovering from the flu, and says she isn't quite out of the woods yet. Now that is another of those human figures of speech which puzzle my more literal brain. She hasn't been lying lost in a wood of late, more a matter of lying in bed snuffling and coughing.

But my confusion does link neatly to our next topic. Alice says segue is an excellent term for this transition. But I thought that was a bizarre powered scooter affair? Well, it does sound the same when you pronounce it properly!

They look more like fun in this video than in the photo here. But give it a click, for the expressions, if nothing else.

Anyway, we were delighted when we saw this wonderful print by Jeremy Deller, as we wish we had such a guide to understanding the odd things we notice about human behaviour. It's one of a series of prints for schools, published by the Hepworth Wakefield Museum and publicised on the BBC News. There's a video about the scheme on YouTube.

The  artist has also been known for some controversial work, that's rather entertaining if you lean to the left. Yes, there we go again . . .

The reference to the Hepworth Wakefield above reminded us of when Monkey first met Ba in the wonderful National Media Museum in Bradford in 2015.

She was in box marked "Reduced" and just had to be rescued. This is a later reconstruction of the scene.

That memory took us to another, shortly after, when we all went to Lumb Bank and enjoyed some wonderful walks in the surrounding Yorkshire countryside. Aaah, happy days.

Back to Normal?                         [UPDATED TUESDAY 16th JANUARY **]

This MIGHT look interesting, or even pretty. But it's a representation of a flu virus. Of course, it's really a very teeny, weeny little blob that finds its way inside you. Take a look at the video on this site to see its insidious progress.

Did you know that the name is from a Latin word meaning slimy liquid or poison? Yuk.

And we're not exactly back to normal, because poor old Alice has been suffering for a couple of miserable weeks from an attack by this nasty infection.

I told her weeks themselves can't be miserable, as they're an abstract noun. I shouldn't have said that, not in her current depleted state, as she burst out  - in full English Teacher mode - I know. I was using a Transferred Epithet, you stupid little monkey! Oh dear. We both shed a few tears, then made it up again.

The diagram [click on it] shows mostly how horrible she's been feeling, just minus (with great relief) the gastric bit. But thanks be to The Stars or to Fate or even to the friend who recommended taking some Vitamin B, she's now well enough, if not yet 100%, to tackle the task of catching up on our neglected blog once again. Hurrah!

A long way back, before Christmas was upon us, we mentioned looking forward to seeing the much publicised Star Wars: the Last Jedi. [No spoilers here, if you've still not seen it.]

Then what with the cards and the presents and the food, we never got round to telling you what a simply brilliant film it was!

Yes, of course, there were lots of noisy fights and battles, in space, on land, with weapons fired from ships, or more individual ones fought with sci-fi style guns or (of course) with the amazing light sabres. One in particular.

But we also had the return of my favourite droid, BB8, and an intriguing new plot development concerning our understanding of The Force, through both our heroine, Rey, and the principal villain, the rather handsome Kylo Ren.

In addition, there was the greatly anticipated return of Mark Hamill playing an elderly Luke Skywalker.

Alice enjoyed it all so much, she saw it twice, with the excuse she'd missed a few details the first time.

While she's been ill, she hasn't been able to get out to see any new films for quite a bit. But at least she's had her Game of Thrones Box Sets, and has been watching the whole thing all over again from the beginning. We're going to have a very long wait for Season VIII, so it's also a way of refreshing our memory.

The series is deservedly very popular, and we discovered recently that the Post Office, that great British Institution no less, is quite soon to release a set of stamps with images of the characters. You can pre-order them here before the 23rd January. But I can't see the point in having the actual stamps, as they're so small! [You only need watch the first part of this clip. And the next one is more fun.]

Alice played about with the images on the first link (plus a hunt for a larger Royal Mail logo, and making the wording fit) and created this square version - which I prefer, even though the Lannisters aren't all on one line . . .

But now to other, more recent events. Although this isn't a good time of year for flowers in general, we found these miniature daffodils in the supermarket before Christmas, and two of the buds had bloomed shortly after New Year.

You must know how Ba loves to have a touch of naure in the house. Well, there was only one nasturtium flower left, and it dropped a petal onto Ba as she climbed into the pot for the photo-shoot. Aaah.

We had no choice but to have a belated Twelfth Night, due to the flu in the household. Taking the decorations off the tree always makes us feel a bit sad.

It was soon all packed up and almost ready to go back in the top cupboard for another year. That's a ladder job, but with Alice's increasing age, she wants help this time round, and we're too small. Sigh. She'll invite her tallest friend round soon.

**P.S. Alice was staring at her ladder, when she had a revelation: it was more a question of logistics than balance. She then managed to put the box into the high cupboard! Phew. And the tall friend is invited, anyway.

And now Ba wants cheering up after this brutal un-decorating. So we went to commune with the flowers again.

The miniature daffs produced three more blooms, but they were falling over with their own weight, and had to be consigned to a vase instead.

But aren't they pretty!

A night-time shot with flash neatly got rid of any distracting views from the window this time.

That's a lovely calming note to end on.
Bye for now.

Christmas extra, and into 2018

Alice was feeling rather grumpy before we started this entry: the effect of a couple of domestic catastrophes. One concerned a shattered glass mixed with egg white on the kitchen floor, which postponed supper until exceedingly late. It might have been funny set in Fawlty Towers, or portrayed as a John Cleese sketch, but caused instead serious negative shouting, some despairing tears and a lot of loud swearing in this abode.

And if I tell you that the other involved falling asleep (again!) while reading in bed, a leaking hot-water-bottle, a wet nightie, sheet, pillow, under blanket, mattress protector and the mattress itself, you will appreciate that it was no trivial matter.

It took many hours to clear the soggy contents from the loft bed - which setting you may recall from our video Reading in Bed @ 70 (posted by our good friend on her YouTube channel.) I was quite concerned as Alice struggled to turn over the hefty mattress in such a confined space, so close to a drop of several feet, but she managed in the end. Phew.

A whole roll of kitchen paper was consumed by dripping items, the washing machine had to be turned on, and it was extremely late before the sleeping arrangements were replaced. Alice is now wondering if a micro-wave hot water bottle (no water) would be better, but reviews are not inspiring, and they have given rise to some dire warnings.
 

I told her it would cheer her up to get typing our blog again - or at least provide a distraction from the tiredness and niggles. So here we are.

This was our first proper snow of the winter. [You need to click and see it larger to make out the snow actually falling.]

It looked awfully pretty, but it would have been most hazardous underfoot. Alice admits it was a sign of creeping old age that she felt relieved when it melted away.

We are lucky in that we get two Christmases.

There's our own - relaxing, self-indulgent, with no-one else to worry about pleasing: eating, sleeping, watching TV whenever we like - which we've told you about in the previous post below this.

Then we enjoy a second one, when we visit the grandchildren and we get our main family presents, and they get a another round of ones for them. They've some special Festive creatures, who adorn the fireplace, together with the giant socks.

But THIS was definitely our favourite present of all.

Alice had said she needed a new draught excluder - and look who we got!

He told us his name is Eustace. Alice looked that up later, and apparently it comes from Latin, meaning "stable and tranquil".

Very suitable, don't you think?

Of course eveyone wanted a ride on him. His family name comes with a crest, and the motto Cur me persecqueris? means "Why persecutest thou me?" Oh dear, we were just having some innocent fun, you know. But he kindly exhibited great fortitude in bearing up.

After the presents, we had another great Xmas dinner, which all the grownups had helped prepare, with chicken (nicer than turkey) and the usual trimmings, like roast potatoes and parsnips, pigs in blankets, and two different lots of stuffing. Yummy.

Alice had brought some crackers with silly hats, useless trinkets and daft jokes. There were kiddie ones for us, Onk and Harry.

The only joke I can remember is "Why does Santa have three gardens?" Answer: "So he can go, 'Ho, ho, ho!' " Well, I did warn you they weren't top quality intellectual humour.

Afterwards we all watched the Blue-ray of Disney's Moana, which was one of the grand-daughter's requested presents.

We thought it was great fun, and very exciting in some parts, although it seems it has been criticised for cultural abuse or misrepresentation.





Our favourite characters were the cute little pig, Pua ("flower" in Hawaiian) and the crazy chicken HeiHei.

When we got home Eustace took up his proper place in front of the sitting room door. He might look lonely, but we have a few words with him whenever we go in or out.

This is his job, keeping the draught away. He does it very well, taking great pride in his work. His "stable and tranquil" nature makes him perfectly happy lying here. Really.


We watched ten marvellous minutes of Edinburgh Hogmanay fireworks on the television.They were fantastic indeed!

The Daily Express published this photo, with the caption: "Edinburgh's skies erupted in colour as the Scottish city kicked off New Year celebrations."

We may not have joined the revellers on the streets of Edinburgh, as we're not keen on huge crowds, and the whole event has become very commercialised since 1996.

In fact, Alice can remember when there was no entrance fee and folk went up to the Tron with bottles of champagne to let off at the stroke of midnight.

Nevertheless, we did have a traditional tipple of whiskey, to mark the turning of the year.

You can see that we cracked open a few pistachio nuts, to go with our booze. We also decided that New Year Wishes were a much better idea than Resolutions.

And no, we're not telling!

A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL.