Il n'y a que les montagnes qui ne se rencontrent jamais

Tonight I headed for the city centre, and attempted some simple Christmas shopping, this was for family members only, as extending the shopping to friends as well would throw me completely. Every year I have become more lackadaisical about buying gifts, compared to say four years ago when I really 'went to town' in my efforts to please and bond friendships, this year it's 'just cards'!
However, I did get some clothes, three jumpers for my mother, a nike pullover for my father, and some meteorological-related items.
This time of year gives me Christmas-paramnesia, as I lose track of what's on the plate, though I'm aware something's cooking.

How does Christmas affect you my friends?

This year, I'll go to my parents home, and remember many long-lost relatives from my French side. It seems only a short time ago, when I drove my Renault 9 sixty-odd kilomoters to Picardie, and the traditional French Christmas starting on December 24th, with midnight greetings and a big meal, even party. Oranges and oysters featured prominantly over there, and the ubiquitous frogs legs too, which aren't half bad!

One year, 1993, we decided to invite the whole French/Italian family, and brought ourselves, to represent the English side, (from my father's side), and create a Christmas feast, complete with the dozen or so bottles of red wine, French delicacies, and sausages, cranberry sauce, bacon, stuffing, walnuts, roast potatoes, sprouts, gravy, and...turkey. We started the Christmas lunch with aperitif and oysters, washed down whole, and they were amazing.
However, something funny happened thereafter, my grandparents, north French to the core, cousins, aunt and uncle, nieces and nephews, all from various parts of France, north and extreme south, (the furthest driving up from Grasse, near Nice, some 16 hours drive away), tucked into the very French offerings, while my late grandmother, mother and father, and myself, slaughtered the British offering! It was totally divided in terms of 'eats'!

When it came to the heavyweight Marks & Spencer Christmas pudding, well, my dad and I were in luck, because we were the only ones out of the 16 who wanted any at all, and how we did, because the night before, we'd partied until 4.30am, 2 Unlimited's "No Limits" (not my choice), and Snap, (my choice!), albums accounting for most of it; our bodies were prepared. My late Grandfather was intrigued that the British could eat such a pudding. He grew up in Belgium, as a Frenchman, and was very in tune with good food, good land, good people, and goodness generally. Stern though he was, his heart could melt at times, through sentiment.

It was memorable, but looking back it's amazing how many have gone, and my little French grandmother no longer knows what Christmas is, yet she ran her own business, barely 5 years ago, employing 42 people.

The funny thing was, that we only decided to make Christmas 1993 a complete family event at the last moment, maybe on the 22nd or 23rd, and it has become the best memory of all my Christmases, and more importantly, the only time the whole family came together, effortlessly and beautifully. It's never been able to happen since, and never can again, so Christmas needs two thoughts in mind, one we instinctively groan about, the other is of our own choosing.

Well, now I have my green tea, as I completed a delicious Indian takeaway for supper.

So, what are your thoughts about Christmas, do you have any hopes for this year's festive time, or any special Christmases past?
Please share them if you have.

There are none so distant that fate cannot bring together

Blog buddies, what is your most striking memory of school?
What do you think school taught you, and do you think it was positive or negative for you life?

For myself, my school was fearfully strict, punishingly so, but it taught some discipline that'll never be forgotten, however, the contradictions were very hard to cope with at a young age.

I remember bizarre punishments, such as having my shoelaces confiscated for a week, and standing on a chair at dinnertime for a full 50 minutes, while trying to eat, simply because I chatted at the wrong second.
But, on a positive note, it also taught us unselfishness, and as a class, we thought as one, and that was good, though individualism wasn't at the fore.

Discipline seemed top of the aggenda, and sometimes I felt they enjoyed dishing it out, but their were tender moments of care and real wisdom too. Those times were truly priceless!

Anyway, please enjoy some real student exam answers, below;

The inhabitants of Egypt were called mummies. They lived in the Sarah Dessert and traveled by Camelot. The climate of the sarah is such that the inhabitants have to live elsewhere, so certain areas of the dessert are cultivated by irritation. The Egyptians built the Pyramids in the shape of a huge triangular cube. The Pyramids are a range of mountains between France and Spain.

The Bible is full of interesting caricatures. In the first book of the Bible, Guinesses, Adam and Eve were created from an apple tree. One of their children, Cain, asked "Am I my brother's son?" God asked Abraham to sacrifice Issac on Mount Montezuma. Jacob, son of Issac, stole his brother's birthmark. Jacob was a patriarch who brought up his twelve sons to be patriarchs, but they did not take to it. One of Jacob's sons, Joseph, gave refuse to the Israelites.

Pharaoh forced the Hebrew slaves to make bread without
straw. Moses led them to the Red Sea, where they made
unleavened bread, which is bread made without any
ingredients. Afterwards, Moses went up on Mount Cyanide to get the ten commandments. David was a Hebrew king skilled at playing the liar. He faught with the Philatelists, a race of people who lived in Biblical times. Solomon, one of David's sons, had 500 wives and 500 porcupines.

'He was well serv'd for his blind Zeale, who going to cut doune an ancient white Hauthorne-tree, which, because she budded before others, might be an occasion of Superstition, had some of the prickles flew into his eye, and made him Monocular.'
James Howell, 'Dodona's Grove' 1644

Hawthorn, a famous hedgerow tree throughout the UK, was a symbol of psychic protection, because of it's sharp thorns, and also regarded as a tree of good luck and fortune to the owner of the land upon which it stood. The Oak, Ash and Hawthorn belong to a trilogy of sacred Irish trees, which were also planted as protective hedges around fields, churchyards and houses. The traveller may also have been protected in a psychic way, by the Hawthorn according to superstition, and the twigs were used as a cure for depression, with the powdered seeds offering a remedy for gallstones.

The Maypole was sometimes made from this tree; used by the Celts to dance at Beltrane. Walking sticks to were made from the Hawthorn. Conversely, the Hawthorn was seen as lucky and unlucky, some folklore sayings announced the crown of thorns laid upon the head of Christ at the Crucifiction was made from Hawthorn, but it was also thought that great peril would befall anyone cutting this tree down.

The Hawthorn was interwoven with the character of the giant, Yspaddaden, in the Welsh romance of Kulhwch and Olwen, and through this the Hawthorn symbolises the advance of summer and defeat of winter, and in ancient times Hawthorn flowers were gathered by young girls who bathed them in dawn dew to preserve for another year the beauty of the flowers, the white variety also being used as decoration for weddings. The Celts believed the Hawthorn released negative energy which may have beem trapped.

Arthurian sources say that Nimue tapped Merlin in a Hawthorn tree, though the most famous thorn tree can be found, historically, at Glastonbury, where it sprouted from Joseph of Arimathea's staff, reputedly only on Christmas Day. However, the original tree was believed to have been cut during the English Civial War, cuttings from the original are thought to still be the ones seen today at the Abbey.

The Festival of Beltrane uses branches of the tree, with blossom removed, to symbolise "the beauty of the journey", while it also has connections with the Goddess Brighid. There is often the saying of the Hawthorn, 'the shedding of the old to make way for the new' and this tree has bridged the gap between Paganism and Christianity.

The hottest known fire can be felt from the Hawthorn, (The Hawthorn in ancient mythology is said to have been created from lightning and it is known that Germans traditionally used Hawthorn wood in funeral pyres as it was thought to assist the souls of the dead in ascension), and it's leaves and blossom often used as a tea for the alleviation of anxiety, poor circulation or loss of apetite. A small tree with a dense foliage and habit, thus it's use as a hedging plant.

Hawthorn derives from the Anglo-Saxon 'haegthorn' meaning 'hedgethorn' and also known as Whitethorn, (originates from the contrast of the smooth, grey bark with the powdery black of the Blackthorn), and May, (hailing from the month when the tree blossoms, and it's uses for Maypoles on Mayday).

The prickles of the Hawthorn are extremely protective, and many species can be found throughout Europe, though hard to differentiate, though all shrubs are of the Rose family.

As for the character of the Hawthorn individual, (under Celtic Tree Signs), dived into the first two weeks of the sign month, (the "new moon"), and the last two weeks, (the "full moon"), the new moon is more impulsive than than the full moon, with a deeper sensitivity. Positive sides are their sense of consolidation, as the full moon is entirely different being hard to understand thier feelings exactly, especially regarding relationships. The full moon,with a wide thought process is capable of unlocking closed doors.

Hawthorn individuals possess charisma, ceativity and innovation, and are multi-talented adaptable to change, with qualties that bear a resenlence to ancient Celtic Bards and Druids, performing particularly well in the arts. They may be seen as influential though sympathetic, lively and spontaneous, communicative and self-confident, all helping them to have leadership skills. As friends they are generally honest and sincere, with good listening and sympathetic qualities. The temper is a problem, occasonally volatile and rages of anger.

Hawthorn's are capable of wonderful ideas, plans, schemes etc, and these individuals are quick to see weakness in others, though not in a negative, ruthless way, simply a clever strategist.

Hawthorn individuals are sport-minded, active, with a crisp humour, overflowing with innuendo, allowing them journalistic opportunity. Though a low boredom threshold is present in Hawthorn characters, long-lasting relationships prove a hurdle, though parenting is a major plus, with a sharp mind, full of colour, they do get bored quickly, seeking constant mental stimulation, wishing to have their fingers in "all pies" they appear ageless.

Gemstone: The Hawthorn gemstone is the Topaz, a common, semi-precious, transparent gemstone that has been used in jewelry making for centuries.

Flower: The flower of the Hawthorn is the Wood Sorrel, a small perennial plant with heart-shaped, three-part leaves (akin to those of the Shamrock or Clover) which often fold together. Thus, it is sometimes called the "prayer plant" and may be the "true Shamrock" by which Saint Patrick demonstrated the Trinity to the Ancient Irish.

'It is thought that by virtue of the sacred fire which flows from the thorns the souls of the dead are received into the sky, and it is clear that this sacred fire is the image of the celestial fire, and the burning of the corpse a symbol of the storm, since the funeral pyre and the hammer were both consecrated to the god Thor.'
Dr. Grill : 'Die Erzvater der Menscheit'

It was a kind of so-so love and I'm gonna make sure it never happens again

Good morning friends, how are you all? Well I hope.

Today is less cold, but cold enough, and inching-out of my driveway this morning was, (and always is), so amusing; the line of queuing traffic stretches as far as the eye cannot see, with the stop-start flow the most frustrating for all in question, least of all those of us who live here and only wish to get out and head in the opposite direction, onto the free side. People's faces, expressions, body language, or lack of each of those human properties really makes me smile...as they approach me, (I'm positioned, indicating right, waiting to seize my chance), I notice their eyes looking right, away from my gaze, failing to notice my wish to go on the other side, and thus, (if only they'd realise), not delay them in anyway.

And now your life's a mess
So insecure you see

The oppositions' left shoulder raises slightly, an act of defiance as if I wouldn't notice you sly things you, and you pretend to think, your thoughtful pose does not fool me, I'm used to it remember, I even saw you pass my home last week, heavens, you even have the same jacket though your stubble has come a long way in that time, is it for Christmas??

I put up with all the scenes
And this is one scene
That's going to be played my way

The worst of all, the nose-picker, or the in-car boutique types who pretend I'm actually parked in this position with indicator on, and subsequently block-me out, refusing to let me play this game...well, it's not true, because my hooter can make YOU blush! Just listen.

Take your hands off me
I don't belong to you, you see

My own eyes are fixed now, the shoulders are up too, both left and right...one better than your effort, and I'm watching you, waiting for that moment you catch my eye, making me the winner, and our onward journey's continue with this moment forever fresh, forever lost.

Take a look at my face
For the last time

As the traffic lights conspire against you, it means green for me of said abode, and you have no alternative but to see WHO I am and what am I trying to do...yes, that's right, I'm turning RIGHT...ohhhhhhhh...so that's OK after all, but you still do not know if a flick of the lights is in order, or a hand signal, whatever, I'm taking it as red, (strange expression for this situation don't you think!), and head away from this intense moment.

I never knew you
You never knew me
Say hello goodbye
Say hello wave goodbye

I'm on my way, I've done it, somehow triumphant every time, somewhere a victory, a hollow one, but I am the champion because I got your lovely smile with my 'thank you' and my wave made you happy. Our shoulders can return to normal now, the prickles may retract, fight over, the real work awaits~~

We're strangers meeting for the first time, okay?
Just smile and say hello
Say hello then wave goodbye

Colour: Silver grey
Music: Soft Cell: Say Hello, Wave Goodbye
Christopher Goze: Barcelona
Thought: Ballpoints - Should they be awarded?

~~~

So I went to the Court of Requests (we have had the devil and all of rain by the by) to pick up a dinner.
-Swift, December 5th, 1710