CHRISTMAS PRESENTS

I got some good Christmas presents this year. Top of the list, from my children, was a new espresso coffee machine to replace the old one that got broken. It has gone straight into use, and I am in fact drinking a very nice cup of coffee from it as I write this.

My wife gave me a Kansas work overall and some new clogs; apparently my work clothes make me look like a tramp. Clogs are in many ways completely naff. But they are also very useful for working when you have to go in and out of the house all of the time, and put shoes on and take them off. No fiddly laces or any such. Adding to the "building work in the barn" theme, I got a brick hammer from my mother-in-law. I think that's what it is called in English, it is one of those curved contraptions that you use to chop bricks in half, or clean off the mortar from old ones. My existing brick hammer is so worn down that I have to work twice as hard as necessary.

My wife also gave me a gardening book. Having cut down large parts of our property, old hedges, fallen trees, and masses of weeds, I am now anxious to build things up again. This will tell me how to do it.

I am now off to my mother-in-law's for the great Boxing Day family lunch. Then tomorrow we travel to Blair Atholl in Scotland for a week to celebrate New Year with friends. I can't believe that there will be an internet connection in the Scottish highlands, so this is the last blog for 2010. Back on 3 January with goals for the year.

Happy New Year to all!

Walter Blotscher