Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year - I hope that you are safe, warm and loved ... everything else is just the icing ;o)

well here i sit at James mums house looking out at a wonderful white winter wonderland :-) It is always stunning up here but even more stunning in the snow, though i may change my mind later when i try to walk down the hill when we go out to dinner later! The look will be glamourous from the waist up, practical from the waist down! Walking boot chic is so in this winter ;-)
I am missing mum, which feels a bit odd as she didn't like snow or christmas, but hey i guess thats juat the time of year for it. Whoever you are, where ever you are i wish you a peaceful loving time with those you love. X

I stumbled across this while looking for something interesting for Frank, and thought some others might like it to:

The Carol after Edgar Allan Poe
by J H McNulty

Once upon a midnight dreary, came a phantom grim and eerie,
Into Mr. Scrooge's mansion, right up to his chamber door;
When it entered, without tapping, Scrooge was sitting gently lapping
Gruel, and very nearly napping, on that Christmas Eve of yore.
All this happened on that very foggy night long years before,
Merely this and nothing more.

It was in the bleak December, very cold, you may remember,
Scrooge's fire, one single ember, casts no shadow on the floor.
Summer breeze or North-East freezer, were the same to Ebenezer,
Lean as Cassius, hard as Caesar, that was Scrooge the night before,
Marley's ghost and his three spirits came in through the heavy door,
Double-locked by Scrooge before.

"Give me comfort, ghost of Marley," "No, I can't, I've come to parley
Of your dark and murky future, show you what you have in store."
Scrooge felt anxious at this greeting, he disliked this midnight meeting,
And the ghost, who hated heating, from his head the bandage tore;
Cooling thus his burning brow and letting drop his lower jaw.
Scrooge collapsed upon the floor.

Then the ghost with no uncertain step moved to the casement curtain,
Lifted high the frosted window and there came a muffled roar.
"Scrooge now quit your kneeling posture; come and see, it's no imposture,
All these phantoms, at least most, your cronies were in days of yore.
Merchants, bankers, men of business, happy once, now groaning sore.
Listen to their moaning more.

"I have come to give you warning, close on twelve on early morning,
Three more ghosts will pay you visits; counting me that just makes four,
I, indeed, am not returning"; Scrooge was very nearly turning
Blue with cold, no fire was burning, and the night air came in frore.
So he jumped into his bed, and closed his eyes, began to snore,
Went to sleep knew nothing more.

Ghosts of Christmas Past and Present came with warnings far from pleasant.
But the Last of these three spirits pierced his conscience to the core,
Down he fell in abject terror, till at length he spied a tremor
In the phantom, saw his error, saw the ghost was nothing more
Than his old familiar bed-posts, merely this and nothing more,
Now the fearful dream was o'er.

Scrooge awakened from his dreaming, found the morning sun was streaming
In his dark and dingy chamber from the ceiling to the floor.
He became a kinder master, saved the Cratchits from disaster
almost he became a plaster saint, the wicked Scrooge of yore.
No more spirits, no more phantoms, no more "humbug" any more,
That's the end and nothing more.

I see TFG is back...

I've been having issues with my data usage on O2 (posting photos to Flickr, checking gmail via a Nokia app and general 'net browsing) for a few days now. Came to a head, this morning, where nothing worked at all. I can make/receive calls and send texts but anything relating to data just simply doesn't work. I phone customer services to be told that there is a known problem, has been for a few days, and they have no idea when it will be resolved. When I asked if there was no way they could update their customers about issues like this a little better I was told that they 'can't ring everyone' - I pointed out that they didn't have to do that but, as they have a flippin' big website, they could put a simple status page on it!

Le sigh.

Over on tadeous  journal he has postulated that Muppet Christmas Carol is the best Christmas film ever, overload74  disagrees and claims it's Die hard.  This got me thinking and as I don't really have a favourite Christmas film,  which is your favourite Christmas film and why? Let's see if we can reach some sort of consensus

Anyone else having problems with posting on LJ?

My posts - when I am actually able to post at all - are garbled or half-eaten.

Scratch
Word count - 1399
Warning - some expletives

( Under here )

Revised timetables continue despite having allegedly sorted out the dispute. I'd normally be catching a train from Bedford at 07:58, with a fallback of 08:04 to get to work in Luton by half eight. Both of these have been abandoned at present, with the next train being at 08:27. That gets me in far too late so I'm having to make sure I catch earlier trains.

I've just checked the "delay repay" rules, to see if I could claim anything back under their "longer than half an hour's delay rule". It appears it's timed from the train you would have caught to the next one available - in this case 29 minutes, so not eligible - rather than from the train you now have to catch to get in. Sods.

I'm going to get in my car, drive the 50 odd miles home and hopefully see my babies before they go to bed.

Thank fudge for the weekend - this has been a loooooooooong week.

December is shaping up to be a good month as I have had word that another submission has been bought for publication.

Kasma Magazine are going to publish ‘Stranger than Fiction’ in their Spring edition, 2010. I have a soft spot for ‘Stranger than Fiction’ simply because it is the first story that I reviewed/edited for actual submission, earlier this year, when I embarked on writing for something other than my own enjoyment. I was quite choosy about where I submitted it but think that Kasma is a very good fit (check out their current issue for an insight into why).

Originally published at www.jayfaulkner.com. You can comment here or there.

on updating LJ, bad us, still I blame Jen :D

whats going on??
well Jen as per normal has taken on to much work this term
My work is being just as rubbish

So not ready for Xmas, can;t belive it's like only next week.

But in other good news I pased my part one bike test today, woooo hooo, one more test to go and then I can be let loose ( for a bike now you have to do CBT, Theory part 1 and then part2, good way to get cash out of people I guess)


K

Just got word that Every Day Fiction are going to publish one of my stories – I am really chuffed about this as the story itself (The Way Not To Wish) is one that I am really pleased with, that tells the story of the relationship between a young boy and his father as they both deal with loss, but also because I love Every Day Fiction.

Don’t know when it will be published – will obviously update once I get the details – but am looking forward to it!

Originally published at www.jayfaulkner.com. You can comment here or there.

Grandpa is going nuts with the new TV we got him, there is nothing wrong with it but he insists it keeps breaking. What is actually happening is he is changing channel and either going down from BBC1 and getting channel 120 something - or - he is accidently pressing the one button twice and going to channel 11, both result in him getting static, non tuned in stuff on the screen and thinkign the TV is broken.

When he is on his own the TV is his only company, and he is now either angry, or frustrated and confused with it, non of this is good for his mental well being. I got him the simpliest TV on teh market and still it is to complicated. *sigh* I am pretty much out of ideas :-( Other than asking you lot out there if anyone has an old simple TV they wouldn't mind selling us? He has a year before digital changes over fully, so that shuoldn't be a hassle ... yet!

So anyone in the East london / london / essex area got an old tele they dont mind selling? Sound must be good as he is deaf as a post and has to have it *loud*

Any other ideas welcome as well, cheers guys

Hustler
Word Count - 1075
Disclaimer - this is simply a bit of fun :)

( Under here )

testing... Testing... I am attempting my first ever post from my phone! Gosh it only seems like yesterday i was working out how to use my laptop! Really joining the tech age now eh? :-)

Tired ... sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo tired.