Remembering

The November calendar picture. A reminder on this Remembrance Sunday to be grateful for peace and beauty, and to pray again for those places torn apart by war, where once beautiful surroundings have been reduced to mud and rubble.

The little bear looks alone and pensive on the bench as the two swans swim by together. Beautiful surroundings, but an awareness that for many people today they will be remembering lost loved ones.

May God bring peace and comfort...

You Can't Always Get What You Want!

 
Here is the 2026 John Lewis Christmas Ad with Kristen Scott Thomas - it is the 20th one they have done. You can find a link to all the other 19 here. My favourite was 2011, the little boy who couldn't wait to give his gift. I confess to being in the NO group in my response to this year's offering. There are so many things about this that just don't hang together... 

The family have obviously come a long way, so of course the first thing they will say is "I need the loo!" It is usually the first thing I say when I arrive in Manchester. And the usual response is "OK. Shall I put the kettle on, Mum?" That is not a sign your grandchildren do not love you, or are being rude. They do not want to wet their pants, and you do not want to have to shampoo the carpet. 

Grandma KST is clearly rich  - I think she should explain to her family that they are very wealthy but a lot of people are lonely and hungry at Christmas. Perhaps she could invite her MI6 colleague Jackson Lamb round to share lunch with them - that would give the children a new experience, I think they would love him and his scatological sense of humour

I cannot say "what kind of granny fills a room with sparkly foil and twinkling lights then plays music loudly and dances about enthusiastically with the children?" because that is exactly what I did recently at the Church Funday. But I do think Christmas gifts require forethought. 

I could go on, but I won't. My main gripe is that KST appears to live alone in a massive house in London and is extremely wealthy. 90% of the families watching the ad will not be able to identify with her lifestyle. I think the advertising team at JL have missed the mood of the nation. 

Huge thankyou to Eleanor who alerted me to the lovely M&S ad. Where Santa SHAVES!!! 

What's your favourite Christmas advert? 

A Short Extract

Yesterday I had a dodgy molar removed. It was huge, and cracked, and needed to come out. Roshan removed it smoothly, in one go, with no pain. Lots of anaesthetic involved. Much numbness. And then 4 months for the gum to heal and then an implant to fill the huge gap. [leaving a huge gap in my savings account...] 
 

A Journey Of Hope

This is the theme for the 2026 Christmas stamps, released in Tuesday by Royal Mail and designed by Rebecca Sutherland and Gareth Howat. I think they are absolutely lovely. I shall buy a year's worth! The five illustrations chronicle the classic Nativity narrative:

• Mary and Joseph's difficult journey to Bethlehem
• The infant Jesus in the manger
• A watchful angel
• The humble shepherds receiving the good news
• The Three Wise Men following the guiding star

PS Thank you l for your kind birthday wishes for Bob yesterday

Happy Birthday, Bob

I love this picture, taken on our Wedding Anniversary in August. A week later Bob started preparing to be Santa for the church toddler group

He looks so very different now...

But inside, he's still the same clever, funny, caring, bloke - both loving and loved. A very special husband, dad, grandad and friend. Have a wonderful day 

What's Next On The Agenda?

September and October were ridiculously busy

• There were the fixed points where I had to be somewhere else - Cyprus, College Thanksgiving, Bayeux Tapestry, Thrive Conference. 
• Special local events - Harvest Festival, Choir Concert, Lunch with friends, the Family Funday at Church. Four PLACE assessments at local hospitals.
• Half term with the grandchildren.
• And all those medical/dental appointments - between us we had fifteen appointments in seven weeks [and an extraction this coming Thursday - a large molar, which will then mean an implant]

On Saturday I stayed in my pjs until 1pm! Then we had a pub lunch, because Bob had been busy all morning and a break together was a good idea. But I came home and wrote a new to-do list for November. It is alarmingly long. There are so many little tasks which have been deferred because of all the other stuff. I have a definite system for my lists.

1. I begin with a totally random list writing things down as they occur to me
2. After another cup of coffee I add in some more things
3. Then I rewrite it in a more sensible order [eg'meal planning' has to come before 'making shopping list', and 'putting things back into loft' must come after 'sorting out craft stuff on spare bed']
4. There are always instant tasks which I can do easily and tick off quickly to make myself feel better [put purple trug back into the garage

And occasionally I put things in categories - craft tasks, home tasks, Christmas planning.

I may put stars by more important activities or write due dates in red before 7th November

35 years ago, I admit I would write things like
Get Dressed
Eat Breakfast
Take Girls to School-
simply because I knew those things would get done, so I'd have at least three ticks on my list by bedtime, no matter what other urgent matters had taken precedence over ironing, or mending.

But I am so much more laid back about lists and deadlines than I was back then. I was working part-time 2 days a week at the Primary School in the next road to the one my daughters attended. On the days I was there, my two would wait patiently at the school gate, and I would be there about 10 minutes after they came out. I'd often walk up the road with another parent from 'my' school. One day she said to me "How do you fit in all the work, and home and church stuff? I mean, I am just a stay at home Mum and I can't manage it all. I haven't washed my skirting boards this week" I was dumb-struck
Admit it, readers, how many of you washed your skirting boards down last week, and plan to do it this week as well? Apart from redecorating, we haven't had serious skirting board ablutions since the great Chocolate Mousse Disaster of 1991 [when the visiting missionaries who had come for lunch knelt down to help us, even though their dessert had been comprehensively splattered everywhere]

Next on my agenda right now - another cup of tea, I think
Do you have urgent things on your to do list?
And what about the less important feel-good tasks?

I Enjoy Thrillers

 In the autumn evenings, I am quite happy to curl up with my knitting and watch a thriller or 'police procedural' on TV. My favourites at the moment [apologies to those without these channels]

On Netflix, the wonderful "Lupin" - a very clever contemporary take on the vintage detective novels of Maurice Leblanc "Arséne Lupin, Gentleman thief" starring Omar Sy. 
This is Series 4, and the action takes place mostly in Paris - with great motorbike stunts, and a heart-stopping climb to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Family relationships and struggles of conscience underlie the action.[subtitled]

Also Netflix, political thriller The Diplomat. West Wing stalwarts Alison Janney and Bradley Whitford in the White House [she's POTUS] and Rufus Sewell is VP, married to Keri Russell [US ambassador to UK] Rory Kinnear is an excellent British PM, ably assisted by two of my favourite UK actors, Celie Imrie and Nancy Carroll

On "U", this NZ series [1&2 available now] features a homicide detective who comes home. Her mother is played by Rebecca Gibney, who you may recognise from Halifax f.p., Winter, and other Oz dramas.

Anna Pigeon,[also on U] a woman who left City life following a personal tragedy, and became a Park Ranger. The scenery is wonderful, filmed in Alberta, Canada. Based on the novels by Nevada Barr. I'd not heard of NB before, but she, and both her 1st and 2nd husbands qualified as Rangers in the US Parks Service, so I guess she is an expert.

Finally, the delightful Adrian Scarborough, pedalling his bicycle furiously round London, in The Chelsea Detective, Season 4 [another on on U]

What are you watching this season?