Christmas is nearly here so if the Goose isn’t fat by now it never will be and unfortunately I haven’t seen an old man asking for me to put a penny in his hat, if I had done I would have, in fact I may well have stretched it to a quid. There will be no fresh snow on Christmas day (apart from western Scotland) so it is a big cheer from the bookies, however there will be snow on the ground almost everywhere which I think is more of a white Christmas than a single flake being recorded on the roof of the Met Office which forces bookmakers to pay out.

Listening to MTV it would appear that according to Band Aid there wont be snow in Africa this Christmas time either, which I suppose is kind of predictable unless you are eating your Turkey at the summit of the Table mountain, which one suspects is highly unlikely. However, if legendary Christmas popster Shakin Stevens adjusted his lyrics ever so subtlety to “Snow is lying all around me, children playing having fun” he would nearer the mark than Band Aid, though our very own son of God, Cliff Richard will once again discover that his ambitious request for Fy…………..ding to cease will sadly, once again, go largely unnoticed in many parts of the world and in thousands of kitchens across Britain at about 2.00pm on Christmas day.

Personally I have a Christmas which will be spent travelling up and down from Broughton which sounds like quite a complex operation, but it is actually one that I am used to and find enjoyable as I at least have a bit of variety during a period when things can get a bit tense and dare I say it, boring. I am luckier than most in that I have constant contact with my two boys, in fact in some ways probably a closer relationship than a lot of men, though my heart does go out to those who have a distant relationship and who may have a fleeting visit followed by weeks of non contact. We are all out for a meal tonight in Broughton then I drop of to their Mum’s tomorrow before fetching them again on Boxing Day and deciding whether to brave the cold by going to football. The rest of the week is pretty much undecided and will probably be spent pointlessly eating nuts and chocolates, putting on weight and wondering what day of the week it is, then it will all be over and we can look forward to spring which seems a lifetime away, but will soon arrive.

Anyway before I start blabbering on too much, the purpose of this Blog is to wish you all a Merry Christmas. You may be one of my dear friends, you maybe family, you may be a regular Blog reader, you may even be someone like Tyrone who plagiarises my better Blogs and sends them to relatives in Australia under his own guise (is the cheque in the post Tyrone?) Whoever you are have a good and peaceful Christmas and spare a thought those worse off than yourself as you greedily plough in to a bone dry Turkey that incorrectly thought it was safe after the recent death of Bernard Matthews. Personally if I had a Christmas wish it would be to abandon the war on poverty and embark on a full scale battle against greed, but that would be asking far too much.

Have a good one everyone!