Well campers, another Christmas has been and gone, and I must say this has been one of the strangest Christmases (if that’s a word) I have had because it was the very first Christmas a girlfriend of mine had spent time with the family.

The family who insists on Natalie being called Miss Putin, who is a Chinese bird and also a spy. Apparently we are not meant to mention the salt mines, or the death of that man in London who got poisoned. But it’s all right as we have a starlin….

Yes the jokes get worse and go on and on, but nevertheless Natalie came to stay for Christmas, and it made things interesting. Nat was afraid of meeting Dad, as it is where my sense of humour comes from, in a more concentrated dose. Oh yes, you see why she was afraid.

But they met, had a massive chat about differences between the two countries, and also took the piss wherever possible. Not bad methinks. Kerry came to stay and I am amazed at how much I got away with not saying anything to her. I know it’s the season of good will but as she used it up throughout the year, I was fresh out of that.

It started out on Saturday, when I left Mum and Dad playing Who Wants to be a Millionaire Party Edition to go to Shrewsbury to see a concert in Shrewsbury, which Hildegard had invited me to as she was singing in it. However I had no idea what the concert was until I got there and they started. I got there exactly at 7:30 just as it was starting, and unfortunately my timing was not to Natalie’s liking. (I wasn’t late though, so morally speaking I win) But anyway, the concert turned out to be….Handel’s Messiah.

Yes the whole masterpiece performed from start to finish for three hours. And I had only ever heard the Hallelujah bit (used to great comic effect many a time, the best bit being the Holy Hand Grenade from Monty Python and the Holy Grail) and it was different to say the least, I don’t go for classical music that often, there are some good bits I like but I don’t got out of my way. But it was very good and well, I won’t lie I won’t be purposely looking for classical music concerts off Ticketmaster. But if it does come up, I won’t say no straight away. I’ll wait a bit instead. 🙂

Miss Levkovska was obsessed with the Hallelujah bit and kept springing it up whenever possible. Dear god!! (Pardon the pun) and for Christmas it merged into hoholujah. See we can be festive with it too. The family spent the Sunday wandering around oswestry and we went to Shrewsbury again for that last minute tat shopping that we couldn’t possibly do without. My, don’t we sound downtrodden? But it was a more constructive way to spend the day, and I spend it with her. Seems world class to me.

Kerry arrived (for she worked in Bennigans the night before) Sunday afternoon, and well never mind eh? After a hearty meal, we settled down to watch Hogfather (off Sky One, but naturally we don’t have Sky) which took a bit of following, like all of terry P’s books actually, I tried when I was younger to read the discworld books, about Rincewind, but I gave up and found other things to amuse me, like a yo-yo. I hope they do more productions of the books as Death saying Ho Ho Ho, and David Jason, it was fantastic. And the granddaughter of Death was a hottie!!

The blessed day, when creatures stirred to find a jolly fat man had deposited gifts under the tree, but enough about me… I went over the top this year getting gifts for everyone and feeling good. I must happy to see the look on the faces when they got things that they possibly will never use, and will sell on eBay. Natalie was amazed that I even wrapped tins of salmon for her!! Yes it was an in-joke Ladies and gents. And she got me the ultimate un-manly thing: a Man Bag. I ask you, why to men need handbags with thicker straps? We have pockets for things, we are meant to stuff the pockets full so our hips look at least a meter bigger. And if we need bags, they will be manly bags. Bags that are like the tardis, bigger on the inside, carrying enough shite to plug up the river Thames, you know things like biscuits, a kettle and a carrot. The point I suppose I am trying to make is British men are not like the French. They love these bags. What does that tell you?

But anyway!! Sorry just going off on a side track, you be surprised how easy that is really. Where was I?

Right everyone had some gifts, some tat, and Aunty Bett had what she really wanted and what I was only too happy to give. A new chain for her locket given to her from Uncle Dave when she was 21. And at this time of year, Christmas is not entirely a fun time any more. Not only for us, but one of the neighbours, Mike. He lost his cousin in a motorbike accident, and the day before that funeral, His dad passed away. When It rains, it truly pours. Our hearts should go out to people who lost loved ones this year.

Kerry, Dad and Mum also did well out of the presents. Now the Hughes Family tradition every year is to go to the pub for the 2 hours it is open, and not talk much and meander back to stuff our faces. This did not sit well with Natalie, as she is not a pub lover, and prefers the quieter things. Mum, however, was being rather stern this year, trying to keep things to a timetable. I have no idea why. So with that in mind, We went to the pub at lunchtime (more to make mum happy) and well in order to try and keep everyone happy, Nat and I went for a walk outside. This is what I meant by interesting. Two women, Mum and Natalie striving to dictate what happens for Christmas. And for Christmas I played nice.

Everyone was jolly in the evening having indeed stuffed our faces full, Mum and Dad settled down to listening to Motown Classics, while Kerry sat with Aunty Bett, talking about whatever. Natalie wanted to go to church. What? I hear you cry! Yes, well like I said, it’s Christmas and I was trying to be nice. When we got there, as I suspected there were not many people there. 2 in fact. She despaired at the fact that religion had gone out the window except for the rituals for births, deaths. I remarked with the fact, that religion no longer has a hold on us, that as long as we have the values of what is right and what is wrong, we don’t go to church. In fact the only real religion that has a growth is Islam, due to the nature of environments many worshippers come from. Then we started getting into the whole debate of religion using fear to control, and it’s use of an excuse for certain actions, and well that was for another time. We got back in time to watch Doctor who (excellent by the way, the tardis taxi chase done very well, but tried to do too much in an hour)and the Vicar of Dibley, and after a long day called it an evening.

Tuesday, well everyone went home and I began looking at my Uni work again. And still the same statement fills my head: What a waste of time Systems Analysis is. What’s worse, the exam is now next week, and I have to tried to look at it, and I fear the worst. It’s pure Bollocks. But there is nothing I can do about except get through it. The web documentation is finished, and even if that is crap, I can get a C for the site. I really want to get this academic year over with so my focus can go on better things. Like that little book I mentioned a long time ago, which I have partially re-written. And the format has changed, with added conversation and random shit. Now everything I have done will happen in the one year, as opposed to the full history. And with more already added, it has made for a more interesting read. But I think the best thing to do, is to carry on writing on this blog and when the homework lets up, I devote more time to working on it. I may indeed fail, but at least I will try to finish it and see it through if possible. Of course My laziness will ultimately decide what I do.

Other things which happened before Christmas, was Dave and Chris came to visit, we exchanged gifts, and watched Crank, and Borat. We didn’t really talk which is becoming rather more and more common really. Perhaps It is a sign we are drifting because we rarely see each other now. A new year’s resolution will be to badger them more. I also spoke to Sian, to see how she was before crimbo, as we hadn’t spoke since 1st December. Guess I ignore a fair number from back that way! Spoke to Ruth a fair amount as it goes, she was feeling better now she moved to another student house away from nasty people. I missed seeing her at Christmas due to timings and other business so that will wait till the new year. I also saw people at the other Christmas do at Cheshire Oaks, which I never wrote about, only mentioned in a previous post, got there late and when I walked through the door, a happy birthday song was being played, thought it was just the music to announce my arrival!! We learned that while Simon was in Turkey, He had an interesting massage from a nice man…. Yes indeed. We had a bit of a chinewag about other things and proceeded to Destiny and Elite, the infamous pulling place, for the wrong reasons. Natalie had to change her shoes before going in as they were being snotty at the door.

I gained a Christmas hat in exchange for a paper one I was still wearing from dinner, and had a great dance time with the others bouncing around to allsorts of mindless dancy bang bang shit. We wandered around too, and had brief chats too. The two nameless ones (yes even now, I persist with this. Tis sad but I guess old habits die hard.)were shut out of the group and kept really to themselves. In a small, single-minded, way I found this satisfying, as it looked like no-one cared. Yet, in another way, I found it disturbing. The segregation which had happen all that time ago seemed to be happening again. History repeating itself. Of course no-one would see it as this, and well at the time I didn’t say anything. Natalie did on the way home however. She doesn’t know the full history yet sees things like this. I do wonder even now if it is simply a case of I am seeing things which aren’t there and I never forget what happened before. I tried contacting afterward but to no avail. The choice is made.

I disappointed Glyn once again letting him down for New Year, this time. Alas it for better reasons than before. Work beckons for a few hours on New Year’s Day and therefore I have to be in Telford the morning after. So no beer for me either. However things have been arranged for Shrewsbury, where it is a 007 theme night to see in 2007, clever eh? Steve was very kind at helping me out at the last minute with a night out, so a beer will be in order for him. As for my dear friend in Manchester, it is another new year’s resolution to go see him as soon as possible in January, hopefully for a full weekend. However I still feel bad. I will miss seeing Dave, Sam Kelly, and glyn’s mum for the new year, and it was so good last year. BTW mate I have the DVDs burned and ready to send. I will send them next week via parcel force once the post is up and running-ish again!!
I guess that will wrap things up for now. I have been writing this for 2 hours now and I am getting tired. Besides Dracula is on BBC One, and Sophie Myles is getting Horny!

My next post will come on New Year’s Day where a list of things I aim to do for the year will be written along with how the night before went. For now peeps, take care and for god’s sakes, do something fun!!