Nice time of year, full of positive vibes (apart from the election, of course.)

Loads of Probus social events for Probus members and their wives/partners/ friends. Lots of food, of course (and some alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.)

I’ve lost count of the events with food and drink that I’ve taken part in – and we haven’t reached Christmas yet!

• The club Christmas lunch was well attended and with lovely chatter and food
• The Probus carol concert had some great brass-band driven carols (and buffet)
• The biennial Christmas walkers’ lunch at William and Vic’s was a spectacular success – another 4 hour lunch. It’s a tribute to the 11 of us that we still have the stamina for such an activity!
• The traditional Probus walker’s lunch (it’s the lunch that’s traditional, not the walkers!) after a walk through the Fountain’s estate was excellent.
  • Our walk was notable mainly for having to walk past a line of pheasant shooters in the Valley of the Seven Bridges. They stopped (briefly) as we passed them, and we were ‘treated’ to the sight of birds plummeting to earth and being picked up by the gun dogs! Not a common experience.
  • The food at The Chequers pub was notable for its usual excellence in newly and beautifully decorated surroundings

OK there have to be some Christmas gripes.

• Why does sellotape for Christmas parcels have to be so thin that it’s really difficult to use, requiring constant re-establishing where the end of the roll is?
• Why does a fault that develops in your Pay TV have to wait for Christmas to materialise?
• Why are Christmas tree lights so complicated? They used to rely on all lights working correctly – if one failed, none of them would work. Now it seems that they have a huge number of settings – from always on to flashing at various frequencies. I had to rely on a visiting grand-daughter to fix it so that they didn’t flash all the time, driving me crazy (er)!
• Why are some websites so difficult to use (while others are wonderful)?
  • I’m now the proud owner of two pairs of new trousers of the same colour, rather than two of different colours that I thought I’d ordered!
  • Actually I like them, so maybe Google (or similar) knows better than I do as to what colour would suit me best? (Big Brother/Mother)

Happy Christmas!

It must be getting near Christmas-time. The calendar is filling up with Probus events of all sorts(and a few non-Probus).

Our Christmas Probus lunch earlier this week was very enjoyable. A great bunch of members, their partners and guests enjoying some excellent food and a chance to win the bottles of fine wine and some pretty fine chocolates in the raffle. A happy start to the festivities. The weather was lovely as we arrived, with a gorgeous blue sky, but it deteriorated by the end of the meal towards a seasonally appropriate early sunset.

Conversations with my sister in Western Australia establish that she’s ‘perspiring’ in 42 degrees heat, hiding away in her home or in air-conditioned shopping malls. I’m diplomatically sympathetic to her plight, but inwardly a bit jealous. Australia does seem to have extremes of temperature at very odd times, with huge bush fires adding to the heat in many States.

Over here Christmas continues with our Probus walkers’ Christmas lunch on Monday, much awaited as the previous two in the last twelve months (we have a very flexible view about when Christmas actually is) were so enjoyable, raucous, fun. A bit Dickensian, perhaps (I’m imagining that bit, I’m not that old)

Then it’s on to the Probus Carol concert on Wednesday – another traditional gathering with half a brass band providing the music for our efforts at singing. And it’s still a fortnight to go until Christmas day!

We do have our Christmas Probus walk around Fountains Abbey on December 19th (with excellent food (especially the desserts) at The Chequers’ Inn).

Then there won’t be much time to fit in the inevitable present buying for the family.

Thank goodness for the late opening of petrol stations with their small shops – life savers for busy retired men!

Happy Christmas!