If only ! I hear you say! To witness the bad-tempered shoppers and manic motorists, one would never guess the intended mood of the winter holidays. Danes are always spacially unaware in crowds; the only space of interest is their own, as of right. And now their rudeness is compounded by a desire to grab the very items other foragers are examining. But soft! Here in the backwoods the deer are still keeping their distance, blissfully ignorant of the seasonal fun the hunters will soon be sharing with them.
So despite everything, friends, my close companion Backside joins me in wishing you and yours whatever respite you seek for yourselves these dark days. I’ve told him there’s so much to be positive about. (No reply.)
Boadicea's Chariot 
Aw shucks J! Do what I do, declare a fatwah on the whole thing re commercialism, it is unbelievably liberating. I do entertain people only because I am an obsessive cook and some poor soul has got to eat my production. All this flogging round the shops etc is bound to put any/everyone in a bad mood in any country!
I have not heard one Christmas carol yet, I don’t shop, I have not been anywhere to hear them. I shall go to midnight mass, as I do every year and then go to Canada for the day on the 25th where friends are taking the strain. I shall smuggle the desserts across the border!
Anyway, what better present to us all than the criminal raghead getting his just desserts in Milan? And the real miracle? That there were two armed policemen patrolling an outer suburban train station at 3am!!! Well done the Italians. Krauts well and truly egged! Splendid. Happy Christmas.
I am convinced that this is a plot by the banks and post office to take yet another bank day. Bugger the inconvenience it causes everyone else! Once again I’m stuck cooking on the 25th. Roast beef, horse radish, Yorkshire pudding and herb potatoes. Fortunately, no unwanted guests this year.
CO: Bloody joke, really. The German government is looking more and more pitiful. Merkel’s response has been truly risible. Our safety and security is her government’s chief priority? Please, that’s like ASDA or Tesco saying “your satisfaction is our goal”.
Well I just hope they put her out of office next year. somehow I doubt it, Germany has had such a reaction to the WW2 and has been brainwashed so satisfactorily I doubt if this alone can turn it around. I gather the law there excludes the state from refusing entry to all and sundry. Presumably done to encourage Jews to return originally? Unfortunately hit the wrong market! I’m quite sure no one anticipated a million ragheads turning up!
We too are having beef in Canada. It appears to be a very popular choice here or baked ham. Makes a good change from Thanksgiving turkey. Snowing here what’s it doing in California?
We’re just about to get Hurricane Somebodyorother. But it’s mild, if damp.
I applaud the Italians for their vigilance; ironic the Danish plod claimed the fugitive was up here. I blame Shengen. The Scandiwegians hate the idea but it would stop the leakage of terrorists around Europe if Shengen were cancelled.
Exactly so! A good idea in a civilised perfect world but it has been abused dreadfully and should be abandoned as quickly as possible. Of course nobody foresaw that millions of ragheads would come storming to the EU,, Big mistake even letting in the first, that only encouraged the rest. Should have rounded them up, kept them in camps and shipped them out ‘tout sweet’. Ones collected off leaky boats dumped back on the shore from whence they came, would have stopped it all dead. God rot all liberals pinkos!
The Australians had it right. No point going if you can’t get past their island camp. Noticeable fewer even try these days.
I guess your coming storm is the one passing over the UK at the moment. Just been speaking to my sister who lives in Barnstaple on a hill above the town. Said there was so much rain and manic wind that sheets of water were blowing UP the road! So batten down the hatches!
CO: Oh, things have changed rapidly in Germany. Merkel has unleashed a tiger of public disgust, rage and discontent. Years of festering social and economic decline are catching up at the same time that Gimmegrants are proving themselves to be nuisances with no chance of economic or cultural integration. It will prove hard to dislodge Merkel. Germany selects MPs through proportional representation and minority governments are unconstitutional. The CDU/CSU are likely to be returned as the largest bloc but with a heavily reduced number, roughly 28-30pc of votes, methinks. The Social Democrats are like Labour — a lost cause and they’ll probably secure 20-22pc of votes. No other government but the present will be possible under Germany’s constitutional arrangement. The silver lining is that the ones who created this mess will have to take responsibility for it.As for Germany’s asylum law… An act of atonement for the Second World War. Terribly misguided, really.
Janus and CO: Schengen was conceived at a time of relative peace and stability. There weren’t many great mass movements of people to worry about. Then, mass migrations started in earnest and no one had a clue what to do about it. It has partially collapsed with “temporary” border checks now entering years, not months. Some things made sense. For example, tourists from low-risk countries like China or Vietnam being able to travel with a single visa. One forgets that it was a terrible nuisance when it was obligatory to have a visa for each country visited. With so many smaller countries it was sensible to have common issuance standards. Dropping border checks was a terrible mistake. The Nordic countries, however, had their own common visa policy and freedom of movement prior to the EU — hence Iceland and Norway, despite having the sense to stay out of the EU, becoming members of Schengen.
Rainy weather in California — snow might come this evening, however. I will avoid driving in it.
I was havering on going to midnight mass. We usually go but was considering missing this year. However, since the ragheads have issued a list of USA churches to attack I have changed my mind.
I shall go and indulge in a bit of mandatory ‘seasonal cheer’ as a total matter of principle. One wonders how many will go tooled up? Not quite the thing though is it? But wouldn’t blame them.
… I may not be a Christian, but may God (who-ever, where-ever, if-ever he, she, it or they might be) help anyone who tells me I cannot celebrate my traditional festival with the words:
“Merry Christmas!!”
To you and ‘im indoors too, Boa!