Christmas

I had expected Christmas to be quite difficult this year, but everybody seemed to cope really well. That is not to say that we didn't miss people, but we did have a good family Christmas. All the children that are away have come home, including my nephew, who now lives in Milton Keynes. It's great to see them setting up adult life for themselves, but I do miss having children around. However, with the very young ones running about and being 'all excitement', I realised why younger people look after young children. They are lovely, but they aren't mine, and I can't insist that they learn to sit in their seats and be (reasonably) quiet. I have to accept that different parents bring their children up in different ways, and that the focus on the role and demands of the child has changed a lot since I was one. I'm not quite old enough to have been a victim of 'children should be seen and not heard', but I'm not far off. Today they dominate. I suspect we have gone past the mid-point of the pendulum.

Boxing Day is the day when you are supposed to open presents, Christmas day is for Worship of the newborn King, we did just that - opened most of our presents. I have a very small, but nevertheless powerful digital camera, which I'm very pleased with it. Our friend also visited on Boxing Day - so no getting up late! It was good to see them, and some of our God-children.
The rest of the day (or part of it at least) was spent fixing a car. One of the side lights was not working. It wasn't as simple as a bulb. The power was not being provided to the end part of the circuit. A new radiator had recently been fitted, and as the wiring loom passes along the base of the radiator mountings, I assumed that the loom had been damaged. A new wire was fitted, and all the lights now work. She had been stopped by the police under the prevention of terrorism act, and is therefore now known to the police. Britain is becoming a police state by stealth. That should be an abuse of power, but the powers have been given by the duly elected government.