Great Time To Be Sick?

I wouldn't have considered that Christmas was a great time to be sick. I remember many years ago when my mum came down with the mumps on Christmas day and it completely ruined the day for her. Couple that with the fact that we were spending it three hours from home and it just added to the excitement.

As I hadn't had a break from work since the first week of Feb I thought that I might get sick due to relaxing too much and the body falling victim to the exhaustion that it should have experienced sometime during the year. That's happened before. This time around it was a little different.

On Christmas Eve my tummy didn't feel well. In the early hours of Christmas Day there I was talking on the great white telephone. I was calling Ralph although he wasn't answering. I thought that that would be the end of it. If something doesn't agree with the guts then the guts deals with it, right? Not in this case.

Two more days ensued of headaches, tiredness and general tummy upsetedness. Then came the runny poo. From 12:30 until 4:30 in the morning. The end of it? Nah.

Couple more days of nausea, not that I considered pregnancy to be a concern, before everything finished. One of my colleagues said that his father had the same issues and apparently it was going on at school just before they broke for the summer holidays too. Glad to hear that it wasn't just me.

Great. Sick on a Saturday (Christmas Day), Sunday and two public holidays and no sick leave. Hah. Not to worry. Did it ruin Christmas? No. The Boy was only interested in the presents and the missus in the Boxing Day sales. Everybody else got what they wanted. I just happened to have Christmas lunch a few days late. And to think that on Christmas Day I only ate a piece of toast and a cup of soup. No turkey for this turkey.

I'm all better now. Back to my sort of normal.

Merry Christmas One And All

I'd like to wish everyone a merry Christmas for 2009, whether you celebrate Christmas or not. May your family arguments over the dinner table be amicable, your turkey/chicken/prawns be cooked just right and peace and wellbeing bestowed upon you and your family. Stay safe over the holiday period so that I may have the pleasure of your company in 2010.

Getting A Little Ahead Of Ourselves Aren't We?

It's October. That time of year again. The time when the shops are filled with Christmas decorations. Gee, we need more holidays to fill the void to delay the onset of Christmas I reckon. Isn't it a little too early? Aren't we getting a little ahead of ourselves?

Speaking of getting ahead of ourselves my watch has a very strange habit. There is a calendar function and date on it. Every now and again, you can count on it happening once a year at least, the watch sets the date forward by one day and one month. It actually occurred a few days ago and September 24th became October 25th. I did set the date as the 25th (of September) on a few items before I thought that something was fishy.

Now, I don't know if the watch is possessed by a timelord or the like but it didn't want to be reset to the correct date. I'd go through the process of changing the date and month and as soon as I put the watch back on the current time it forwarded the date again. It took until the next day before I could set the date and it wouldn't change it of its own volition. And it behaves this way every time this happens. I should take a video and send it to the manufacturer next time.

Creepy, eh?

It's Hot - Must Be Christmas Time

As I was not working today we had decided that it would be a good idea for The Boy to visit Santa. He had been dying to see him so that he could safely forget about that which he wanted. It's all too much pressure for someone of his years. Surely you can appreciate that. There could be nothing worse than forgetting to tell Santa what you wanted for Christmas.

We headed to Myer in the city and, as expected, there was quite a queue of people waiting. Never mind. Boy, did The Boy appear nervous in front of Santa. Quite like a naughty boy in front of the headmaster. And he only asked for one thing. I'm very happy to see that he's not greedy and materialistic.

Naughty boy (looks like) with Santa

The Boy With Santa in 2008

That's not a real reindeer

Christmas Tree in Perth 2008

You could tell it is Christmas time. Apart from the Christmas tree in the city that is. The mercury hit 38 degrees today. And we're talking celsius here.

Save Money At Christmas Time

I have an almost foolproof way of saving money without being too cheap a bastard about it. I still enjoy sending Christmas cards to friends and family so don't get me wrong. This year I've been rather slack and haven't written a single Christmas card. Australia Post gives you until December 31st to post at the Christmas card rate, although this opportunity has been available since November 1st, so I still have some time. They'll all be late however. I can live with that.

So, the cards are coming in and I've heard from a range of people. One card arrived today that the stamp wasn't postmarked. Beauty. I've scored myself a free stamp. Now, if I mix that with the card that my mum sent my son but forgot to write in, I've scored one card and postage for free. Now that's my frugal tip for Christmas.