Lost, found and to much to eat

8 December

It’s happened again folks! Two things actually; a, I can’t find my Nikon battery charger, and b, we were talking about something last night and I thought that it might be useful for today’s blog. Of course, I didn’t make a note of it and now I can’t remember what it was all about. There is the thought of course that it might not have been all that interesting then ;-)))

However, I have found the battery charger for the Sony A330 that we bought for Jan. Now she uses an A58 and that A330 is surplus to needs. That will now be going up on Ebay later today along with two lenses and a flashgun. That means that all the surplus kit will have sold. Hopefully we should a few bob spare for Crimble. Crimble dinner is sorted; Jan bought a very large chicken a few weeks ago so we’ll have that. Tom has been invited over for it so he’ll tuck into that without problems. As for booze, there won’t be much. I have a bottle The Singleton malt and Jan has a bottle vodka. There’s also a load of diet cokes here too. I shall buy a few Guinness for Tom and that will be it.

All of this reminds me of how Christmas used to be. When I left the army in 1979 and Jan came down here with me, she was totally amazed by what we did. For us it all started at dinner time on the 24^th. Dave and me went out and bought fish & chips for us all. Then at just after min-night we opened just one small present each. After that it was bedtime for most of us but Dave would stay down and watch telly for ages.

Crimble day was the one day of year when we got a cuppa in bed. Once up and all gift unwrapping had gone on, mother set to with sorting out breakfast; and this is when the pigging out really began. A large boiled ham was sliced; a large pork pie was cut up; Both were laid on the table along with so many pickles I can’t remember them all; and last of all, lots of bread and butter (or bread and marg cos that’s all that Dave and Nut would eat.)

Once cleared away it was soon time to start the dinner, the usual turkey and bits’n’bobs. Along with Crimble pudding of course after. After all that lot was sorted and eaten, mother would go to bed for an hour while Jan and me got on did the washing up.

Mother had her lie down and a cuppa when she got up and pretty soon she was in the kitchen again getting tea sorted. Sarnies were made with ham, turkey, beef, cheese and all the pickles and pork pie would come out again too, and don’t forget, even more bread and butter/marg. Crimble cake along with a gateaux ended up on the table with tinned fruit, jelly and a trifle, mince pies.

It all sounds very nice now I look back on it but it really was far too much. I also remember mother getting upset if she noticed we weren’t eating as much as she thought we should be. Jan has always had a small appetite, so she was the one who normally got the worst of it. Dave was his normal greedy self and ate something of everything on show (apart from the cake, he didn’t like that, so he an extra lot of some of the other stuff). And remember folks, Dave was diabetic and couldn’t understand why his blood sugar levels couldn’t be balanced.

And the booze … oh the booze … … …

So no we no longer have any of that apart from the dinner; when we fell like it that is. We had sausage egg and chips one year. But by that time we were not going down to mothers for the holiday anyway and spent it at home. That too caused upset from mother. We are now more than a little relived that we were able to break that cycle of excess.

Today’s photo then is this one … 

Mother with two of her Crimble presents. (Yes, I know I've posted this one before.)

And today funny come from our friendly Sage …

A man kills a deer and takes it home to cook for dinner.
Both he and his wife decide that they won't tell the kids what kind of meat it is, but will give them a clue and let them guess.
The kids were eager to know what the meat was on their plates, so they begged their dad for the clue.
Well, he said, ‘It’s what mummy calls me sometimes'.
The little girl screams to her brother
'Don't eat it, it's an arsehole!!!!