Posts tagged with “Christmas”

November 29
wrenchchain.jpg
I have had Anne analyst and here is her present. I tried to present myself,
but that was too hard; so here is part of a bicycle,
not mine I hasten to add. It is in some remarkable packaging that once held a remarkable object
An origami bike spanner - imagine that! There may have seemed to be a spanner in my works
(if so I hope it was an origami one). I suspect Anne analyst and myself are both a little too clever for our own goods;
just as well we are parting then. Parting is not the wrench it might be - the presents box is that, figuratively speaking. Within though, what is within... At first glance perhaps it seems a simple chain, however the experienced eye will at once know it has far too few links to be a useful bicycle chain, except perhaps for a peculiar midget or toy bike. Look closer... the chain is broken! This is remarkable and not a commonplace occurence. It is clean - but dirty enough to have the "smell of bike". Dirty enough to stain, if played with, but not badly.
It could be a worry chain, but the broken ends may be sharp, so take care Anne. Look closer still - the chain is incomplete! The missing links have been retained by me -
I had to keep them to complete the symbolism. With the right tool it could be joined into one, and the broken ends could be removed, but that would completely destroy the symbolism and still not make it whole. A word of warning; it is a used chain - it should NEVER be used for a bicycle, at least not without causing damage to the transmission. Not in it's normal function anyway (though it would make a peculiar act of sabotage to fit it to a bicycle!). Any richer with the symbolism and the whole thing would overbalance. I thought about it all for hours, days, weeks; even the bags within the brown bag that holds the item, even the packaging that held the packaging. Even when you receive it, in time for Christmas Oh sweetest of symbols - for my own birthday present I get to give my analyst a present! I wonder if she will see me in January and what you will say about it then?! Mostly I just hope she lives to open it though and to read this - that would be enough in and of itself.
03:41 AM | 1 Comment | Tags: , , , , ,
December 24

My daughter can't wait until Christmas!

If there is one phrase that has become the signature or catch phrase for this year it is "I can't wait until Christmas!". Fortunately it is spoken with such charm and variation in inflection and with a certain sense of timing that it has not become TOO wearing (yet!). I seem to have managed five hundred miles on Voyager before Christmas, which feels about right, though I have not worked out the daily average, which no doubt would disappoint me.... (Goes to check with a calculator - HMmmm eighteen and a half, not bad, but twenty would be better!). What did not disappoint was a classic ride across London yesterday to enjoy a pre-dawn descent from Haverstock Hill. I had forgotten that as I reached the end of this descent of course I re-entered my childhood, passing the roundhouse and Marine Ices at the top of Camden High Street! It was a real trip down memory lane, I was amazed at how prosperous the ice cream restaurant appeared. I had the rare privilege of checking out all of the Christmas lights from my bicycle earlier too, and enjoyed passing through the Belgravia gallery area and feasting my eyes on the art displayed in the windows too. I hope I shall be proven right, but this year is shaping up to be one of the really great Christmases for me to remember. Watch this space....
07:55 AM | 2 Comments | Tags: , , , , , ,
December 10

Christmas

How to offset the cycling obsession? Icy weather is likely to make a natural intervention sooner or later at this time of year. It is a time to look towards making things special for the ones I love. For the first time I can remember I seem to have actually bought all the presents for Christmas before my birthday! I do need to think of a better present for my partner than a rear wheel with drum brake for the tandem though, to give that could result in murder at Christmas! Oddly I have ended up with an "orphan present", a volume of poetry called "the Bees" by Carol Ann Duffy. It was such a beautiful book I could not resist it and although I could give it to my daughter's mother it does not seem appropriate. Perhaps I shall keep it as an indulgence to myself, or perhaps someone will present themselves as suitable to be the recipient. This is a far less thoughtful or creative or eccentric post than I should like, it feels mundane. I shall set myself the task of writing something poetic next time about parents who "give too much" at this time of year and the dangers inherent (I'm very conscious of this after braking the bank to get my daughter a laptop far superior to anything any of the grown-ups can afford!)
07:52 AM | 0 Comments | Tags: , , , , , , ,
December 26

Happy New Year, Happy New Blog

the Christmas dinner shift went well - I shall write about it in more detail when my memories, like the food, have been digested! I shall try to write also about how it only feels like Christmas if family is subtracted. And how rare happy Christmas memories are for me. Anyone out there who survived it or accumulated happy memories - well done! With the New year will come the new blog - and this and the previous post be amalgamated and rewritten…. one other highlight to come in the new blog is hopefully I shall link and post to a homeless person with a blog, if they come and comment here… Now THAT impressed me!
06:52 AM | 1 Comment | Tags: , ,