Happy New Year! Yes, a little bit late, but we’ve been busy doing a lot, and sometimes doing nothing at all. And so it goes. Which reminds me, I found the source of a quote I like. ‘We are put on this Earth to fart around.’ Thanks, Kurt Vonnegut. He also came to mind recently when I listened to Curious Cases on Radio 4. They were talking about ice, its formation and the more than twenty states of ice. I wondered whether Ice-9 as described in Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut was one of those twenty. No. Apparently, it’s totally fictitious. So that’s a shame. Although, given its properties, maybe not. I think I’ll have to re-read the novel.
So while farting around, I continued playing with some AI tools.
Eat your heart out, Christopher Wren.
On BBC iPlayer, I watched an animated reconstruction of the old Doctor Who story, The Celestial Toymaker. I was reminded of where I probably heard a particular joke for the first time, and I have been repeating it ever since.
The answer is ‘an umbrella’ for you at the back.
One day, over Christmas, Martha admitted she didn’t get the joke. When I explained, her face lit up like the Christmas tree she was standing next to.
Christmas was fun. Alan and Una invited me over to their place for Christmas lunch. On the way, I stopped off at Jenny’s and spent Christmas morning with the family. I think it’s sad that our excitement about Christmas diminishes as we get older. But it was fun to spend time with Martha and William.
Obviously, I didn’t have a tree in our luxury apartment, so here’s a picture of Jenny’s.
Underneath, huge piles of presents and at least one of the children was eating chocolates from the tree… I didn’t indulge.
We played a game called Codenames, that was good fun. And we had video chats with Helen and Keiran, celebrating his first Christmas, and with Liesel.
Round at the other grandparents, we were joined by their other grandchildren, Annabel and Emily. So there were eleven of us around the table for a gorgeous, and huge, Christmas lunch. Thank you very much Una, great job, and so much delicious food!
Yeah, I too thought that the cousins were about to break into a rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody, but they didn’t.
After a couple of hours, I was still too full to eat a slice of the Christmas cake, that Martha had made with the help of her Nana. I took a slice home and it really was nice!
It’s been too long since I’ve included a picture of Keiran. So here he is, just a couple of days after Christmas.
I joined Jenny, Liam, Martha and William at Factory International in Manchester to watch Shaun the Sheep’s Circus Show. Plenty of acrobatics and circus skills on display, and they make it all look so easy.
But the big shock of the day was seeing William when he took his hat off.
Losing his hair like that inspired me to remove the beard that I have been nurturing for a month and to have a haircut. Not as extreme as his, though.
So on the one hand, it was a fun Christmas. On the other hand, it was the worst Christmas ever, because there was no Doctor Who Special on TV ! There’s a consensus that this was one of the worst years ever for Christmas TV. So glad I have books to read and radio shows to prepare.
Walking around Northenden was alright. The Sun appeared briefly from time to time, but in general, it was just colder and more unpleasant than it has been for quite a while.
Meanwhile, Keiran paid his first visit to Taronga Zoo in Sydney to bring in the new year.
I didn’t stay up to see the new year in. No, I was in bed listening to the fireworks while reading.
And suddenly, it was proper Winter. Temperatures below zero. Frost on the cars. People slipping on the pavement outside. But then, unpleasant as it is, at least it’s not -25°C like it is in Anchorage. Brrr, just the thought of that makes me feel uncomfortable.
I joined the family for dinner just a couple of days before school re-started. I’d missed seeing the snow fall, so it was a surprise that afternoon to see it sprinkled everywhere. Not enough snow to make a snowman, but Martha had made a larger than usual snowball. She was interested to see how long it would last before it thawed completely.
The regular walks have resumed and earlier today, we wandered through the woods which were less muddy than I expected. But a couple of trees have fallen over. Or, if they’re really old, I suppose I should say they’ve taken a fall.
I’ve been working on a few radio shows so that I don’t have to think about them when I’m away in a couple of weeks.
Last week’s was a 3-hour special, in which I remembered musicians who died in 2025. Lots of them. You can listen to the whole extravaganza here.
Mick and Liesel's Antics 