Farewell to another ....

 Morning Mugs,

How was Christmas then? Different I expect for very many. 

My team (Chelsea) have been happily ruining it's supporters Christmases since 1905 and this year was no different. A perfunctory win over West Ham, a shambolic defeat versus Arsenal and an honourable draw against Aston Villa, where of course we had many chances to bury them but failed to do so.  Football and any elite level sport is rather paradoxically both trivial and vital during these times of lockdown, tiered areas and lack of actual physical social meeting with friends and relatives. 

For the football/sports fan, it provides a release, a place to semi-replicate going to a match, to virtually meet friends and to share the joy and pain of the sporting experience. This is probably even more acutely recognised by actual match going fans. My point is that it is trivial, it's elite sport and entertainment for the masses....and it doesn't appeal to everyone, but for many it is a straw to clutch during times of loneliness and worry. The pain and joy of watching football or your preferred sport, especially if you have a 'team' is a welcome distraction for many and any distraction is a good thing for mental health.

On Christmas Eve, the last of my Mum's generation finally passed. My Auntie Nancy was 92, born in Sneem in County Kerry. She was a very...forthright person....almost typically Irish in that sometimes honesty was the least diplomatic route, but it was also the truth. I won't dwell on it here, but there is some sadness tingeing her passing...she was the 3rd eldest of the sisters and brother (singular, one boy with 6 sisters!) and the last to go. However, in amongst that lack of diplomacy was a wicked sense of humour and a pragmatism that went way beyond her upbringing and education in rural Ireland.  For now, my favourite paraphrases quotes from her are below. 

 

RIP Auntie Nancy.

'Sure haven't I got the worst headache ever....it must have been  a bad bottle of tonic' - said the day after her and my Mum demolished 2 bottles of gin but decided the tonic was 'bad'....

After not having seen me for 6 years, her greeting was this....'Sure..aren't you right fecking shape for heart attack' .....no 'Hello', no 'How are You'......just that. Magic.

Later Mugs, GJ

 

Keep up Jack

 Morning Mugs,

Need a little lift? This weekend you will see the Winter Solstice which means from Monday...the nights start to draw out. Thank fuck for that. I have rfeached an age where I really don't like winter. I don't like dark early evenings. I don't like rain. I don't like wind. There is a slight downside to this in that it will still get light a little later each morning for a while. 

 

Also on December 20th and 21st we will see the 'great conjunction' of Jupiter and Saturn, where the two planets appear to us to be next to each other. It did happen in 2000 but the Sun sort of got in the way of any real vision of such a rare celestial event. Before that it seems it was in 1623, but again records indicate it was too close to the sun to be seen in any great tdetail. There is a some weight to the theory that this great conjunction might have been the Star of Bethlehem! 

Anyway, weather permitting I will be outside with my telescope(s) trying to catch a glimpse. The UK weather had better start to calm down then.And yes, I am a new astronomer if you hadn't guessed. I have rekindled an interest and love of the stars and the night sky and I have to say when you see the closeness of the moons surface through a telescope, and the rings of Saturn 'live' (try that in a Martin Tyler stylee) or Jupiter and its moons...or the M31 galaxy......it is jaw dropping. Obviously the list here is potentially endless!

And today..I promise to write a list of subjects and memories and events to comment on. I need to get this blog back up and running to its former standards! And believe me I have a lot to say. My sanity is depending on it.

Later Mugs, GJ