Selfsufficientish.com

Mrs Wombat here, Thanks Boots. Christmas is very special to me. I love to play Christmas carols and decorate the house so people can come round with the kids and look at the lights. Christmas is a time of peace and goodwill if you make it that way. I loved what you wrote and will endeavour along with Nev to make it as green as well as red and green as possible. May you have a safe and joyous Christmas.

I dunno about anybody else, but from here in the UK, the thought of christmas lights, decorations, carols, etc., in the middle of summer is just wrong. Christmas time means winter, dark evenings, thick clothes, scarves and gloves, hot toddies, etc.

'Course it's true that all those quaint snow scenes on the cards, snowflake decorations and things like that, are a bit misplaced even here (rain probably doesn't work so well on a card), but I'm told that even in Australia you have snow scene cards.

Sounds good to me Mrs W. Am sure you'll have a great Christmas too!


As for you dear Muddy, I shall drag you screaming and kicking into the 21st century if it kills me....

This Christmas card first came out of Aus in the 1930's. Tried scanning our farm one in, but my scanner is throwing a tantrum. He has advanced to a rubber ring and flippers on our card!

Butbutbutbut....

Why does Santa have a sleigh? Hmm?

Obviously, because winter is the appropriate time for Christmas.

That card is clearly a fake, and I suspect was taken whilst he was on his summer holidays in Bournemouth. I mean, it doesn't look as though he's got much work on there, does it?

21st Century..? Me..? My car is 20 years old, my TV is 25. My cooker dates from the 70s, I still use my father's saws and my grandfather's hammers... Even my computer is pre-millenium, and I'm damned if I'm going to upgrade it just yet. I don't think I'm really cut out for the 21stC. But I was wondering, last night, about the feasibilty of buying a DVD player; but they'll probably be obsolete as soon as I actually get one, and I don't think they play 78s either, do they?

Muddypause wrote:about the feasibilty of buying a DVD player; but they'll probably be obsolete as soon as I actually get one, and I don't think they play 78s either, do they?

Do you have a record player ???

We have a stack of records that we just can't bear to part with. They are in a cupbard we never use, so they aren't taking up any space or doing anyone any harm, so I'm keeping them!

Anyway recently overheard - No1Child (7) talking to No2Child (3) "of course that was back when Mummy and Daddy had great big black CDs, instead of silver ones"

I may have found an answer that'll keep everyone happy! - over the last few days, the wind has been pretty good, and all my batteries are getting rather full from the Wren in my back garden - I managed to find a 12v ropelight in a local "pound shop" - a whole 15watts! - so now, when it goes into "dump load" mode, we have a rope lit turbine mast!
If anyones nostalgic for a real gramophone, a friend of mine stocks and sells them - http://www.camcentre.co.uk/shop/index.p ... at&catId=2
We've got one like this in black!

78's????

Heaven help us.



Don't sweat it mate. Have had a chat with the fat man, and he says he has your pressie sorted....

you haven't lived until you've boogied to the original "Rock around the clock" by Bill Hailey and the comets, swiftly followed by "Singin' the blues" by Tommy Steele on a wind-up gramophone!
My friend, who flogs them also collects 78s, a collection certainly running into 10s of thousands - some of the stuff was brilliant - old early blues and jazz in particular!

PS

As for the sleigh thing...

You clearly have not toboganned down a sand dune and ... *shakes head despairingly*... obviously have not yet lived.

The sleigh is a multi-purpose transport vehicle, employed at Christmas simply for its carrying capacity and reindeer-cum-aerodynamic suitability.

Off season, it is used to hoot down sand dunes and disturb eccentrics who are trying to live quiet lives interspersed with ukelele practice and the scratchy static of needle generated sound that was once referred to as music.

Martin wrote:

you could always try the romantic approach! - tell the electricity guzzling spouses that the light in their sparkling eyes is all you need at Christmas! Wink

Now, where did I put that bucket?

I can't be bothered with Christmas decs; I despise ladders, drawing pins loathe me with a passion and, as for selotape, don't even go there!

I send so few cards these days it's hardly worth the effort to source them.

My parents are going abroad for the festive period. One brother lives in Spain and the other is spending it with his family and in-laws in London.

Chilli Con Carne for Christmas lunch!

http://www.greenshop.co.uk/cgi-bin/sh00 ... #a1_21E440

there are some solar fairy lights on this site. I can't vouch for how well they will work now it's so dark all the time though!

Hi Purple_priestess

:welcomeish:

It seems we missed you when you posted first time - whereabouts are you from???

The lights look great - but yeah, I wonder how good they would be in terms of light.

I don't mind what people do inside their houses with a few lights on a Xmas tree - it's the ridiculous lighting up of the exterior of the house american style which I loathe and detest - and it has come to my corner of Brittany! Grrrrrrrrrrrr. Everyone seems to need to have full size Santas climbing up the outside of their houses and lights galore. Why? It's horrible and ugly and wasteful and senseless and...........

Bah humbug!

Last year a house near us had one of those huge inflatable Santas on their roof. Unfortunately (?) we had a very windy night and the Santa was dislodged and half deflated.
The next morning we were greeted by the gruesome sight of Santa suspended from the gutter by the cable round his neck - slowly twisting in the wind.

Santa's climbing up a rope ladder! Every second house had one in Belgium when we were there last year!

Nev