How was it for you?!

I mean of course Christmas.  I hope that you all had an enjoyable day as did we.

We had a quiet Christmas here just the two of us which in view of the boiler works was probably just as well as I would never have had chance to be baking mince pies and icing cakes and so on with the work going on till Wednesday lunchtime and being followed by my having to put everything back where it belonged and do some chores which I hadn't been able to do earlier, with  Mr M working on fitting the shelves in the cupboard where the boiler is sited which now didn't fit in the same places it was Christmas Eve before we were actually back to normal here.

The Wanderer didn't come this year, she is off to Vienna for the New Year weekend to stay with friends and the trains are always very disrupted anyway over the bank Holiday due to engineering works and so on and she decided to stay at home and is today and tomorrow volunteering to do an afternoon shift (3 - 11 pm) for Crisis at Christmas.  She said she would have done yesterday but there is no public transport on Christmas Day and she didn't fancy cycling home at 11.00 pm especially if it was raining.

Mr M's sister who often comes to us for Christmas also decided to stay at home alone this year and as she had the horrid cold virus I had recently it was again just as well.

We had the little tree decorated and enjoyed a roast chicken lunch using the best cutlery and the Christmas tablecloth we had bought in Germany many years ago and with Mr M's mother's china candlestick in the middle with a gold candle lit.  So it really wasn't all Bah Humbug here at all.

Today though I felt the need to go out for a breath of fresh air and the photos show my walk through the woods and onto the main road where I knew I would find daffodils in bloom.  Fancy coming with me?

Up through the wood and turn right instead of left as I usually do when going to the post office.

 We come out onto the A30 normally a busy road but as you see quiet this afternoon.

As was the A3088, which links the A30 with the A303 one of  the main routes from London to the south west - I don't remember ever seeing it like this long enough to take a photo! Let's walk down this road...

...as a little further along there are hundreds of daffodils in bloom alongside it.

 Looks more like Easter than Christmas doesn't it?

 We'll walk back up the road the way we came but on the pavement side this time.

 It's very muddy in the wood so it is necessary to wear wellies!

The birds were not bothered though and were singing as if they thought it was spring and the wind was tossing the tree tops .  I tried to film a little video so you might hear the birdsong but the noise of the wind was so loud it spoilt the singing somewhat.  You will have to imagine it for yourselves!

 Nearly home now that's my house through the trees...

 Whilst wearing my boots I decided to have a look round the garden and discovered these hellebores hiding in the undergrowth.

 

And several brave little clumps of primroses too.  Time now to go indoors and have a cup of tea feeling much refreshed after our walk.  Where to tomorrow?

This and That

Yesterday morning saw me at the station once again this time I was off to Guildford from where I'd get the bus to Witley where I go to the dentist.  Yes I know it's mad but I have been going to this particular dentist since before we moved to France and even used to fit appointments in with visits to friends during my time living there.  He will be retiring later this year so I will be forced to find another and will then chose to find one nearer home!  The chap in the ticket office joked that I was at the station more often than he was recently!

 Anyway dental appointment over I got the bus back to Guildford where I met up with a friend for lunch and a good gossip and afterwards we walked in the Castle grounds - I used to take my lunch in here sometimes when I worked in Guildford so it was a trip down Memory Lane for me.

Not my sort of gardening really but it was certainly bright.

We loved this though and everywhere even in the manicured beds there were poppies.

Lots of red white and blue in remembrance of the 100th anniversary of WWI.

I noticed this morning an article on the internet about Wi-Fi on trains.  Apparently the government is to spend £90m (I understand some of this money will be from fines paid by Network Railfor missing key punctuality targets) on an upgrade which "means people can more easily work and keep up with friends while on journeys".  Now as you know I am a bit of a Luddite but is this the best use of funds I wonder - why is it that people cannot survive a train journey without being able to do work which entails use of their computers nor to be out of contact with their colleagues for a few hours.  This all made me think about life in the 21st century and to wonder whether coming generations will lose the ability to make real contact with each other.  Does having 100s of "friends" on Facebook, sending constant text messages back and forth to each other or having their attention permanently on their mobile phone screens  mean that some people are living in a "virtual" rather than a real world?  Is virtual contact taking the place of face to face communication, how can one read the messages that as humans we have learned to pick up on when actually with people, what could possibly replace the gentle touch of a hand when someone is upset or grieving and nothing beats a real Hug of course.  Yes technology is wonderful and we do of course interact with people in these new ways which could not have been imagined such a short time ago but surely it should not be allowed to become such a vital part of our daily lives?  Living in the 21st century is wonderful as we are able to chose which parts of modern life we want to make use of and leave the rest and I don't for one moment think that life years ago was necessarily better than now nor that our parents or grandparents lives couldn't have been improved had they had some of the things we now have but let's keep things in perspective and remember those things which were better and not lose sight of real communication between people, eye contact, touch and so on.  Then maybe instead of all these gizmos on the trains we might take time to enjoy the passing scenery, to think, to take time out for the duration of the journey or even heaven forfend to talk to each other!  Am I mad or do you agree with me here?