Angry with or angry at? It’s quite simple, and should be used as follows: one is angry with people, and angry at anything else.
N.B. These are reminders to myself, and are not a call to humanity for a better world. Although…
Author Archives: jon
Saint Lucia Day (The First In A Series)
Today is a special day here in Sweden: St Lucia’s Day, the celebration of the beginning (along with Advent) of the Christmas season. In almost every school around the country, children clothe themselves accordingly, wear fake candles on their heads, and sing Santa Claus songs. Today was Freya’s first school Lucia Day.
Needless to say, many proud and excited parents turned up with more technology in their hands than the C.I.A. have at their disposal, to record this special moment in every parent’s child’s life, and we were not to let the side down.
It was a heart-warming occasion, with the added bonus of an available CD purchase of the children practising the songs at an earlier date. The quality is moot, though the sentiment very much appreciated.
Despite Freya being ill, she managed to sing along to the songs as best she could. Even a few hand movements were spotted, though in her weakened state (and, perhaps, with the presence of so many people peering) she did not give it her best effort. We have seen here singing the songs at home, where she was both vociferous and whatever the word is for using lots of hand movements.
We left after Freya wanted to see the on-site Santa. She refused to go in the room to get her present, but she was happy to watch from afar. Santa asked me if I was a good dad, and I replied that I thought I was; he should, of all, people, know, so the question was a purely social one.
Days, Weeks, Christmas And Swimming, By Freya
This idea of time is a strange thing that takes getting used to. I know there are days when neither I go to school nor Mum and Dad, to work, and I’ve just started using the word “yesterday” in the correct context. There is one day, however, I am more aware of than others: Mondays.
Mondays are, as everyone knows (don’t they?), when we go swimming. For some odd reason I’m offered badges now and again, for doing a few things for my swimming-instructor, Mia. I have no complaints about this, but isn’t it like giving me sweets for eating all my buns?
Today I needed to jump into the swimming-pool three times (why always three?), each time turning around under water and making my way back to the safety of the edge by whatever means necessary; this activity had to be performed without the aid of Mum or Dad.
Anyway, I made my parents very happy and proud by doing what was required of me, and came away with a shiny Blue Crab badge. I do not personally see what a crab has to do with jumping and stuff, though my knowledge of crabs is reasonably limited, blue crabs more so.
I think I shall suggest pinning my ever-growing number of badges on a nice piece of framed padded-velvet or something similar, when I know how to articulate such a request.
A Birthday Wish
It’s probably too late to start faffing about with my Christmas wish-list. Thankfully, my parents had the foresight to conceive me in time for a post-Christmas birthday, which means that I may be lucky enough to get the “History of Gaming” Quartet pack by the end of January.
I can remember playing Top Trumps when I was a child, and in particular having a penchant for the Military Naval Ships version. Just why, I do not know, since I wasn’t interested in war, or, for that matter, boats. Be that as it may, I played with this deck enough times to still have a vague memory of one of the better cards (a British frigate, I think).
A few Christmases ago I bought Jo a Simpsons variant as a stocking-filler. In total we played it once or twice, and the pack currently lies in a box in our spare bedroom. A sad, but inevitable, end to a game with little replay value.
Now, though, the history of videogames has been immortalised by a Top Trump imitator from Austria. Their website looks shite, though the cards look to be of a good standard, and I want a pack desperately. I’ll just need someone sad enough to play with.
Bursar, Purser And Treasurer Conundrum
During my 38 years on this earth I have never spent time cogitating the difference between “bursar”, “purser” and “treasurer”. Now, thanks to yourDictionary, I need never do so:
The treasurer of a college or university is often called a “bursar” while the person with the same job on a vessel (air or sea) is a purser. Everywhere else the function is simply that of a treasurer.