Lighthouse

I was hoping it wasn't going to be the same this week, but it was our usual Saturday morning fight.

There was the all too familiar storming up and down, raised voices, clenched fists, threats, followed by tantrum and tears.

Then came the huffing and puffing and finally peace and tranquility.

I'd managed to change the duvet cover!

England has done it again. It has achieved a commendable second place. Not a first place, that would be too much to ask for, but one of the 'also rans', a runner up!

And who were we beaten by? Who pipped us into second place? Why, the Irish of course.

How humiliating! Anyone but the Irish. The Americans, the Chinese, Russians perhaps, but not the Irish. But there it was, in black and white. The Irish are top of the league and England is in second place.

So come on girls, lift your elbows, tilt those glasses and get England back on course. Put your minds to it and make us a winner. We are counting on you. Don't let us, and yourselves down. Put the 'Great' back in Britain. We are counting on YOU

All pull together and put England where it deserves to be, at the number one spot. Help make it TOP of the league for Women Who Binge Drink.

Your Country wants YOU.

We don't do a lot to celebrate Christmas. Over the years we've seen the whole idea of Christmas degenerate into a profit driven event, where the shops and manufacturers try to get the public to spend far more than they can reasonably afford. Christmas has become 'How much more was spent this year over last year'.

We've always worked over Christmas until recently, even on the day itself, and have been happy to do so. We ran a Pub, so it really was a 365 day job in our case. What we did like to do is to keep in touch with the people that meant the most to us by sending good quality Christmas cards.

I know it's still October but all the shops and stores have now got there stocks in for the forth coming festive season. So where have all the decent Christmas cards gone?

A tree, with a bit of glitter (hate the stuff) and the word, Happy Xmas or Seasons Greetings if you're lucky. A dismal painting of a nativity scene by some obscure Dutch artist. A pudding with a sprig of holly, penguins, polar bears even Disney characters, with 'Left Blank for your Message'. Now, I don't want a Shakespeare sonnet but I do want a little more than Happy Xmas.

I spent most of an afternoon, going from shop to shop looking for something different, hoping something would jump out at me, but to no avail. Luckily I still have a few cards from last year, some that arrived from a Charity source too late to send, so these will have to do unless a miracle happens in the next few week. I'll hit the Garden Centres next, they sell decorations so they must sell cards. I hear the 'in' colour this year is black. Black trees, black garlands, very festive, just like the cards.

Every year I say I'm going to design my own cards. It's a bit late now but next year........... well, it's definitely on the cards!

I've been tidying up and turning out, ready for when my mother visits over Christmas. I know it's a week or two away but I've got to do these things when the mood takes me. I found some scrapper board (scratch board) pictures that I did when I was at school and because they had started to deteriorate I thought I would like to post them while they were still presentable.

I can't remember very much about the young ladies now except they my have been copied from a hairdressing magazine. The last one is a composite of all the pieces Sunny D has posted for H.N.T. O.K so that's a fib, just a little one!

I was told at school that I lacked original ideas and that I would make a good teacher.........or a forger. I liked the forger bit. I was always more interested in the producing rather than the finished product, probably why I've been a butterfly as far as hobbies are concerned. I soon get bored and move on to something new.

I said in the previous post that I distrusted Religions, and what has happened this week has done nothing to change my mind.

I hear the Roman Catholic Church is now to do away with Limbo. That place twix Heaven and Hell where all the souls of good people, who were never baptised, live for eternity. Never achieving the gift of Heaven but not having to suffer the torment of Hell. It is also the place for the souls of children. Those that die before baptism, those stillborn and those that are naturally aborted.

So why have the Cardinals decided that there is no further need for Limbo. Could it be, I wonder, that other faiths in the emerging countries are offering a better deal and the Church is missing out? Is it that parents, having just had a sad experience, are seeking solace with faiths that promise their children's souls will go to paradise and be with angels, as the Muslim faith does. All poor old Rome can offer is Limbo. It's like so many other things in the Church, a man made idea to solve a problem of the time. It has been on the books for about 1500 years, but nothing is forever, unless you're a soul trapped there.

Does this mean that other ideas and edicts can be done away with at the stroke of a pen, by the old men in fancy dress at the Vatican. Women at the alter, celibacy of clergy, fish on Friday, the idea of Purgatory, perhaps even Hell itself. Maybe the only Hell is one we create for ourselves, here on earth?

What's going to happen to all those millions of souls now? Will it create an over crowding problem for someone? Just think, if Hell and Purgatory were to follow Limbo, that would only leave Heaven. Then what?

"Look out Saint Peter. Unlock those pearly gates. It's party time and we're all coming in!"

I was tagged. It was Emily at http://emilys-post.blogspot.com/ who was responsible for the deed. I'm not one to get involved in the question and answer games, usually I give too much away, but it seems like fun and I might find out a bit more about myself.

Nine statements with nine explanations. How difficult can that be......

1. I am a night person........ probably due to my working hours, when I was working. I spent twenty years behind bars, not the prison kind, although in some ways it was just that. Especially when Mr. Boring cornered you and you had to hear the same sob story for the n'th time.

2. I believe in love at first sight........ it's what happened to me. I was working in a shop when my future wife walked in with her sister, who was engaged to one of my colleagues. We found out years later that it was all planned, because they thought we were right for each other. Our relationship has lasted a lot longer than theirs.

3. I am an only child........ and was spoilt when I was young. I was brought up mainly by my maternal grandmother who lived with us. My parents were in business and I didn't see much of them until the evenings. I was taught to cook, sew and crochet by my grandmother, and she gave me a view of life through older eyes.

4. I think before I buy........ I remember a saying 'I've never bought anything I didn't need'. I think it was from Paul Getty. The emphasis was on need. I tend to do a lot of research before I buy to make sure it's a need and not a want. On general shopping, I always shop to a list. That sounds controlling but I'm not a controlling person.

5. I worked for eleven years without a day off........ but I wouldn't recommend that to anyone. I was self employed and forgot that you should work to live and not live to work. Strange when I look back on it, as all I ever wanted was to be happy.

6. I don't smile often......... or enough but am really happy inside. I was always being told to 'cheer up' when I was having a riot inside. I have a good sense of humour, if a little dry at times, and am quite willing to turn the joke on myself.

7. I always carry a camera........ and a roll of cling film (for Sunny and Fiona). I love taking pics and have had some published. It also allows me to record things that I can show my wife, as she is unable to go out very often.

8. I distrust Religions........ I believe in a God, the one that speaks to me in the quiet times. The more I see of recognised religions, the more I see greed and corruption, not love and understanding. Show me the profit and I'll show you the reason.

9. I do not fear death........ but I wouldn't court it. Take away the fear of death and you have a new meaning to life. I may have to help my wife to die one day. It's not beyond the realms of possibility. Will I be able to do it? The answer this in statement number ten.

Well, there you go. I won't tag six other people. I don't know six people well enough on line. Thank you Emily for making me think and I hope the reasons are of interest