It's Almost Christmas

I can tell it's almost Christmas now, the schools have broken up for the holiday, so the buses are no longer quite so late as they were before, they are also almost empty as people start their Christmas leave. The weather looks like it will again fail to produce a white Christmas but then it almost always does in the UK. The office is quiet too, as we don't have so many contractors ringing us up, which is nice.

I got a Christmas card from one of my contractors yesterday, it looked for all the world like the sort of card you get gift vouchers in. I said this to my boss, then I spotted the two slots for holding a gift voucher or cheque in. Wow, how cheap - spare Christmas bonus cards. My boss got a calender from them, I didn't, such are the privilages of rank.

Tomorrow is my last day in work until the 3rd, tomorrow afternoon I have to get myself, with clothes and presents up to Kings Lynn by the joys of public transport, it's not that bad a journey but I am not looking forward to doing it this time because I will be laden down as will probably everyone else travelling tomorrow.

I'm staying with Simon for the holiday we are having Christmas dinner at his parents and then just bimbling we are going to meet up with a friend and his wife in Wells, seeing my Mum at some point and then up to Derby for a new years party. It should all be exceptionally nice.

Civil Partnerships

Congratulations to Shannon Sickles and Grainne Close the first gay couple in the UK to have a civil partnership ceromony. It's not a wedding, gay and lesbian couples still cannot marry in this country.

I can't understand why this right should be denied to same sex couples. OK so most religious groups claim that marriage should be only be between a man and a woman but no one will be forcing the churches to hold or bless the civil partnerships or host gay marriages. But in a country that is now almost completely secular why should the religous right seek to ensure that the gay couples are denied any access to marriage. Marriage has not been the sole preserve of the churches for a long time now with the option of civil weddings being there.

The bigots claim that allowing gays to marry will damage the institute of marriage. How? I for one, am not going to suddenly change my mind about being hetrosexual just because civil partnerships are now legal and I don't think many other people are either. If marriage is about two people who want to make a public commitment to each other then surely the more people who can marry the stronger the concept will be.

Curtsey of Eclectech - Easy Blogging

eclectech : festive pants

Normal Service Will Be Resumed

Once the Christmas Party season is over. I am suffering from a surfit of parties, they hurt the liver, they hurt the waistline, they hurt the pocket and they don't give good bloggable material.

If I see one more badly made yorkshire pudding I may cry.

Doctor Who Christmas Special.

Just got my copy of the Christmas edition of the Radio Times. Ten page special on Doctor who, so far it has revealed that the baddies are called Sycorax (after a moon of Uranus). Dr Who will be swishing about in pajamas for some of the episode and it may do the take up of trombone lessons no good whatsoever.

My uncle Lawrence plays the trombone when I was little he would ring up to play happy birthday to me on it, he didn't have a phone, he had to use a public phone box.

You can also win a real Dalek, I think it will look really nice in my living room. :-D

Buncefield Oil Depot Explosion

Stunning picture from the BBC. There are reports that the explosion was heard in Norfolk 100 miles away, I live about 60 miles away I heard nothing, mind you it happened just after 6 in the morning a period of the day I have heard rumours about but have rarely experienced.

Post Recovery

The Christmas ball was very enjoyable, not least because I was able to take Becky with me for the first time and it was fun to watch her reaction to it and to introduce her to my friends, Becky blogged a few photos from our evening which was good of her cos it has saved me from doing a major write up, the photos are here, here, here, here, here too, here and possibly also here.

We have had a very quiet day I purchased another Christmas present, we bimbled through town and dozed mainly.

This evening we watched the film version of Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy this evening, the first time either of us had seen it. Perhaps it's because I'm so familiar with the previous versions but this one left me feeling a little flat. It was, in parts, visually stunning but although I tried to stop myself, I could not help noticing where it did not stick to the original storyline. They would start a piece of dialogue in line with the original then lose the punchline because they would not finish it. I know that things must give when trying to condense a 3 hour series into a film but there was a fairly pointless love story stuck into the plot which didn't really add anything. Sam Rockwell was good as Zaphod Beeblebrox however I didn't feel that there was any chemistry whatsoever between the cast members. It meant I couldn't believe in their relationships to each other, which even treating the film as if the previous versions didn't exist weakened its attraction.