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BBC NEWS | England | Bristol | Police sorry for drug raid mix up

An elderly couple returned from holiday to find their home had been raided by police

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looking for a cannabis farm.    The culprit? Moss phlox (phlox subulata), which apparently has an extremely pungeant smell, not unsimilar to weed.   They’d planted the plants in front and in back of their home a few years ago, but this year the smell was strong enough to not only bring about the police, but apparently a neighbour’s home had also been broken into by burglars expecting to find drugs.

As the owner, Ivor Wiltshire said, “You can’t make this up.”

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A Pre-Nupp for Christmas??

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My jaw hit the floor when I saw one of the sites I frequent regularly promoting what I assumed to be pre-nuptual agreements for Christmas, failing to note the extra ‘p’.

I actually think Martin Lewis is on to a good thing…

A pre- NUPP is a ‘No Unwanted Present Pact’.  It’s basically an email form for people to fill in before the holidays, requesting their friends and family not buy gifts for them or set a limit on the value of the gifts to be exchanged.

Some people will probably scream ‘SCROOGE!’ when they read that, but I think part of the spirit of the holidays is making each other feel good.   When I get a gift I would have never bought for myself and it gathers dust or gets re-gifted - I don’t feel good.

When I was a child, my family would exchange cash gifts with another family and every year, my mom would try and get them to agree to a set limit for gifts.  She’d usually get blown off with the ‘It’s not the price of the gift, but the thought that counts!’  That might be true - but if your kind thought makes someone feel like shit it defeats the purpose of exchanging gifts in the first place.   You might as well spit in their food, run over their pets, and maim their loved ones if your kindness ends up counter-productive.

2008 has been the suckiest year on record for me.  We’ve endured 3 deaths in the family in just over a year. It’s been one upheaval or illness or tragedy after another and I can’t freakin’ wait for 2009 because I could have a harbinger of the apocolypse first footing on New Years Day and it’s STILL going to be a better year than 2008.    As such, we’re pretty much pretending the holidays aren’t happening.

I can definitely see when a NUPP would come in handy - and with all the lay-offs and closures and crazy economies around the world - maybe the best gift would be simply taking some pressure off yourself and others who would say something if they thought you’d understand.  That’s exactly why Martin Lewis’ made the email form - it may seem rather cold and clinical to send a mass email to those you care most about asking to not exchange gifts for set limitations on the gift amount - but it’s easier to bring it up if you both already know what it’s about and can say ‘Yeah I saw that - are you interested in trying it?’

It seems to me to be an easy way out of the awkwardness - and a damn fine way to get the message across that there are more important things to your friendship/relationship than swapping presents.

Enjoy a few of my favourite Holiday tracks to see whereabouts I am in the holiday spirit….  (Three of the greatest Christmas songs ever!)

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

Winter in the UK

Once the sun comes out - most of the UK will probably look like this again. Image by yukatafish via Flickr -

I was listening to the radio last night and I was sure I had mis-heard.  I could have sworn that the news reader had said that 200 schools in the UK had been closed due after heavy snows had dumped over one inch of snow on some areas.

Tonight I’m hearing that there are still a number of schools that are still closed due to the one inch of snow that fell 2 days ago and the possibility of more snow.   A couple of resources have indicated that some areas did get up to 4 inches - which I can understand a little bit better, but the concept of having multiple days off school because of a chance of snow blows my mind. (Especially when there isn’t a great track record for forecasting it accurately.  *cough*Hurricane? What hurricane?*cough*)

I don’t want to come across like the British stereotype of the loud, obnoxious American who always betters everyone else’s story, but an inch is nothing, when you’re driving.   So rather than point out how brilliant I am at driving in winter weather - I’ll just share a few random YouTube clips showing that maybe we all could do with some educating about how to survive the winter.

January 2007, Portland, Oregon after a snow and ice storm.

Fairly self explanatory why this is a bad idea…

A bit of silliness in snow.

Enjoy the snow but stay safe! (And please, at least let it get to a few inches before you declare a national emergency…)

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I Don’t Own a Snow Shovel

When I was growing up outside of Chicago, I recall there being a pretty massive blizzard.  I’m not sure if it was 1978 or 1979, but I was about six years old and

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when the drive and sidewalk had been cleared, there was enough snow at the base of our huge maple tree that I could climb the snowpile well into it’s branches.

Late in high school and while I was at University, Minnesota was my home.  I recall one year when we got over two feet of drifting snow that left us snowed in over Halloween - I bitched, moaned, caterwauled, and basically threw a temper tantrum after the first hour of shovelling.  Unfortunately, there were a few more days of shovelling to follow, even with the help of a 4 wheel drive vehicle with a snow blade.

30 years on, I’m living in Yorkshire, and by the accounts of James Herriot you’d think I’d be up to my knees in snow already and cross country skiing to the shops.  While I’m not that far from his neck of the woods, I am just far enough to evade snow all but a few days of the year.

Living less than a mile from the cloud-making beastie known as Ferrybridge Power

Image by Ian Britton via Freefoto.com

Station helps in that department, I think.  It does weird things to our atmosphere.  In the summer, it can rain with no discernable rain clouds.  In the winter, it rains but rarely snows.

However, I think the lack of snow makes me appreciate it (and enjoy it) much more.

Snow should be enjoyed.  Snow should inspire us to act like kids again.  Track rabbit footprints in fresh snowfall, make a snow angel, go sledding, pelt a friend with a snowball for no reason, catch a snowflake on your tongue.

Every time it snows, I can feel my childhood wash over me.  It isn’t long before the snow is just a memory, but I wouldn’t trade that time machine to my youth for anything and I am happy to live somewhere where I can’t take snow for granted.