Altogether Now..

(To be sung to the tune of 'One Man Went To Mow)

5 more sleeps to go
5 more sleeps to Santa
5 more sleep till the big fat bloke comes down your chimney and leaves you presents and drinks your beer
5 more sleeps till Santa.

Feeling festive yet? :)

Christmas Quackers!

Tis the season to be jolly and all that, and today we, that is my business partner and I, decided, for the second time, that if we can't beat the Tuesday Market in our little village then we'll join 'em! Alison did the first week, after I pulled the "I've got a cold' card so today, despite the remnants of a really annoying cough I stood outside in the freezing cold, and occasional shower, flogging our wares.

I got to pitch up next to Gary, or "the Duck man" as he is more commonly known in Odiham. It's amazing just how many people want wooden Ducks! We are in the wrong business! Even I succumbed eventually and came back with a little wooden duckling of my very own :) And you know what? I quite enjoyed it! There was a real sense of community amongst the market traders. It's only a small market, no more than 6 stalls at the moment, and to be honest it's always been a source of friction amongst the retailers in the village. Parking is hard enough as it is, but when the Tuesday Market takes 10 parking spaces out for 4 hours it's impossible! So, just like everyone else, we moaned! "Our shop is always quiet on a Tuesday" we said. "It's our worse day of the week" we whined! Then Alison suggested we give it a go ourselves, set up our well-worn Gazebo, take a few chocs out, some toys, and a Christmas card or two and see what happens. So we did!

Although the market itself will never pay for our retirement the strange thing is as soon as one of us stood outside freezing to death for the morning the shop got busier! Go figure! And we didn't do too badly on the stall so all in all it's worth it. We'll stick it out until Christmas then maybe do it once a month in the New Year.


So there I was, full of the Christmas spirit, albeit frozen to the very core when on a trip out later in the evening I stumbled across this! I think Christmas has arrived in South Warnborough! I think I saw a collection box at the gate, although it was hard to see past the glare. So I hope they are doing this for charity! I'll take a trip back under the safety of daylight to see. Happy Christmas!

Utterly Pointless Lists!

We all make lists don't we? Things to do, shopping, things to buy and so on and so on. But be honest how many pointless lists do we all make? There seems to be a huge increase on British TV of the 'Top 100 TV Adverts' or 'The Top 100 All time Great Love Songs, Movie Moments, the number of top 100's is a whole endless list in itself. So in this evening's moment of boredom I decided to start composing my own utterly pointless lists, it'll fill up a space in the sidebar if nothing else! I really can't be bothered to list 100 of anything so I think I'll stick to top 10's. So in the true spirit of the season here's my first (of no doubt many) Top 10's.

My Top 10 Worse Possible Xmas Presents

1. Anything bought 'In 10 easy instalments' from a newspaper or newspaper colour supplement. (For that matter, anything bought from a newspaper or newspaper Sunday Supplement)

2. Collectables. (With the possible exception of Star Wars or Bad Taste Bears)

3. Tea Towel

4. Fake designer labels, (smell-a-like perfumes, fake designer watches etc)

5. A Celine Dion CD

6. An England Rugby shirt

7. A Self Help Book/CD/DVD

8. Anything that smells of Magnolia, Rose, Sandalwood or Lily Of The Valley

9. A Calendar with picture of cute fluffy kittens/puppies/ponies etc etc.

10. Real Fur