29th. December 1969

I wonder how many people can remember what they were doing on this day thirty nine years ago?

I know I certainly can.

It was 39 years ago today that I walked nervously as a teenager into the place where I was to work. How big that building seemed on that morning. How strange it felt. Little did I know then that I would still be there all these years later, having gone from being the junior, to now the longest serving member.

What changes I`ve seen in those intervening years too! Some good, some not so good, some bad. The premises have been altered with major building work at least twice. The warehouse when I started being further down the alley, so that in the winter when it was icy it was a perilous job with a sack-barrow bring stock into the store, - what Health and Safety regulations today would have said to that, I shudder to think!! The position of the main entrance door being changed twice.

I`ve gone through at least 8 different managers as well as a few temporary ones! Been in the employ of 6 different companies as the business changed ownership. As to how many colleagues and staff members I`ve worked with, I couldn`t possibly count them all up, so many have come and gone, yet there are a core 4 or 5 who have also been there now for over 15 years, so in a way are a bit like another family as we know each other well.

Yes, I`ve had times during those 39 years, when I`ve felt like walking out, but I`ve stuck it, and am now very happy in the position and work which I am doing.

Presents

Thought I`d share with you today a look at the Christmas Presents I received. As you can see there are a lot of chocolates and biscuits!

These are a close up of some of my favourites from the presents.
I think the present that surprised me most was when I went into the office where I work on the Friday before Christmas and found a box of chocolates and a box of biscuits with a Christmas card from my boss. That really made my day as it was so unexpected.

And, below is the oddest present I received. I still can`t work out, why the chap gave me a ball of string and a set of record cards!, along with 2 hand warmers and a set of playing cards. - very odd.



Wonder what other bloggers favourite, surprise, and oddest presents were?

The Twelve Days of Christmas

A friend sent me this, which I didn`t know, and found interesting, so I`ll share it with you all today.

"There is one Christmas Carol that has always baffles us.

What in the world do leaping lords, French hens, swimming swans, and especially the partridge who won't come out of the pear tree have to do with Christmas?

From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics.
It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember.

-The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.

-Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.

-Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.

-The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.

-The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.

-The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.

-Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit--Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership and Mercy.

-The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.

-Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit--Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control.

-The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.

-The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.

-The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed.

So there is your history for today. This knowledge was shared with me and I found it interesting and enlightening and now you know how that strange song became a Christmas Carol.`"

Today`s the Day!

Happy Christmas Everyone!

I`ve written before about my love of stained glass, especially stained glass windows in churches and cathedrals, so, when I spotted this hand crafted stained glass nativity at a craft fayre just before Christmas, I couldn`t resist treating myself to it.

Views of Christmas (2)

My Mum bought me this lovely poinsettia last week. I`ve never had one before, but it`s a real sign of Christmas coming, isn`t it.

It got me thinking - why do we seem to associate the colour Red with Christmas?

is is just because it`s a nice cheerful warm colour for winter, or is there more to it than that?

Views of Christmas

One of the things that always says "Christmas" to me, is a Christmas tree, so here is a photo of mine. As I unwrap all the decoratons from their tissue papger and hang them on the tree, they bring back so many happy memories. Some of the ornaments must be about 50 years old. Gosh - until I wrote that I didn`t realise just how many years we`ve had some of the baubles and
early plastic decorations. And, even older is the little doll which my Dad was given in the 2nd. world war in Belgium, which always has pride of place on the tree.

I discovered that taking a picture of a Christmas tree with it`s lights on, isn`t easy to do (or is it just me?!). After numerous attempts, with results of fuzzy picture of the lights, this one was the best I could come up with. If anyone has any tips on how to take a better photo of a Christmas tree I`d love to hear how to do it.

Santa & Jesus

Time to celebrate!.... no, it`s not Christmas Day, ...yet, ....
but this is my 1,000th post!
How shall I celebrate that?

It surprises me to realise that it`s four years since I started sharing my thoughts here. My first one was written on Boxing Day in 2004, because I had nothing to do that afternoon, little did I realise when I did that, that I`d still be scribbling away (or should I say typing away?) in 2008, and aiming to continue into 2009.

So here`s something I was sent which I think is worth sharing as my "special" 1000th. post.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Jesus is Better than Santa

Santa lives at the North Pole.
JESUS is everywhere.

Santa rides in a sleigh
JESUS rides on the wind and walks on the water.

Santa comes but once a year
JESUS is an ever present help.

Santa fills your stockings with goodies
JESUS supplies all your needs.

Santa comes down your chimney uninvited
JESUS stands at your door and knocks.. and then enters your heart.

You have to stand in line to see Santa
JESUS is as close as the mention of His name.

Santa lets you sit on his lap
JESUS lets you rest in His arms.

Santa doesn't know your name,
JESUS knew our name before we did.
Not only does He know our name, He knows our history and future

Santa has a belly like a bowl full of jelly
JESUS has a heart full of love.

All Santa can offer is HO HO HO
JESUS offers health, help and hope.

Santa says "You better not cry"
JESUS says "Cast all your cares on me for I care for you".

Santa's little helpers make toys
JESUS makes new life, mends wounded hearts and repairs broken homes.

Santa may make you chuckle but
JESUS gives you joy that is your strength.

While Santa puts gifts under your tree
JESUS became our gift and died on the tree.
It's obvious there is really no comparison.
We need to remember WHO Christmas is all about.
We need to put Christ back in Christmas.

Jesus is still the reason for the season.

Remembering words

Isn`t it strange the things that spring into ones mind without consciously thinking about them.

Doing something at work this afternoon I suddenly got this phrase jump into my memory from many, many, many years ago, - "cows ought not to eat nasty turnip stalks"!

And then later today another one came back to me "Sam takes Nelly every Thursday night out courting" !

No, I`m not going mad (or at least I don`t think I am) - there was a purpose behind those phrases, and there`s a link between them too - wonder if anyone can work out what it is? Answer in a few days time, but my next post needs to be a special one.

Move along please!

I had to be a "traffic warden" this evening!......

I collected my Mum early this evening to go to a carol service at our church, and with it being a bit of a foggy evening left early to give us plenty of time so got to the church about 6.05 p.m On approaching the road to turn down into the church car park, it looked to be blocked by an enormous, and I do mean enormous, lorry.

Turning in, I found there was just room for me to squeeze my little car past it. We drove onto the car park and sat there for several minutes and although the lorry had a few lights on, it didn`t show any signs of moving. So, I thought, I`ll go and put the church lights on to show we`re using the church and need the road clear. Having done that, the lorry began to move.... good I thought, he`s going.

But he didn`t he just shifted a few inches nearer the kerb. Then stopped the engine and put the lights out.

So, I plucked up my courage and went out and over to him - it was an enormous vehicle stretching over half the length of the road opposite the church door, and the bottom of his window was above my head height. Anyway, he put the window down when I went over to it. "You`re not going to be stopping there all evening are you?" I asked him "only we`ve a carol service on and they`ll be lots of cars needing to get up and down here". "Yes, I was going to", he said!

He was very polite and reasonable though and said that he`d take it along the road, there is a parking place along there isn`t there, he asked. To which I replied yes, there is a car park very near, [I don`t know why he didn`t go there in the first place!] I said, "you can come back after 9.30 with it if you want, we`ll be gone by then", or, park it and come back to the carol service!

I know it is a public road, and we can`t stop anyone parking there, but I thought I`d better try and do something about it.

About me meme

Having nothing much to write about today, I thought I`d have a go at this, which Dave had put on his Blog the other day - but, it`s much more difficult than I thought. (most section answers are not in any particular order of preference!)

7 things to do before I die

• Relearn to play the piano
• Have time to "be me" and enjoy life with no work and no ties
• Make a will
• Learn to say "no"!
• Become a better flower arranger
• Complete a needlecraft picture I started a few years ago
• Take a last breath
  

7 things I do now

• Work!
• Photography (not expertly)
• Cook
• Clean the house
• Feed my pet bird
• Enjoy driving
• Try and write a daily blog
  

7 things I can't do

• Draw or paint (wish I could)
• Pick up a spider (or any creepy crawly!)
• Stand the sight of blood
• Speak in front of a large group of people. I can read aloud to a group, but not stand and speak.
• Swim
• Be in a confined space
• Push a wheelchair up a hill
  

7 things I find attractive in the opposite sex

• Gentle strength
• Nice hands
• Sense of security emanating from them
• Kindness
• Sense of humour
• Thoughtfulness
• Quiet spoken
  

7 things I say most often

• Hello
• Please
• Thank you
• Is it?
• Did you?
• Yes
• Morning
  

Celebrities I most admire
Difficult one this, as I`m not into films, tv (very little), sports, etc...etc... but here goes....

• Cliff Richard - for the way he is so open about his faith
• Alan Titchmarsh - for his way of imparting knowledge and information in such an easy way
• those who genuinely help charities, without it being a big publicity stunt
• those who don`t brag about themselves
• Jimmy Saville
• Lifeboatmen - who become "local celebrities" for a short time after they`ve gone out of their way to save lives in difficult seas and conditions.

7 favourite foods

• Fish & Chips
• Jacket potatoes
• Toad in the hole
• Roast goose (at Christmas)
• Ice-cream
• Steamed ginger syrup sponge pudding
• Chocolate orange trifle
  

Pearls of Wisdom

Having written those two quotes at the end of yesterday`s post, it gave me the idea for my next post!

I`m looking for "Pearls of Wisdom" - No, not literally pearl (stones) but wise sayings. I don`t mean the well known sayings like "Too many cooks spoil the broth", as that can be opposed by "many hands make light work".

What I`m looking for, for a particular purpose, are Pearls of Wisdom. You know that kind of thing I mean, sometime in conversation a person will say something, and you think "that`s a little gem", it could be good advice, inspiration or practical good advice.

Anyone got any ideas?

Mind blank

My mind has been a complete blank on what to write on here the last few days - and I`m still stuck for inspiration.

Wonder what that says about me?...

...maybe that my life is uninteresting? - yet, I don`t feel that it is, well not to me anyway. I`m very contented with it. Maybe I just feel its too "ordinary" to write about; that it wouldn`t make interesting reading.

....What have I been doing over the last few days?...... well, I had friends here for lunch and tea on Sunday, which was nice, but it doesn`t really give much to write about, does it? It`s actually nice being able to have people here and "entertain" now, something I`ve never been able to do before in that way.. and since I`ve had the lounge redecorated, I feel comfortable to have people in too - the room is not now a "furniture warehouse" in the way it used to feel and look.

....I also met a blog friend, Lorna, for a short time on Sunday, and that was really good.

...I`ve been working each day - so not much to write about there. Except,- I`d like to know why it is that when I`m checking lists of figures against others on the computer screen that have to match, that if there`s a mistake in them, its almost always towards the end of the last page - which means that I have to close the computer programme, correct the wrong figure and then go through the whole sheets again! Why can`t the mistake (if there has to be one I`ve made previously) be in the first few lines of work?!

I`ll see if I can "do better" with something to write in a day or two.... or maybe even tomorrow - but as they say "tomorrow never comes" - maybe that`s why they also say "don`t put off till tomorrow what you can do today".

A Snowy Day

It looks as if I`m going to have a white birthday, tomorrow, instead of a white Christmas!

Or, as I asked a few days ago, have we skipped a moth and this really is December?

This was the scene in my back garden an hour ago, after it had been snowing constantly since I got up this morning.

Pretty isn`t it? But I wonder where all the poor little birds have managed to get to keep warm and dry out of it?

Alone and Scared

I`ve been awake nearly all night and feeling very alone, worried and scared. Now thankfully it`s morning.

Since Monday, I`ve had a bit of a pain in my left side and my chest, but last night in bed, it got really bad. I couldn`t lay on my side, my front, nor very comfortably on my back. I nearly got up to write this at 2 a.m. this morning but daren`t move. I lay there, thinking: did I ought to ring someone?, should I ring for a medic? is it my heart? is it cancer? is it just a muscle?

My first job this morning, as soon as the surgery opens will be to go and make an appointment to see the doctor and try and find out what it it - although I`m scared of what he might say it is.

UPDATE
Going into our Health Centre as soon as they opened at 8 a.m. the receptionist was very helpful, and said there were 2 emergency doctors on duty and that one of them would ring me in the next couple of hours. So home I went.

About half an hour later the phone rang - it was the doctor. After trying to describe where the pain was, etc., he assured me he didn`t think it was anything too serious and nothing for me to worry about, but would I like to go up and he would check it out. Appointment made for 9.10 a.m.

I duly went up, saw the doctor chap, he did several tests and examinations, and is fairly sure that the pain is coming from my somehow damaging the muscle around my ribs. How I`ve done it, I don`t know. Still at least it`s none of the life-threatening things I was fearing. Painkillers were prescribed, and I`m told it could take at least 2 weeks to clear.

Autumn colour

I`d always thought of spring as my favourite time of year, with the new growth and fresh green everywhere, but this year the wonderful colours of the autumn trees is making me really appreciate and enjoy the autumn too.

Just take a closer look at some of those leaves - what a variety of colour there is in them



Both on the trees and on the ground!

A Different Sunday

Today, for the first time in weeks and weeks - no longer than that, months and months, I didn`t go to church. Yet, today I experienced a time of worship, that was very touching.

Let me expand on that.

I didn`t even get up until later than normal this morning, because I`d agreed to go over and have Sunday Lunch with my Mum in the care place she is at, because they were having a visit this afternoon by a visiting Young Peoples Salvation Army band.

Knowing that our morning service wouldn`t finish in time to enable me to do that, I decided not to go. So I spent a bit of time at home, trying out playing a few hymns on the piano before setting out for Mums. The Sunday Lunch, (served in her room) was very good - roast pork and all the trimmings, followed by a delicious chocolate trifle.

I then pushed her into the Communial Room where the Band were to play. There was a few other residents there when we arrived, and Mum soon transferred from her wheelchair into one of the easy chairs, and I had one beside her. As we sat there, more and more residents gradually made their way into the room, and all the seats began to be taken. I then gave my seat up to another lady, and sat the other side of the room to the side of where the band were to be.

The local Salvation Army captain, (who I knew) and one or two other officers from the local corps came with the youngsters of the band, and the afternoon started. Hymn sheets were given out to everyone, so that we could join in singing. We sang about 6 or 7 different hymns, listened to a reading and a very good short talk on the reading and the afternoon concluded with a prayer.

That may not sound `out of the ordinary`, but to me, from where I was sitting, I could see all the residents, and just to see the way they knew the hymns and were joining in singing along with them, and the look on the faces of some of them as they did so, was so moving, somehow. And so inspiring to see the youngsters aged from 9 upwards, really committed to the band.

And, in that room with that group of people, I really felt a sense of God`s presence there with us. It was a unique time. During the prayer, I for some unknown reason, felt tears come to my eyes. Not tears of sadness or distress, but of being somehow deeply moved by just being there.

So, although I didn`t go to church today, I found a real place and time of worship.

Christmas already?

Today IS the 15th. November, isn`t it? Or have I lost a month somewhere?

Why do I ask?.......

...........Because......

...opening my mail, brought by the postman a few hours ago, I find my first Christmas card! I couldn`t believe it.

And, no, it didn`t come from abroad, it came from someone in a village about 6 miles away from here!

I`ve not even had my birthday yet, that`s still 9 days away. I definitely don`t expect to receive Christmas cards, before I`ve received Birthday cards. (That`s of course assuming I`ll get some birthday cards!)

So, what am I going to do with the Christmas card? - stick it in a drawer until a lot nearer the time, I`m certainly not going to stand it on the mantlepiece yet, it would look ridiculous so early.

An Orange Scene

It was such a beautiful sunset this evening, that even the water at this beauty spot turned orange! Isn`t it a beautiful world we live in.

Tinkling the Ivories

So, what was it I was doing the other evening?..... here`s the answer.....



I felt strongly urged somehow to rekindle my efforts of piano playing.

My earliest memories of first touching the keys on a piano, the same one as still stands in my room, go back many years to when I must have been about 5 or 6. My Mum used to sit and play hymns on the piano, and as a little child I wanted to have a go too, so she used to show me one note on the keyboard and each time she had to play that note, would say "now", and I would hit the note my finger was on (an octave higher than she was playing). I realise now how hard it must have been for her to play and keep saying "now" every time it was that note. And then as I got a bit older she would show me the one note on the line of music and I began to recognise it and so, when to hit it.

Anyway, from there I went on later, I suppose from the age of about 8 - 10 or round about then to have piano lessons at the home of one of my school teachers after school. How well I remember that house - it always smelt strongly of boiled fish! (The teacher had lots of cats, and cooked fish for them.)

As I got older, I did less and less practice and playing and eventually none. How I wish now that I had kept it up.

Sitting down at the piano the other day, I found that I can still read to some degree the right hand music, and so long as I know, in my mind, how it should go, I can make a fair stab at playing an easy hymn tune or two. As for the base notes of the left hand.... that will need a great lot of practice! But now that I`ve the house to myself, I really think I will try and master playing it again and particularly getting the left hand for the base notes working again. There`ll be no one to hear all the awful discordant sounds that come from the instrument whilst I do so, so I shan`t feel self-conscious trying them out.

I`ll report in due course how things progress....if they do!

Magnetically drawn

I`ve been magnetically drawn over the last few days, towards something in this room, something that I`ve not touched for years (other than to dust it)! But, since having the room decorated and decluttered of furniture, so that I don`t need to move anything to get to it, it`s been beckoning me for days.

I`ve sat here tonight, with work I should be doing, but the thing I can see out of the corner of my eye, keeps somehow trying to draw me to it. Could I still do it, I wondered? Dare I try? At least there`s no-one else in the house to know if I make a mess of it and fail.

I got up, and went over to it. Lifted the lid. Picked a book up. Sat down. Thumbed through the book. Set the book on the stand. Then, tentatively with my right hand touched it.

In fact, I became so engrossed in it, that looking at the clock expecting to see I`d been there about 10 minutes, I discovered that over an hour passed! And, I`d actually enjoyed it.

So, I`m feeling quite pleased with myself this evening.

What was I doing?.... if you can`t guess, I`ll tell you tomorrow... or the next day!