santa exists

This is a true story. Sadly I cannot recollect the year, but think it was around the mid 1980’s. The date is however known and the  events that follow took place on the evening of 24 December. I have recounted this story several times so thought it was about time I put pen to paper, so to speak.

My witness to back me up is my good friend Graham Johns. He recollects the night as vividly as I do.

Graham and I started fishing on Newquay headland around 8pm in the evening. We both enjoyed fishing then as we would always be on our own. We settled into a favoured spot, rigged up and chatted away like good friends do. On a fishing front, it was a busy night. We fished with 6 rods and the rod tips rattled away all night. Small whiting and coddling were to blame, sadly none of them were “keepers”.

If you have ever shore fished at night, you will know it can be a noisy place. The wind comes and goes, waves crash around the rocks so the background noise is always there. But not this night. It was eerily silent. No wind. There must have been a big high pressure zone above us as the sea was flat as a pancake. Consequently there were no waves, just a subtle lapping away to the rocks below us. It was also one of those clear nights. Once your eyes had adjusted to the darkness, a million stars were out on display.

As the evening wore on you could clearly hear revellers in Newquay singing away and generally making noise. I would estimate we were at least a mile away. If you have ever been out at night in the countryside, you will know just how far sound carries. It was just one of those rare quite nights on the shoreland.

The clock chimes of Newquay were crystal clear, so you just had the pay attention to know what the time was.

I should add that Newquay headland is pitch black as you are looking out to sea. The brightly lit town centre is pretty much straight behind you. So, as we were fishing, it was important to keep eyes peeled into the blackness. A mere glance at the town lights would ruin your darkness vision for a good 5 minutes or so.

So, the clock countdown was on and it started to chime its tune for midnight. Then the first dong rang out. Just at that very moment, way up in the sky out to sea, a bright light appeared. If you have ever seen a shooting star, it was just like that. But a lot brighter. Needless to say, you just automatically looked at it, mesmerised. It made a clear track towards Graham and myself, getting brighter all the time. The town centre clock continued to dong away the midnight countdown.

The bright light passed over our heads and arced straight into Newquay Town centre bang on the 12th chime. Graham and I just stood there watching in amazement. What a grand way for Santa to arrive on his sleigh.

With that, we packed up and made our way to our respective homes. We still grin and give one another a knowing wink at Christmas time. We have seen him. End of.

A month in my life – December 09

The random happenings in my life during December 2009.  The names of the guilty have been changed. But they should know who they are. I might even be subject to some retribution……. 

This is the month that the jolly big red coated chap arrives. Here he is: 

I asked for a million pounds and a blonde with a large chest. He failed to deliver.

Apart from the usual present fiasco, Christmas Day went well. Full tum, walk on the beach and unbelievably, first “spring” daffodil in bloom spotted. No, I’m not winding you up, as I have a picture to prove it. 

Picture taken around 4pm on Christmas Day 2009 at Playing Place, Truro, Cornwall

People walking on Beach at Falmouth, Cornwall, Christmas Day 2009

I hope you all enjoyed the festive season and New Year capers. One person I follow on Twitter is Mark Beaumont who is cycling from the north of America, right down to the Southernmost point. He was in Chile for Christmas, and his Christmas Day posting was “Must have a hole in tent as woken with thousands of ants all over my breakfast. Just trying to brush them off. Might be a crunchy meal”. I trust your Christmas Day started better! Puts life into perspective doesn’t it? 

Burger Boy is adamant that Father Christmas does not exist. Poor deluded chap. 

And my final Christmas Day thought goes to the person who accessed my joke section. Hope I made you smile and you enjoyed the day! 

It is the month of general excess and I had a heavy week of fun with too much food in the lead up to Christmas week. Had great company mind and a tremendous laugh as well. Cheers m’dears….. 

So I wander into the new superstore for Curry/PC World and look on in amazement. Wish the doors were wide enough for me to drive through. It’s so big I need SatNav. Wow. An hour later I walk out with the £1.99 bit I was after. 

This month, I had several trips. London for a few days and then onto Cornwall as “The Boss” was 83. She barked out her instructions, I raced around like a lunatic getting all the bits. Will she ever slow down? Then back down again for a few days at Christmas. 

As for London, well, it was grim weather, but still very enjoyable. It’s such a multi-cultural place; it was rare to hear English being spoken. Asked for directions three times, and they were all none English speaking people. So I muddled through with Nokia Maps and did just fine. 

 

Out of the blue, the man from Abergavenny rang. We had a quick update chat and will hook up for a proper natter in the New Year. I thanked him for the best advice I have ever received. He gave it to me about three years ago and it is now my mantra. Take life easy he said. You have worked too hard for too long. You need to have done everything, seen it all and got the t-shirt. And make sure you do it twice over before you are 75. Well, 2009 was the first year of my new life. I’ve had an utter blast. Hope it lasts!!! 

As you know, I like my gadgets. And I’ve just bought the best one for ages. It’s called a Power Monkey and I got the solar adaptor as well. No more using electricity to charge my gadgets. Now all solar power. Who would have thought I would go “green”. Interestingly, it charges under a normal light bulb. But no charge under an energy efficient bulb. Mmmmm. Assume this is a spectrum of light thing. It even charges in the weak winter sunshine. While it states on the blurb that a full charge will re-charge a mobile 3 times, it only does mine 1.5 times. Ahh, the cost of a smartphone, with monster battery…… 

Power Monkey at the back, solar charger in front

Bob the Builder now claims to make the best pina colada. His recipe is 25% Appletons Rum, 25% coconut cream, 25% Malibu, 25% pineapple juice, shaken with loads of crushed ice. What do you think? 

Another new Skype user joins the ranks with much video waiving. And then I read that Nokia have just released a beta version of full the full Skype program. So not too far away from an official release then. Simply cannot wait for that. I already use the Fring version on my E90 which is “cut down and basic”, so will be great when a full official version is available. Will let you know when I’ve used it. 

The Man from Lydney had an accident. Snapped achilles tendon diagnosed, operated on and duly plastered. It came as no surprise that he could not cope with crutches – if you have met him, you’ll know what I mean. So, swallowing pride, he does the zimmer frame thing. Must get a picture…… 

At long last the weather took a turn for the worse, and winter duly arrived. Burger Boy then complains about being cold at the football “don’t understand it” he says “I’m wearing 5 layers”. Oh dear. All this is old hat now and simply irrelevant. Modern day fabrics rule the roost. He was frozen wearing 5 layers. I was warm and toasty wearing just two. The main difference? His first layer was a cotton t-shirt. Cotton absorbs sweat and so cools you down. Useful in summer, rubbish in winter. I wore a man-made fabric next to my skin. It wicks away sweat and so keeps your body dry. And therefore warm. My second layer was a very untrendy “buffalo” jacket. As used by the British Army – to sleep in i.e. It has replaced sleeping bags. Wonderful use of fabrics means it keeps the body the same temperature in a range of 12C to -10C. Oh, and it withstands 1″ of rain per 45 mins. Untrendy, but I was nice and warm!! 

By the way, if you are ever desperately cold, shivering away, get home as soon as you can. Make a hot drink. Whilst it’s cooling down to a drinkable state, have a hot shower. And when getting dressed, put on fresh clothes – not the old cold ones. You should be nice and warm within 20 mins of getting home. 

I live near Cribbs Causeway on the outskirts of Bristol. This means when the sales are on, I’m at home due to grid-locked roads. I hope everyone who was at the shops or stuck in traffic around noon on Monday 28th enjoyed the free treat. One of the two resident Spitfires took off from Filton Airfield and did 20 mins of acrobatics. Utterly glorious sight. Oh, and the noise from that Merlin engine. Untold joy. 

I did watch some news this month. I established the weather went cold, snow fell, and it was a holiday period, so people did strange things – like eat too much and they all went to the shops at the same time. 

My cycling update is a tad bereft this month as too much snow, ice, wind and rain. Despite this, my best mate beat my PB when he did a 32 mile non-stop trip. Beat me by 2 miles, so gauntlet laid down then. 

General Randomness 

No new articles written this month, just loads of jokes. Go on, have a butchers…. 

Did you know that 31 December 2009 was literally “once in a blue moon”? No, well let me explain. A Blue Moon is when there are two full moons in the same calendar month. On average this happens every 2.5 years. The next one that occurs on New Years Eve will not be until 2028. 

If you like movies, I highly recommend watching Sherlock Holmes. A great storyline that has been put into pictures.

Sports News 

I only went to watch Bristol City this month as combination of bad weather and fixture clashes. Nice company as usual, shame about the poor standard of football. As for my beloved Birmingham City, well, what a first half of the season that was! Above Liverpool at Christmas. No one could have seen that coming. At least I’ve been a fan for more than 40 years, so I know what happens next…. 

The best sporting achievement of the year goes to James Bowthorpe. Bet you have never heard of him! He cycled around the world in just 174 days, beating the old world record by an astonishing 20 days. Get your calculator out – 18,000 miles in 174 days. He was 32 years old and it was a £1.8m fund-raiser for research into Parkinson’s Disease. Will he get an MBE in the New Year Honours list? Err, no he didn’t. Do I relax in case he was offered, but refused? Or do I witter on about an injustice?