[QUOTE=Nick;473709]Here in the Netherlands, the meteorological office has just declared a code red (maximum alert) for snow and slippery conditions.
The snow is blowing horizontally past our window![/QUOTE]

To lighten the mood a little bit around here, my girlfriend sent me this picture yesterday.

She's in England visiting family, and woke up to this. I suggested she not drive, since she wouldn't have been trained to deal with such conditions, and her rental car almost definitely wouldn't have the proper tyres.

(To her credit, she did get comprehensive insurance, and then insured the insurance. I'm serious.)

[QUOTE=chalsall;475219]To lighten the mood a little bit around here, my girlfriend sent me this picture yesterday.

She's in England visiting family, and woke up to this.[/QUOTE]
Quite a contrast: 1 degree Celsius in England and 27 degrees in Barbados.
That's 27 times wamer! :wink:

Already in sad mode, a few hours to travel back to UK.
I’m starting to get the feeling that it is better to breakdown the holidays in 3 sets (1 week + 1 week+ 2 weeks on Christmas) instead of 2 sets of two weeks per year. Two weeks it’s a lot of time with your family and as the travel day comes the sadness increases. I’m very independent and a book occupies my mind but my wife suffers a lot also because she is the only child (her father has Parkinson), I have two sisters though.

Anyway, the sad feelings goes away only 1-2 days after our arrival and then we are back to business. I really wish I could return to Portugal but credit debt is already increasing so I expect system blowdown soon and crisis again. Working in the UK gave us the foundations to support and help my wife’s father on his medication since he cannot afford them with his current pension, this is what keeps us going daily in our quest in UK.

[QUOTE=pinhodecarlos;475377]Already in sad mode, a few hours to travel back to UK...
[/QUOTE]
I have a sister in a similar position. She has taken a job in a different country so that her husband can stop working (he has a heart condition), but now she is going to miss the birth of her first grandchild.
These things can be really hard!

My feet appear to have shrunk over the holiday period.

A month ago I could stand up straight, look down and see my toes. Now I can't.

Oh well. Makes it less easy for people to tread on them I suppose.

My girlfriend recently introduced me to the delight which is Christmas pudding fried in brandy butter - the brandy butter turns into a wonderful toffee coating. However, it does appear to have a similar effect on the feet to the one xilman is observing.

[QUOTE=xilman;477655]My feet appear to have shrunk over the holiday period.[/QUOTE]
That is a symptom of Dunlap's disease. If left unchecked it can progress into another disease that shall go unnamed.

[QUOTE=xilman;477655]My feet appear to have shrunk over the holiday period.

A month ago I could stand up straight, look down and see my toes. Now I can't.

Oh well. Makes it less easy for people to tread on them I suppose.[/QUOTE]
-from a Weird Al parody, the name of which shall not be stated.[INDENT]Well, I've never used a phone booth
[U]And I've never seen my toes[/U]
When I'm goin' to the movies
I take up seven rows
................................

When you're only having seconds
I'm a' having twenty-thirds
[U]When I go to get my shoes shined
I gotta take their word[/U][/INDENT]

Some stupid bastard has stolen a potted tree from my front yard. :bob:

Stupid because it's a common sycamore, which grow like weeds around here, and the pot is worth substantially more than its contents.

The real reason I'm angry is because I've been growing it for about 10 years since it was discovered as a 10cm high stunted sapling growing in a crack between paving slabs. A subsequent bonsai process resulted in a tree about 30cm high, 45cm across, and starting to look like a full-sized tree in miniature. It's flowered for several years and set seeds for the last two.

It will be easy to grow another one but, of course, the process will take another decade.

[QUOTE=chalsall;474940]When you lose a close one it's a bit like a library burning down.[/QUOTE]

We buried our friend yesterday. The funeral was very sad. The wake was joyous; Jan always loved a good party.

On the one hand, I like the very large windows in our house, looking out on the desert with the cactus and wildlife. On the other hand, I hate that the windows are so hard on the birds. Below is the latest smack-smudge from a poor mourning dove. With the sunlight behind and up, the details of the smudge are amazing. I've altered the contrast a little on the image, but no sharpening or anything. He must have hit at pretty high speed, and exactly perpendicular to the glass.

Norm