The Journal of the Browncoat Cat

At the stroke of Midnight, no one ever knows the words to Auld Lang Syne, so as a public service, here is the first verse and chorus, which is all you really need to know. (Although, if you are reading this at the stroke of Midnight, you have my deepest sympathies). Please note that it is Syne not zyne.

Auld Lang Syne

Robert Burns

Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And days of auld lang syne

For auld lang syne, my dear
For auld lang syne
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet
For auld lang syne

 

20six Comments 

(31.12.04 12:21)
I’m not learning that, it breaks tradition! I’ll continue with my mumbling and laa laaing like I do with the Welsh and English national anthems, as well, thank you very much. Have a great new year!

(31.12.04 13:51) Well, at most Rugby Internationals, I get as far as “My hen laid a haddock, we had it for tea” in the verse of the Welsh National anthem before I start mumbling, and then in the chorus I manage “Lard, Lard, why do we all eat lard”.

(31.12.04 13:59) Ha ha!

Quite a bit, actually. On Christmas Day I roast the turkey and the parsnips in the oven in my house, served the drinks and loaded/unloaded the dishwasher. For me, Christmas this year has been a great deal of fun. I even managed to bury my deep-seated loathing for snow for 24 hours. In fact, my deep-seated memory of this Christmas was as I trudged down to my house for the umpteenth time. I watched two teenagers power up Stuart Street hill, which the snow had made impassable to normal vehicles on a quad bike, laughing their heads of, as a fresh fall of snow dusted the surroundings.

My sister Janet and her son James stayed in my house on Christmas Night and on Monday night, sleeping in my spare room. This meant that I had his brand new PS2 plugged into my television. So, I had a chance to play a very silly train racing game, with surround sound.

I was able to give my friends Rhian and Michael who had come down from Leeds the Ten Cents Tour of my house, as they have not seen it in over two years, and it was still in the middle of serious renovations last time. They were both impressed, saying it was a pity that they could not find a house like it up in Leeds.

Just for a change, I did not have a cold on Christmas Day, so I was able to enjoy my lunch, including a humongous pile of Brussels Sprouts. I ate far too much, but then again, I always do. Even so, I just could not face Christmas Pudding or for that matter anything else to eat until the following morning.

20six Comments

Kiku / (30.12.04 18:26)
sounds like a perfect day.
hope your new year will be as good
kiku

Vorcampbel / (17.1.05 13:01) Thank you.

You’d Better Not Shout,
You’d Better Not Cry,
You’d Better Not Pout,
I’m Telling You Why…
KGB is coming to Town.

They’re making a list,
They’re checking it Twice,
They’re going to Find out…
…whose Naughty or Nice,
KGB is coming to Town

They see when you are sleep
They know when your awake,
They know if you’ve been,
So be Good for Goodness Sake!

You’d Better Not Shout,
You’d Better Not Cry,
You’d Better Not Pout,
I’m Telling You Why…..
KGB is coming to Town

I was struck by just how threatening the lyrics to Santa Claus is Coming to Town could be.

It is remarkable, all year I have been looking at the box of blank sticky labels in my mother’ s house. Yet, when I go to get a page for use with the label printing software I have downloaded, can I find them? Of course not, they have gone with the fairies. So I have just printed the labels I designed onto a sheet of ordinary paper. I tried using a guillotine to cut them, but I just could not line it up so I printed another sheet and carefully cut around them with a scissors.

The label design software is called La Bella; yes I know it is a dreadful pun, yet it does produce labels beautifully. After the layout of the sticky label is designed, including graphics, and different fonts and different coloured text. Next step is to drop a CSV file from a spreadsheet can be imported into the software so that each label has the same design, but different names, great for Christmas Presents, where only the name changes.

So, I started to wrap the presents I will be doling out on Christmas Day. I will finish the job this lunchtime. There seems to be an inverse proportion between the size of present, and the age of the person the present is meant for. James and William have huge boxes, whilst my mother’s is tiny. However, the cost of what goes in the box definitely goes up.

Well the net result of all this is that I am finally starting to feel festive. Well, with only two days to go, I am not surprised, there is no option but to feel festive.

I have been taking Sodium Valporate for the last eight years, as I was diagnosed as suffering from a form of Epilepsy, which explained why I was falling asleep at the drop of a hat, and always felt tired, even after waking up. Three years ago, I noticed that this medication was losing its effectiveness. So I went to see my GP, and he made arrangements for me to see a specialist at the Epilepsy Unit at the University of Wales Hospital. In March of 2003 I had my first consultation there, this January I saw a specialist and she told me that she wanted to change my medication, so I should reduce my current dose of Sodium Valporate to nil by July and then they would see me again. July came and went, and as a result I had reduced my dose to 400 milligrams, which is a nothing dose of this particular medicine. Now in December I am finally seeing a doctor. A different one, which seems to be par for the course. She has said that they are going to take me off all anti-convulsive medication, as the Unit now felt that I was not suffering from epilepsy at all. The doctor suggested that because I have a large neck, I wear a 17½ inch collar, I might be having breathing difficulties at night interrupting my sleep, which are causing my drowsiness. I don’t buy this explanation for a second, as my grandmother used to have the same symptoms and she was tiny compared to me. Now given that the anti-convulsive medication I was taking was helping to improve my quality of life and its withdrawal has adversely effected my quality of life, I must be suffering from some sort of convulsive episode that is causing the drowsiness.

I was going to do so much over the weekend. I was going to paint my shed/garage, I was going to decorate my house for Christmas, I was going to wrap all my Christmas presents, I was going to update this web log. Unfortunately, I had one of my drowsy days, consequently, I couldn’t get myself to do anything. Thank God I am seeing the Consultant on Tuesday Morning.

The main priority with the shed/garage on Saturday before it became too cold to do anything out of doors. I did manage to get a second layer of undercoat on the shed door, a week since I put the first coat on, but never mind, it is getting there. I am now going to wait until after Christmas to paint the stonework with white masonry paint, then once that is done, I can finish of the woodwork with a couple of coats of shiny gloss paint. Whilst I am at it, the garage doors, which are a quarter inch thick steel plate will get a coat of smooth Hamerite, again in black. (more…)

Any vegetarians reading this will probably not understand the significance of the following. However, am I the only omnivore around here who has noticed that you cannot get a pack of lard anywhere. I just cannot get it, neither for love nor money. There seems to be a national shortage of rendered pork fat. I blame the outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease a few years ago. All those thousands of diseased pig that were destroyed before they entered the food chain. Obviously, they would have satisfied the nation’s demand for lard, but they just went up in smoke. (more…)

I have had a busy time with my nephews this weekend. My mother was babysitting James on Saturday night, so I found myself going with her and the two boys, James and William, as she had some shopping to do in the Talbot Green Tesco Extra store.

First stop was the Macdonalds in Talbot Green. I actually had a very pleasant meal, one of their new Big Tasty burger sandwiches with curly fries and a diet coke as the main course, followed by the Christmas McFlurry, which was ice-cream with chopped up bits of Cadbury Matchmaker mint chocolate in it. I prefer the Big Tasty to the Big Mac, it seem more satisfying than the original all American hamburger sandwich. Also, dunking he curly fries into one of those little paper cups of ketchup appealed to my inner child. James had a great time with crayons and one of the competition colouring sheets. William was fascinated by what he saw, and was as boisterous as ever. I do have a horrid suspicion that the first name that William will say will be Macdonalds. Every time he sees the golden arches he goes “MUH, MUH, Muh, Muh Onahs”, in the totally cute way that only a 21-month-old can.

(more…)

I have put my Christmas tree up. A fibre optic one, five feet tall. I just took it out of its box, unfolded its branches, stuck it in the lightbox-pot and plugged it in. My living room is now considerably more festive. Whilst I was doing that, I also remembered to put the ornaments on the advent callander for the past five days. I was not really planning on putting any of my christmas decorations up today, but I had to go up to my attic and whilst I was up there, I had to move the tree, so I thought that I might as well bring it down stairs. Once the box was down, it was the work of moments to put it up.

Last year, I had the Christmas Tree up in my bay window, this year I have moved it into the corner of the room, next door to the fire place. Having it in the window was nice, but I think this new arrangement will be better. The window will still be decorated with lights a couple of illuminated stars and an illuminated Merry Christmas banner, so it is not as if it will be completely bare. My mother has a spare Christmas Tree, which she has suggested that I put up in the window of my back porch, so that I can see something festive as I am coming up the carden from work. I think that is over-egging the pudding though.

Back in the 1980’s and 1990’s the BBC made the definitive adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple novels and ITV did the definitive TV adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot novels. And there it should end. However, ITV are remaking the Miss Marples mysteries. What a waste of time and talent, why not do something new and original, instead of a pointless retread of what someone has already done superbly.

I can understand ITV recasting Rupert Everett as Sherlock Holmes, as I don’t think the 1980’s Granada series adapted all of Conan Doyle’s stories for television. Also, like the late Jeremy Brett before him, Everett is a dead ringer for the original illustrations from the Strand Magazine, where the Sherlock Holmes mysteries were originally published.

UPDATE: Except it is the BBC that has made the new Sherlock Holmes with Rupert Everett, adn it is not a Conan-Doyle short story, it is an original peice.  If you are going to create an Edwardian murder mystery (not even Holnmes’ right period setting), why not go the whole hog and create a new detective, why rake over old coals.