According to recent research by Nielsen, the countries where people are most pessimistic are:
1. Greece (hardly surprising)
2. Portugal (ditto)
3. Hungary
On the other hand, the countries with the most optimistic people are:
1. India (!)
2. Philippines (!!)
3. Indonesia (!!!)
Flabbergasted reader’s reaction: DUDE, WHAT ARE YOU ON??? (Can I have some too?)
Courtesy of The Independent
According to the opinion polls, most Brits agree he did the right thing. Luckily he didn’t swallow it. Extraction then would have been even more painful.
Belated Christmas Greetings all! Been a bit busy with Grandchildren, since they haven’t seen me for three months 🙂
Just thought I’d share these photos.
And this is what it’s all about – a case where the value far exceeded the cost, or, as the credit card advert has it, priceless 🙂
after the presents
and too much to eat and drink
there’s the Christmas cake…
Hard to believe that this is my 245th post here on The Chariot, must be, WordPress kept encouraging me to reach the land mark and what better day to write a non-post then today, probably our quietest day of the year.
Presents opened this morning, I didn’t get a snowplough, I want one next year, First Mate at the Creek got one, I think it’s a cool gift. I bet none of my neighbours have one!
We had our Christmas meal in the afternoon, what do you call that? I know that a mid-morning meal is called brunch (being a cross between breakfast and lunch) but what about mid-afternoon, luper? (Lunch and supper.) I prefer it with one ‘p’ sounds more like super which it was.
245 not out, sounds like a cricket blog doesn’t it? Well it isn’t, it’s actually about nothing, just my late afternoon thoughts, it could be about cricket though. Two tests starting tomorrow. First the Aussies at 01:30 my time (23:30 gmt today) followed almost immediately by The Proteas at 10:00 my time (08:00gmt.)
The Aussies at the MCG are fielding an eleven with more new caps (well at least one) against the mighty Indians who surprisingly are only no.2 in the test rankings behind England. (Actually now that I think about it I’m not surprised at all.) Continue reading “245 Not Out”
Merry Christmas, everyone!
Continue reading “Not good after you have had a few.”
IÂ must have mentioned it before. Xmas morning in these parts is all about cold turkey. And that’s quite a feat when duck was on the menu.
I’m up early though, because, abstemious as ever, I can’t just lie in bed. And as I write I’m sure the youngest members of the clan back home are already up and rooting in their stockings to unearth untold delights.  And, I muse, children in Vikingland don’t get that pleasure. They had to see off the duck and rice-pud last evening before they could get at the goodies piled under the tree, ablaze with real candlelight (only the tree, I trust).
I wonder why Xmas starts too early here? It means today is a bit of an anti-climax, punctuated with visits to and from family and friends. At least in the UK the next day offers the best shopping of the year. Here normal life is cancelled.
IÂ can report however that we gave our local 18-month-old (amongst other things) a pair of maracas. Some gifts have to be taken to bed – ready for an early start! And by now she will have put them to good effect, encouraging the whole family at short range to continue the party. Attagirl! Continue reading “Xmas Morning”
You may recall that in various posts in the past I have mentioned the severity of our recent winters, cold and snow in abundance.
Well, a month or so ago, during a discussion at the dinner table concerning the upcoming winter and expectation of another doozy, the first mate made an offer to help in clearing the white stuff from about the property. “I’d like to help” I heard her say quite clearly. Being the considerate soul that I am, my response was probably “The big tractor with the snow blower up front is a real handful especially on the hill”  but I did remember the conversation, and again showing great consideration quietly acted upon it at the appropriate time.
When I was young, we did not really do Christmas in Scotland. Many people still worked at least the morning of the day itself. It was only as the 1960’s drew to an end that they started to take the whole day off.
I was a paper boy in the 1960’s. English papers were not published but all the Scots ones were. Sunday Christmas, in particular, was a total pain as every single household on my route took the ‘Sunday Post’ (ask Ferret about said paper) so the bag was twice as heavy. On the other hand, the tips were more generous as a result.
Continue reading “Scottish Christmas Greetings”
Boadicea's Chariot 
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