Archive for December 2010

Good Tidings of Great Joy

Posted by on December 30th 2010 in Celebrations, Thanks

Of all the gifts given and received this festive season, the greatest of all was delivered by the postman just before Christmas... a parcel from Luke, containing a letter and gifts for his sisters and a letter for his Mum. Luke will probably never realise just how happy they are now, and there's no way that we could adequately express it on here, but we felt that we had to let the world know about it. In his letter he says that he's doing well and is enjoying his life, and we're happy for him.

In the letter to his Mum Luke raises many issues which are of concern, some of those issues are valid, some are not. It's clear that there's a need to deal with those issues, but sadly Luke did not include either a postal or an email address, so there's no way that we can have two-way communications to get things sorted. This also means that we can't send Luke the presents and mail that have been accumulating here for him since his departure.

The "Missing Luke Talion" Facebook group page has now been taken down by the page's administrator because it has served its original purpose and because Luke said that it was having adverse effects on his personal and professional lives, despite his claim that he'd not actually read it. We would like to thank everyone that supported the group, and also those who offered support via this blog. If you're one of them then you have our gratitude and we wish you well. If you still need to contact us off-blog about this, you can use the Contact Page here, it's email-based so whatever's sent doesn't get published on the blog.

One of the readers of the Facebook group kindly sent the page's administrator a recent photo of Luke out with some of his friends, here it is with appropriate pixelation:

 

 

BTW, I'd decided on the title for this post some days ago, but I thought that I'd Google it to be sure that I'd got it about right. I'd say it's a coincidence of biblical proportions that the text is from Luke 2:10

EBC1

Posted by on December 27th 2010 in A bit of a rant

11:40–13:40 EastEnders Omnibus Part 1: Will Max and Ryan be able to save Stacey as Janine carries out her final act of revenge?

13:55–15:25 EastEnders Omnibus Part 2: Will Max and Ryan be able to save Stacey as Janine carries out her final act of revenge?

20:00–20:30 EastEnders 27/12/2010: Jean struggles to cope without Stacey, while Pat turns her back on Janine for good.

FFS, that's 4 hours out of 8 hours & 50 minutes of Bank Holiday broadcasting. Why don't they just cut to the chase, rename the channel "EastEnders Broadcasting Channel 1" and have done with it? At least I'd know that I'd never need to look there again in search of anything decent to watch.

Have a good ‘un

Posted by on December 24th 2010 in Celebrations, Thanks
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Just wanted to take this opportunity to wish all readers and followers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Black and White

Posted by on December 23rd 2010 in In the garden, Weather
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Outdoors toilet-training can't be much fun when the snow's up to the top of your legs:

I get the feeling that Elvy didn't really enjoy her introduction to the garden yesterday.

The Keeltappers and Grunters Social Club 2010 Coniston Meet – Sunday

Posted by on December 18th 2010 in Great Escapes, Lakes Escapes, YHA

Sunday morning dawned bright and frosty but without any overnight snow. The area around the hostel was picturesque in the morning light:

 

Looking towards Dixon Ground

 

Far End cottages

 

We were soon breakfasted, packed and away to Dunmail Raise - we had limited time for Wainwright-bagging as Frank wanted to go to the Montane sale in Ambleside and then to The Outdoor Warehouse sale in Windermere. We would only have time for one top, so we opted for Seat Sandal. Managing to get to the top of that one would be good for me - twice before, I'd sweated up Raise Beck only to be held back by reluctant friends or relations. Third time lucky, I figured.

We opted for the direct and steeper ascent up the West Ridge, reserving the Raise Beck route for the descent. Being in the open meant that the views were much better than what was on offer along the beck:

 

Moraines on Dunmail Raise

 

Thirlmere with Skiddaw in the distance

 

On the way up I was faffing with the camera and Frank had got well ahead. In my efforts to catch up I slipped on a patch of iced grass and landed on my knee. It didn't feel too bad at first so I ignored it, but after a while it started to give me hassle. I popped a couple of Ibuprofens which reduced the pain but the joint just wasn't acting right so I strapped it up and carried on. Common-sense said that I should bail after phoning Frank, but I wasn't going to fail on this mountain again. With much use of the "f", "b" and "c" words, I got beyond the break in the slope and managed to limp stop-start up the easy ground to the top.  Frank must have been waiting in the shelter of the wall for half an hour when I hobbled into view:

 

From the top of Seat Sandal

 

At the wall I popped a couple more pills and had a breather until I felt better. After a snack and a brew I managed to get a few pics before and during the knee-crunching descent northwards to Grisedale Tarn:

 

Fairfield and St. Sunday Crag

 

Dollywaggon Pike and the ridge to Helvellyn

 

Alcock Tarn, Grasmere, Coniston Water, Esthwaite Water and hints of Windermere and Morecambe Bay

 

Around Grisedale Tarn

 

After reaching the top of Raise Beck and having another few minutes to allow the knee to recover, we pushed on down the icy path back to the cars, stopping only to take a few (poor) pics of some of the cascades:

 

Upper cascades

 

Lower cascades

 

After we'd got ourselves sorted at the cars we nipped off to Ambleside so that Frank could have a look in the Montane sale. There was plenty of nice discounted kit in there but we resisted the urge to buy. The same couldn't be said of our visit to The Outdoor Warehouse in Windermere though, where Frank brought forth and wielded his wallet for the purposes of Christmas-pressie shopping.

After that, we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. Aside from a few miles of dodgy traffic on the M6, there was no more excitement. The knee now seems to be sorted, I expected it to be a problem for a few more days but I'm happy to report that I was wrong.

Numb

Posted by on December 17th 2010 in Health, or lack thereof
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Today I had three root-canal fillings to try to delay the inevitable extraction of one cracked tooth. The anaesthetic has worn off and despite me maxing-out on Ibuprofen the pain is considerable and predicted to persist for up to three weeks.

After finding and reading this (via this post), however, I realise that a little toothache is small-change compared to what others go through.

Harrowing. I can't think of a more suitable word.