One more poem, in 2024

I call this one - "Poem Inspired by Rather a Lot of Mulled Wine"

Ambling on, we approach another new calendar
Rambling on through this blogsite, Rory continues to waffle
Trifle has been eaten, turkey imbibed
alcohol infused chocolates quaffed in abundance
the glow of the tree lights dances in the edge of my sight
and makes me regret the third bottle we opened tonight
But what is December if not The Merry Month of Merriment?
Let me create, for the first time in a while, some Initialoetry:

Don't eat Christians. Eat methodists, baptists; even rabbis.

Sorry - best I could come up with.

RC 31-12-24

Achievements

We were having a reflective, reviewing chat at one of our family events this week, and everyone was talking about the major things that have happened to us all since last Christmas. I hate doing that kind of thing, almost as much as I hate doing things like vocalising affirmations and sharing platitudes (which one of Philippa's middle-aged female relatives also insisted on doing). However, it did get me to look back over the past twelve months and try to find reasons to be pleased with myself (not something I do often, or well...)
So - as we gallop towards the end of 2024, here's a few things I am proud:

Posting a blog EVERY DAY in March.
Posting a different number of blog postings in each calendar month.
Hitting more than 200 posts for the 14th year in a row!
Getting through a sticky patch with Philippa without throwing the whole thing away.
Surviving another busy Summer at work without punching an annoying customer in the face.
Helping Mathew get used to the complexities of school life.
Coping well (I think) with reaching the age of 40!

RC 30-12-24

Coinciquence

The title of this blog is a portmanteau of the words 'coincidence' and 'consequence' as that is what I want to write about, (and 'coinciconsequence' just seemed far too long).
I have been thinking back to the year that Philippa and I got together, because I was asked this week 'when did you first realise you loved her?' and it was hard to answer it with an exact time. Looking back, with how I feel now, it would be easy to say that I fancied her when we were at sixth-form together, but I don't think that's true.  I don't remember thinking about her while I was away at university, so I don't think she'd made any kind of impression of me at college. But when we met up again, back in early 2010, I think it's fair to say that things clicked pretty quickly. Again, this might be me misremembering it and placing my later feelings on myself at an earlier date than they actually appeared, but I seem to recall a deep connection happening pretty quickly once we started working together in her uncle's office. And that all came about (as I drag this posting back to the topic contained within its title) because I just happened to contact Tom to ask about any work opportunities at the exact time that he was writing an advert for someone to provide maternity cover. And from that, bloomed what Philippa and I have now.
Sometimes the right thing just happens, even if it doesn't feel like it at the time.

RC 28-12-24

Unexpected bonus for you...

I call this - "Poem Inspired by Listening to Radio 4 on December 24th"

 

Sat beside the Christmas tree

feeling full of love

listening to descriptions

of the star that shone above.

It might have been a comet

two thousand years ago

that lit the sky in Bethlehem

we simply do not know.

It might all be a hokum-pokum

woven from the cold

or maybe 'twas, in truth,

The Greatest Story Ever Told.

It might have been a mishy-mash

of tales heard at sea

But still it gets discussed each year

across the BBC.

And maybe we will never know

perhaps no-one will care

but from that star we get this joy

at Christmastime each year.

And whether you're religious

or just like to have a ball

however you might spend it -

Happy Christmas one and all.

RC 24-12-24

The Most Wonderful, etc, etc

This will be my last posting before 'The Big Day'. Our food shopping arrives today, and this evening I will be lost in the world of family delights and immersing myself in the joys of this most joyous of seasons. I know this time of year is tough for some people, and I know that not every family pulls together for a common cause, and believe me - I went through that in a big way when I was a child myself, but that is exactly why I enjoy Christmas so much these days, and why I will not apologise for doing so. If December is difficult for you, then I send you my love and sympathy and best wishes, but I am not going to hold back from throwing myself into the buzz and expressing my happiness just because it's not a universal feeling. If anything, if provokes me to be MORE exuberant in my enjoyment. I want to share the positivity, and I want to show anyone that might be suffering that it IS possible to turn this stuff around and enjoy the dark days of Winter again, surrounded by the kind of love you may not have known before. It can happen, and I hope it does happen for you, and in the meantime I wish you strength and the ability to find beauty in the small, important things around you.
And for those of you who ARE as full of the joys as I am myself - may we, all of us, suck every available atom of niceness from the forthcoming days of love.
HAPPY CHRISTMAS friends.

RC 23-12-24

Delicious Delectabilities

Well today has been just wonderful.  Lots of happy families onsite, lots of well-behaved and appreciative children, lots of positive feedback and grateful reactions, lots of Christmas cheer and festive fun, and I had my own family there as part of it all! Life, perhaps, cannot get much better than that. Watching something come together that you've been working on for ages and seeing the delight it brings and being there with my own children too... I mean, gosh, what a lovely day to be Rory.

This evening we had a surprisingly lovely pre-Xmas takeaway roast dinner! Neither of us felt like cooking, Mathew wanted to get home to his birthday pressies after being out all day, and we just thought Sod It. Let's treat ourselves and let someone else do the work for a change. And my opinion of ordering food by app has altered somewhat after dipping my toe in the water and trying it. Maybe it's a lesson I can learn about other things in life - don't discard something just because you don't like the idea of it; actually give it a chance to show you its benefits.
So I had a sensational plate of roast gammon with mashed potato (chosen over roasts - how lovely it was to be given the choice!) a large Yorkshire pud, glazed carrots and parsnips, garden peas, broccoli and a very rich gravy. Yummy, and yummy again. And there was some leftover birthday cake to enjoy as a dessert. Again I say - yummy.

And now I get to enjoy the viewing delights of late-season NFL games on Sky Sports. My team may have thrown this year away as if it didn't matter to them, but I can still enjoy the spectacle of top-level sport in which not one single thought is given to the long-term safety of the players.

RC 22-12-24

Huh?

Holy Shite on a sparkly stick - it is suddenly December 21st!!!!
I seem to have shifted backwards somewhat in my excitement levels since my last posting. I'm wondering whether part of my lack of enthusiasm is simply down to my age; although I guess it's not possible to maintain those high amounts of childlike wonderments indefinitely. Or maybe it's just a lull in the proceedings and I'll be roaring back into full-on Festive Mode tomorrow. I have to say it was hard for me to disappear off to work today after spending such lovely time with Mathew on his birthday yesterday, and maybe that is part of today's malaise too - there is often a drop in mood after a particularly fun experience, I find. The Post-Holiday Blues is a very real thing, and I'm guessing a low-key version of something similar can strike even when you're still in the middle of a run of festivities.
I'm tired too - I've had a bit of a sore throat and a dry cough that has been waking me up during the nights, and it was hard work supervising at Mathew's birthday soiree yesterday, and then we had a Family Fun Day at work all day today. And we will have the same tomorrow, but at least Philippa and the boys will be in attendance to keep my spirits up. We still have rather a lot of wrapping to do, because obviously it all has to be done when the little ones are out of sight in bed. So I guess I feel like my plate is quite full, but isn't that what Christmas is supposed to be about - over-filled plates?
Anyway, it'll all come together because it always does, and January is a much quieter month at work so the stress levels can readjust and we can all recover, so there's that to look forward to once the next few days of madness have been survived...

Do join me again soon for what will no doubt be another uninspiring paragraph or two of waffle just like this one...

RC 21-12-24

A week til Xmas Day!!

Man, oh man, do I feel ridiculously Christmassy. Having a bouncing, excited mini-person in the house is such a pick-me-up after driving home in the dark again. Tomorrow we get to experience the joys of a Primary School Nativity, and then it's Birthday Weekend for the Mathew, and oh gosh, am I looking forward to it all!
I am - in the manner of Ebeneezer Scrooge at the end of 'Christmas Carol' - 'giddy as a schoolboy' and I am loving it.

RC 18-12-24

A week til Xmas Eve!!

I am realising that I am very tired. We're doing our Festive Family Fun days at work again, for local non-residents, so we are encountering people from The Outside World again, not just folk on holidays, and even though we're just repeating (mostly) what we did last year, it's still stressful and I still want it to go well for everyone. So it's a bit exhausting.
On a positive note, though, it's lovely to see the excited little ones, and our Father Christmas this year is an amazing Santa, and I feel so very, very Christmassy already, even though we're not even into the 20s date-wise yet!
Mathew is very excited about his birthday, and it's all planned and in place. He's having the same party as last year, which feels a bit lazy on our front, but he was so thrilled by the whole thing in 2023 and he was so overwhelmed when we told him he could do the same again, so I'm finishing work early on Friday and we're taking him and several friends to the soft-play emporium for fun and food. Saturday will be a day for him to relax and recover at home and have several family visitors (while I am at work) then on Sunday Philippa will be bringing him and Rian onsite, as I've booked them in for our Fun Day.
I have to say that I can't wait to see the new Wallace and Gromit TV special on Christmas Day, and it gives me an excuse to watch all the old ones in preparation, and to introduce Mathew to them as well, in a lovely father-and-son sharing Yuletide activity. He's always loved Shaun the Sheep, and I think he might be old enough now to appreciate the wonders of W&G. I might even show him 'Curse of the Were-Rabbit' if Philippa agrees it won;t scare him.
This posting has been a real collection of weird thoughts and comments, spouted onto the page at different times of day in between other tasks, so sorry if it's a bit scatty and spouty. But what the Hell - Christmas is supposed to be a time for spouts.
Oh no, my mistake, that's SPROUTS.

RC 17-12-24

Strictly Con Dancing

I said something at work today that may well land me in trouble. Some of the office staff were discussing the dance show results from the weekend - because that's all 98% of the British population does at this time of year. EVERY year, by the way, because nothing original ever surfaces and we just keep churning the same old shit out for decades on end and convince people it's worth watching (but that's another point entirely).
I just got fed up with hearing the endless discussion about the emotions of it all, and I finally snapped and said, "Let me guess - someone lost a relative this year and their dying wish was for their 'celebrity' nephew to win some pointless competition. You know who else lost someone this year? MILLIONS of people. But they don't get paid a hundred grand to talk about it on television and manipulate people's emotions into spending their money voting on an outcome that will do fuck all except make some rich people even richer." I may also have said something along the lines of: "Oh, the blind guy made the final? Wow. What a surprise. I bet even he could see that coming a mile off."
So, yeah. Despite having done all the diversity and inclusion training you could imagine, and despite knowing how careful we need to be when talking casually in the workplace, and despite knowing how hard we are supposed to come down on people who make comments that could be seen as offensive, I managed to say several things that could well see me hounded out of my job by twelfth night.

RC 16-12-24

reflections on a yuletide past

It was Christmas Eve 2010 that Philippa and I admitted our feelings to each other. Can you believe that? Nearly 14 years have passed since our first kiss. 14 years... I didn't think I'd ever have a relationship that lasted more than fourteen days, and yet here we are. But I don't think I can even call it a 'relationship' - certainly when compared to my previous encounters that bore that name - as this is something so deep, all-encompassing and beautifully enveloping that it's hard to know how to name it. And anyone who feels the same way about their current partner will know exactly what I mean.
I found some notes scribbled down from the end of December that year. I may have shared them with you before, but even if I have its nice to do so again, because it reminds me what happened, and how wonderful it was. It's so sweet to look back and remember (not that I'll ever forget...) These are reminders that I noted down with the intention of writing a longer posting about them, I think. Some bits are a little outdated now after a few changes within the family structure, but it's nice to see what I'd scribbled down as important after that wonderful, unplanned 36 hours or so.
Easily the best Christmas, nay the best DAY, of my life.

Reflections on Xmas Day - waking up in Philippa's arms, spending the day with her... Nathan and Hannah went to a morning service then abandoned his family to join us.. Philippa went home in the evening, but came back to Ted and Beryls later on.... Sophie and Tamara met Ted's lot and everyone loves everyone else... we played cards until 3am... At one point, I was looking at my sisters talking happily together, I was surrounded by other people I love, and I had Philippa asleep with her head on my shoulder. I could happily have died at that moment. For what I think was the first time in my life, I felt truly, truly happy. Excuse me while i wipe away a tear...

RC 14-12-24

well... calendars... again

It is quite amazing how the advent calendar industry has expanded and exploded over the last decade or so. Gone are the days when it was a simple cardboard affair with 24 doors that revealed a different picture each day and would almost always be either a nativity scene or a Father Christmas. The switch to ones containing daily chocolate treats was disappointing but, admittedly, a genius move by whoever first thought of it. Getting children used to the daily hit of sugar before school, and the disposable nature of the whole thing, meant calendars were no longer reusable and instead became an annual source of guaranteed income for the chocolate companies that produce them. And now, it's become a goldmine for any-and-every corporation that chooses to get in on the act. It's yet another excuse for adults to do something that used to be the purview of children only and it's yet another way for greedy firms to fleece us out of our pennies. You can get ANYTHING in advent calendars now. Dog treats (because apparently dogs have an understanding of the concept of Christmas), licorice, perfumes, card tricks and mini Pringles tubs are just a few of the ones I've noticed on shelves. Jessica in our booking office here at work has a large one that gives her a different luxury teabag every morning. The level of excitement with which she declares "Oooh - I got 'Chelsea Breakfast' today" is quite concerning. Still - each to their own, I suppose.
Mine is a Toblerone one, which I was overjoyed to find, but I was not particularly overjoyed with the pricing. It might have been cheaper to buy a lot of other chocolate bars, melt them down into triangular shapes and create my own. Even with the initial outlay and electricity costs, and even if I paid myself generously for my time, it would still have been cheaper than buying the official calendar.

RC 13-12-24

Calendars

Philippa gave me an early Christmas present today - a 2025 calendar, with a photo of us and the boys representing each month. (She gave it to me early as I was about to buy one to put on the kitchen wall so I could start putting things like holiday dates on it).

Now I have to say that if you had suggested this to me as something I might enjoy receiving, I would have called you a wombat and insisted it was too tacky, sentimental and cliched. However, I have found myself feeling touched, elated and even a little emotional. She'd made the effort of picking a photo for each month that was actually taken in that month, so there's a mixture of holiday snaps, baby images, and even one that goes right back to the first year we spent together as a couple, which was an alarming amount of time ago. It really is a wonder that she has stuck it out for this long. Life with Rory ain't exactly a pleasant walk through a pleasant park, and for someone like Philippa to stick it out at all, much less hook herself to me in marriage and bear my children, is unbelievable. I do sometimes think I must have bewitched her somehow and that one day she'll awaken to herself and realise she is wasting her life. But in the meantime, I am more than happy to go on enjoying our life together. More than happy, more than contented, and more than grateful.

RC 7-12-24

Tinsel and Turds

This evening, we put up the rest of our decorations. We may have gone a bit OTT, but what the Hell. Ceilings just don't look the same unless they're covered in a vast array of spangly shit, garish garlands and tonnes of tinsel. If you've left more than an inch of your paintwork uncovered then you simply haven't got into Christmas properly, that's what I always say.

In other news, a couple of our permanent residents at work are kicking off about the fact that some of their annual charges are going up next year. I understand that people are fed up with constant price rises and the profiteering that British society seems to be built on these days, but we haven't changed our fees since the start of the pandemic, and I think that's been incredibly generous. Staffing costs have increased, our bills have exploded the same as everyone else's and yet we've kept our charges consistent since 2020. You would think people would remember that and be thankful and react graciously when asked to pay a small percentage more in 2025 than in 2024, but no. They react by storming into my office and throwing the letter at me across the desk, even though I had nothing to do with the decision and don't have my name on the correspondence. Bless them. I smiled sweetly and invited them to find an alternative location for their home, if they felt that would be easier.

In other news, we've been trying Rian on some new foods and the results have been pretty spectacular. His undergarments are NOT a present you would want to be unwrapping right now.

RC 3-12-24

Twelfth-month target

If I can post 16 blogs in December, I'll have achieved my 'different number each month' challenge this year. I could aim for a higher number, but it would have to be at least 22 (all the other numbers are already taken by other months), and I'm not so confident of reaching that amount, what with all the Yuletide distractions and extra work to do.

Anyway - I shouldn't waste blog words discussing blog scenarios, that's a bit meta and a bit self-indulgent.
So... let's discuss my plans for the upcoming weeks. I want to watch a lot of Christmas films, and introduce Mathew to as many of the appropriate ones as possible. We'll get to have the joy of watching him and his classmates in the school Nativity. And I do mean 'joy' by the way, that's not me being sarcastic. Nothing is sweeter than young 'uns doing a play together, and nothing is more festive than hearing them sing something Christmassy. 'Away In A Manger' is traditional, but a bit whiney, and it also tends to make me rather emotional. My personal choice would be to have a class full of 6-year-olds singing Slade's "Merry Xmas Everybody" but I guess we'll go with whatever the teacher has decided to practice with them. One thing I do know is that the room will be clogged up with annoyingly loud younger siblings and a glut of mums filming the whole thing on their phones. But I'm not going to get started on all that, or this posting will be negative and moany, and I don't feel that way today. I feel excited, and hopeful, and full of the cheer of the season, so let's get back to the good stuff that's on the way in the next couple of weeks:

There's a nice candlelit Carol service locally on Sunday 15th. I quite fancy that. The pub that we occasionally frequent for a roast lunch has an acoustic duo on Christmas Eve afternoon. That might be nice. I also like to have a night-time wander around local towns, taking in the wonder of their lights displays.
Of course - I'm listing all these things, and the likelihood is that I'll end up doing none of them because I'll be too busy at work, and then too busy sorting things at home (Mathew is in Santa age so it all has to be done on the quiet) but I know for a fact that, however it all pans out, it will be wonderful, because it always is, because it's Christmas.

RC 2-12-24

And the tree... is... UP!

Welcome to Festive Month with the Chesworths!
We spent the afternoon getting the decorations out from storage and putting our Christmas tree up for another year. As I sit here typing, it is twinkling away beautifully in the corner of the room and filling me with a lovely state of bliss and hope. And I know that sentence may not have made sense, but a few drinks were had with tea in celebration of the moment. Well, what happened on Friday was that one of our suppliers at work gave me 'an early present' which was really just a sample of something new that they wanted to get some feedback on; but the gesture was welcome and appreciated. It was - are you ready for this? - peanut butter flavoured Irish cream. I am not kidding. Imagine a bottle of Baileys with a handful of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups melted into it and you might have the idea they were looking for. Some kind of weird fusion of early festiveness and a few Hallowe'en leftovers. It doesn't quite land in that way though, in my opinion. Imagine someone having eaten a peanut butter sandwich and then drunk a bottle of imitation Baileys and then throwing it all up into a mixing bowl and then decanting it into a weird coloured bottle and you might be somewhere closer to the truth. It was unpleasant, but strangely moreish, and so a third glass followed quickly on from the first two, despite my inner reservations.
Anyway - back to the point about the tree. It was a real family affair this year, too, because Mathew was very, VERY enthusiastic about the whole thing and insisted on doing as much of what was needed as possible. That's partly our fault, though, as we had been deliberately getting him excited about it since the middle of last week, and he was in such a state when he went to bed last night that I think he'll be less wound up when Christmas Eve gets here!
And, oh man, typing that about Christmas Eve has got me feeling even warmer, fuzzier, happier and mellower. Knowing how much Mathew has changed during this year, and how much more he knows about the whole Santa thing, and how much he remembers about last year... well... I just know that this year is going to be utterly splendiferous and spectacular. And I cannot wait. But I want to, so I can enjoy every second of the build-up.
God, my head feels weird. My feedback on this drink will be 'aesthetically awful, but Christ it does the job...'

RC 1-12-24