Author Topic: Happy Christmas!  (Read 2905 times)

Offline Roger Kettle

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Happy Christmas!
« on: December 25, 2023, 10:08:40 AM »
Just a quick greeting before my family arrive to freeload on my hospitality. Only joking. I'm really looking forward to us all getting together. With my gorgeous wee granddaughter over 18 months now, she will no doubt be the centre of attention.
We tend to eat around 5 p.m. so my apron will be going on around two as I roll up my sleeves in the kitchen. My first gin and tonic will be enjoyed at 4.45....
Anyway, have a great Christmas, everyone. May everything you wish for come true.

Offline Diane CBPFC

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Re: Happy Christmas!
« Reply #1 on: December 25, 2023, 06:49:57 PM »
Merry Christmas Roger glad that all your family will get to experience your skills in the kitchen.

Our three single adult kids came home and I've been cooking constantly lol

We all got in the car last night and drove to town and spent time looking at people's christmas lights - some people really do a lot and so many giant blow up figures this year :-) 

Wishing everyone here a Merry Christmas and all the best for 2024

You guys are so lovely :-)
People will come from strange lands to hear me speak my words of wisdom. They will ask me the secret of life and I will tell them. Then maybe I'll finish off with a song. The Nomad

Offline Roger Kettle

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Re: Happy Christmas!
« Reply #2 on: December 25, 2023, 07:06:39 PM »
Thanks, Diane! Just popped on here after a magnificent meal (of course, with me in charge) and about to settle down to some daft games before calling it a night. Enjoy the rest of your day!

Offline Tarquin Thunderthighs lll

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Re: Happy Christmas!
« Reply #3 on: December 26, 2023, 04:59:14 PM »
Sorry, I'm late! Spent most of yesterday with three of my daughters and their spouses, and all four of my grandchildren in my eldest daughter's house in the middle of an enchanted forest festooned with pheasants and deer, and bordering their small loch. The things I will endure...!

And today, I ventured slightly further north to beautiful Dunkeld, to watch an insane gathering of 35-45 year olds with hangovers, play the traditional Boxing Day shinty match on a frosty pitch, surrounded by sun-kissed mountains, whilst assorted festive beverages were dispersed to the crowd (and a few of the players) from the makeshift bar at the back of a Land Rover. Murder, it was!

All that, and Hogmanay still to come...

Happy Holidays, All!
I apologise, in advance.

Offline Roger Kettle

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Re: Happy Christmas!
« Reply #4 on: December 27, 2023, 10:03:53 AM »
Your Christmas Day sounded idyllic, Tarqs. Made me nostalgic for my old Highland stomping ground.
The game of shinty is brutal at the best of times. I shudder to think what it's like when it's played by 45 year olds with hangovers!

Offline Tarquin Thunderthighs lll

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Re: Happy Christmas!
« Reply #5 on: December 27, 2023, 12:02:00 PM »
Did you play, Roger?

It's possibly even more brutal when most of those playing have only ever done so on those Boxing Day matches. Shinty doubles in danger when you don't know what you're doing. But these were mostly old friends going back to childhood from the Dunkeld area, and whilst there was actually a referee with shinty knowledge, the pitch lines were made by someone dragging their boot through the frost (and largely ignored), and the goals were the wrong shape (soccer, rather than the narrower-but-taller shinty regulation ones), and assembled from rusty remnants found in the long grass. The two teams were distinguished by one side wearing blue bibs (or as many as could be found), whilst the other side just wore what they turned up on...which was mostly blue, but with a smattering of Christmas jumpers (it was bloody cold!). If ever a match lives up to the adjective 'friendly' it is this one, even though no quarter was given. And yet, more locals turned out to watch the game (and cheer on both sides) than I've seen at some St Johnstone games during the truly fallow years.

I was asked if I wanted to play several times, my daughters having made it known that I played for Perth's Tayforth Camanachd team in my late teens and early twenties (I still have my caman...[stick]). 45 years ago, it would have been an instant yes. But these days, I had enough doubts whether I'd make it to half time as a spectator. I did, but then one of my daughters shivered, and we all willingly grasped the opportunity to slip away at half time for a bit of warmth, so I can't tell you the final score. But then neither could most of those playing, I suspect.
« Last Edit: December 27, 2023, 12:04:18 PM by Tarquin Thunderthighs lll »
I apologise, in advance.

Offline Roger Kettle

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Re: Happy Christmas!
« Reply #6 on: December 27, 2023, 01:24:54 PM »
No, I never played, mate, other than the odd knockabout in the local field. Far too ferocious for me. Funnily enough, I played football for Kingussie---a shinty hotbed---with several guys who played both sports. (Shinty was played in the winter and football in the summer). What surprised me was the football skills of the shinty players. I'd expected them to be, shall we say, robust in their style but, to a man, they were all extremely skilful and cultured. One of those players, nicknamed "Tarzan", started to tell me about the bones he's broken while playing shinty. I stopped him after a few minutes and told him it would be quicker to tell me the bones he HADN'T broken. These were seriously tough guys. So, I repeat---I never played!

Offline Diane CBPFC

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Re: Happy Christmas!
« Reply #7 on: December 28, 2023, 07:06:40 AM »
My oldest got that Snow, snow, snow earworm too, had it handy on his phone and played it several times each day if ever there was a moment of silence lol

Shinty sounds war like - probably a good thing to do after the holidays to let of steam instead of getting pouty about brick ownership in Settlers of Catan.

My kids are past movie marathons - we watched the first half of #1 and the second half of #3 LotR - got lots of the good bits of the story and saved hours. End of an era.

Now to enjoy these peaceful days between Christmas and New Year - my daughter made enough soup to feed a Shinty team so no cooking for a bit. 

People will come from strange lands to hear me speak my words of wisdom. They will ask me the secret of life and I will tell them. Then maybe I'll finish off with a song. The Nomad

Offline Tarquin Thunderthighs lll

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Re: Happy Christmas!
« Reply #8 on: December 28, 2023, 01:21:20 PM »
...my daughter made enough soup to feed a Shinty team...

:D I'm not sure that is actually possible, Diane. But in my experience, shinty players mostly eat Guinness.

I totally understand where shinty's "robust" reputation comes from, Roger, but even though I'm sure I've perpetuated that aspect in my own sporting tales many times, it is also undoubtedly a game of great skill and cultured players.

Unless you're playing against the Strathclyde Police team that is, as I once had the misfortune of doing in my late teens. My first thought as we faced up to them was they looked less like constabulary than Barlinnie inmates, and played in the same manner. The tall skinny guy with psychotic eyes who was marking me unnerved me early on when he gleefully informed me that he considered the game to be excellent baton practice. I thought he was joking until one of his teammates managed to split open my brother's head with his caman, resulting in a different blue light service rushing my bro to the nearest hospital to be patched up. We won the match, simply because truncheon practice doesn't trump actual skill, but I've never been so glad to leave a field of play and get back to the bus for soup and sandwiches, as our opponents trundled off for some raw meat.

Always a joy to play against any of the more cultured teams from up north after that, even though we rarely won any of those.
I apologise, in advance.

Offline Mince

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Re: Happy Christmas!
« Reply #9 on: December 30, 2023, 05:50:34 PM »
I remember when I used to understand these Christmas threads.

Offline Roger Kettle

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Re: Happy Christmas!
« Reply #10 on: January 01, 2024, 09:52:08 AM »
Now you understand how I feel about the world in general, Mince!
Happy New Year, everyone!

Offline Tarquin Thunderthighs lll

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Re: Happy Christmas!
« Reply #11 on: January 01, 2024, 01:58:28 PM »
I worry about Mincey understanding things.

Orrabest fur 2024, Folks!
I apologise, in advance.

Offline Diane CBPFC

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Re: Happy Christmas!
« Reply #12 on: January 01, 2024, 06:16:25 PM »
Sorry that your brother had to be stitched up but at least he got a story out of it.

Happy New Year to all.

People will come from strange lands to hear me speak my words of wisdom. They will ask me the secret of life and I will tell them. Then maybe I'll finish off with a song. The Nomad

Offline Mince

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Re: Happy Christmas!
« Reply #13 on: January 02, 2024, 06:19:22 PM »
This is all I got from this thread.

« Last Edit: January 02, 2024, 06:21:38 PM by Mince »

Offline Mince

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Re: Happy Christmas!
« Reply #14 on: January 02, 2024, 06:24:38 PM »
And then this is generally how I see you Scotsmen.