A HAPPY CHRISTMAS
&
NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL

Happy Christmas to you All wherever You are from Anglesey Hidden Gem.

Have a Happy Holiday and work with Dedication and Love for a Fabulous 2011 for you and all you know and love.

Whether you are Christian or of another Faith, I wish you all the very best for this Holiday period and hope that you are able to spend some quality time with your family and friends.

Now, where on earth has this year gone? I still have a list of things I needed to achieve in 2010 that's far from completed. I suppose I’ll now have to add it my already long list for 2011.

ERMM... A WHITE CHRISTMAS ON ANGLESEY

FROZEN IMAGES OF FROZEN COWS

CAKE AU FOLIE, YNDE!

REMEMBER TO PUT YOUR NUTS OUT FOR THE BIRDIES

A SLIPPERY ROAD TO NOWHERE

DELIGHTFUL CHALLENGES

ERMM... A WHITE CHRISTMAS ON ANGLESEY

Do you that when we were children me and my friends used to dream of a White Christmas. The great day was inevitably grey, overcast, cold and mostly rainy and just four days after the shortest day of the year. Click Here for the Math on that last point.

Well, here we are - with far too many years forward than I feel comfortable under my belt - confronted with a white, crisp (frozen) Christmas.

We’re not used to snow. We’re British and We Don’t Do Snow.

Just listen to the British radio news and the amount of complaining and expressions of discomfort with discomfort is plain to all.

And it is causing havoc because I haven’t done my shopping yet. Somehow, I always seem to manage to get it all done, though I always seem to spend far too much money.

I reckon I’m the one who gives a boost to the local Christmas Eve economy.

Return to Contents

FROZEN IMAGES OF FROZEN COWS

The images I present for your consideration were taken on Saturday morning (December 18 2010) around where I live.

For a half hour or so, the atmosphere and unique light created by the thick soft snow was enough to distract me from the vicious cold. For a while.

I would not like to be a cow or a horse in this weather, especially without a coat or a hut to shelter in. The above cows were just standing there head bowed in a subdued state of shock, so it seemed.

The freezing weather is causing chaos for people wanting to travel to be elsewhere on holiday or travelling back to families across the world.

I extend my best wishes to those weary people trying to sleep tonight at Heathrow and Gatwick, having been there for a couple of days already. I hope they get home to their loved ones.

Return to Contents

CAKE AU FOLIE, YNDE!

Thank heavens the male of the species is now accepted in the kitchen. I made a Christmas Cake once again this year. It’s something I really look forward to.

I cook it at my Mother’s house because I have been programmed into believing I have to be supervised in a kitchen. I’m sure I’m ready to fly solo by now, but the feedback so far clearly counters that conviction.

This evening (Monday 20th December 2010), the marzipan was laid lovingly on the gorgeous looking and surely heavenly gastro-entity that I've created.

First of all my Mum insisted on spreading a good layer of quality Apricot Jam so to bind the marzipan to the cake.

There is also a crisis attached to the cake decorations. READ ON...

I just can’t get hold of icing mixture. No matter where I’ve been looking.

Asda in Llangefni could not help me; neither could Morrison in Bangor this evening. I’ll try the Co-op in Holyhead and Tesco tomorrow. So here’s hoping.

There’s a packet of roll on icing on standby but, YUK! I really don’t like it. I prefer the granite-like upper strata with Santa nailed in solid like a trilobite peeking out.

There’s nothing better than watching the annual Doctor Who Christmas Special, sucking on a piece of icing and dissolving it slowly with a mouthful of sweet sherry.

Hopefully, I’ll get a pack of the proper stuff and I’ll let you know how it all turned out.

It’s a square cake by the way, not round. Is that controversial?

Return to Contents

REMEMBER TO PUT YOUR NUTS OUT FOR THE BIRDIES

There’s this particular Robin that hangs around my front door.

I’ve called it Eratosthenes after the Greek Mathematician who made an astonishing calculation one sunny mid-Summer day a couple of thousand years ago.

This less than meek Greek calculated the Circumference of the World.

That sounds clever but it’s the implication of circumference that was really astounding. If you’ve got circumference then you’re round.

So, my hero was the first to prove that the Earth was Round. There’s clever, ynde? Check Out Eratosthenes.

You may have surmised therefore that Eratosthenes is also round and fluffed out like a round, fluffed out little thing. He’s a bit violent as well, as are all little Robins.

I pull out the camera and the little bleeder flies off. It’s a game we play. I must have caught Eratosthenes mid-ponder or something and click went the Samsung.

Return to Contents

A SLIPPERY ROAD TO NOWHERE

The Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins With But a Step.

Just as well it does, because my car can’t even make it 20 foot. I have managed to travel up and down the road a few times, though it’s getting more and more difficult because the dry snow is becoming more compacted.

My neighbours are lovely. They really are. However, we are all watching each other closely these days and struggling to make sure that we are the first ones up the road in the morning.

Each of us has confidence in our own driving ability but not in the other’s.

The nightmare is managing to make it up most of the slope to the main road to find that Ms T. is coming down the road toward me. She cannot reverse uphill and the only way back down is free-fall without brakes or slide into a tree.

So far this worst possible scenario has not occurred. But as my mate says: “Give God a laugh, tell Him your plans.”

What have I done?

Return to Contents

DELIGHTFUL CHRISTMAS CHALLENGES

I sincerely hope that you are enjoying the images on this page and that they do please your eye and inspire your imagination.

Everything above is a delight and absolutely no burden whatsoever. I can even cope with the soft, ultra sweet Christmas cake icing if I have to.

The freefall driving back the icy hill will make a story to share in Summer. Though I imagine that Eratosthenes will continue to beat up fellow Robins whatever I try to do.

May all your challenges be minor and do not let your disappointments and frustrations get in the way of having a good time.

I thank you for your support throughout this year and I wish you, your family and all your friends a Happy Christmas.

May I also encourage you to work hard to create a fruitful and Happy New Year in 2011.

Return to Contents

EBOOK - 'I'M WAITING AS QUICKLY AS I CAN

Return from Christmas Greetings to HOME PAGE.

---

© Copyright William Gerwyn Anglesey-Hidden-Gem.com 2009-2023

---

SBI!