Navigating with baked beans

January 7, 2009 at 22:43 | In Life, the Universe, and Everything | 5 Comments
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Very pleased with my new high tech sat nav cradle attachment:

beanhack

Fits my car’s cup holder perfectly and keeps the screen in just the right spot. Plan A had been to use an old plastic bottle with some stones in, but that wasn’t quite so stable. (Might have worked better with a different size bottle, or in a different cup holder for that matter.) Using a tin also means I have some emergency rations in the event of any really bad traffic jams!

Must have gifts for anyone with a sat nav next Christmas?

50% bah humbug

December 12, 2008 at 22:14 | In Grumpy Old Man | Leave a Comment
Tags: , , ,

I actually do like Christmas. It just isn’t Christmas yet, not that you’d guess with the Hedge End illuminations lighting my way home. We aren’t the only scrooges on the street though, the festive glare comes to a sudden end with a garden full of neon reindeer about half way down the road. At least, the reindeer are usually lit up- I must admit I was just a little disappointed that their fuse seems to have popped tonight. I suppose Christmas is getting quite close now…

Might get the tree in this weekend…

Quite looking forward to seeing the polar bears again, and this year they’ll be radio controlled!

Shortest day

December 23, 2007 at 00:41 | In Life, the Universe, and Everything | Leave a Comment
Tags: , , , , ,

It looks like I missed the winter solstice while I was asleep this morning, although at 06:08 (according to Wikipedia!) on the first day of my Christmas holiday I was pretty unlikely to be awake! Looking forward to some longer days now, especially after waking up earlier this week assuming I still had a few hours in bed because it was so dark, only to realise it was 7 o’clock and my alarm was about to go off. Not a good start to the day!

I was pretty sure today was the shortest day this year, but I noticed a few places claiming it was yesterday, and it seems there was some confusion last year as well when people celebrated the solstice a day early at Stonehenge! At least everyone should get the day right next year! I actually keep meaning to go along to Stonehenge for the winter solstice sunset one year but failed again this year.

Still, there’s nothing wrong with celebrating early if you do it deliberately; tomorrow is Christmas day number 1! Christmas day number 2 is on the traditional day, shortly followed by Christmas day number 3… maybe I should have had three chocolate advent calendars!!

On the subject of dates and things, I highly recommend The Calendar: The 5000 Year Struggle to Align the Clock and the Heavens and What Happened to the Missing Ten Days by David Ewing Duncan – very good read.

A tribute to the Coolest Christmas Tree on the Planet

December 16, 2007 at 16:23 | In Life, the Universe, and Everything | 3 Comments
Tags: ,

The title of coolest tree on the planet is safe, with clapper controlled white or colour light selection, but Hampshire is home to the cutest tree on the planet…

Polar Bear lights

Snow filled penguin bauble and polar bear lights (they’ll just give you a funny look if you clap at them!), and there’s a Rudolph hanging around somewhere as well.

12 weeks of Christmas

December 3, 2007 at 23:41 | In Grumpy Old Man | 1 Comment
Tags:

Bah humbug! (That’s better.)

Now I do actually like Christmas but in case there is any confusion, IT IS NOT CHRISTMAS YET! My memory isn’t great, but I always thought Christmas started on Christmas Day (no big surprise) and lasted for 12 days. These days, it seems to start 12 weeks before Christmas Day and finishes with a Boxing Day sale! (It’s probably more than 12 weeks but there’s the title to think of.)

The twelve weeks of Christmas:

  1. 8th-14th October: There’s a fifth of the year left (even allowing for my poor maths, there’s quite a bit left) for goodness sake!
  2. 15th-21st October: The shops will have been full of tinsel for a while now, and I’ll be avoiding them
  3. 22nd-28th October: Still two months to go, no need to panic
  4. 29th October-4th November: Annual demonic extortion racket, not Christmas
  5. 5th-11th November: Bonfire night, not Christmas
  6. 12th-18th November: Do you really need to book a Christmas meal this early? (Unlikely!)
  7. 19th-25th November: Okay, so there’s about a month to go so, if you’re super organised, start thinking about presents
  8. 26th November-2nd December: Right, now it gets tricky- nice chocolate every morning is fine, but too early for Christmas trees*
  9. 3rd-9th December: Fine, I’ll buy a tree, but it can stay in the garden!
  10. 10th-16th December: Lots of fresh new Christmasy tunes to listen to this year
  11. 17th-23rd December: Now is the perfect time for Christmas shopping- all the nutters will have finished theirs by now!
  12. 24th December: Bored of Christmas yet? Don’t worry, the sales will start soon

There are plenty of other things happening in this twelve weeks of madness, still I might be feeling a little more festive after our team Christmas lunch on Wednesday.

* Kelly does have the coolest tree on the planet, which will be lovely when it’s Christmas!!

Blog at WordPress.com. | Theme: Pool by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.