Early Lateness

It's a grim day but chin up AF.

Since the back end of June I've had it in my diary...

Sunday, December 21, 2025, 5:03 p.m.

That's when we can rejoice the start the journey back.

Lovely! Lovely! Lovely news! 

Thank you Sean. You've brought a big smile to my face on my least favourite day of the year.

Thank you IPFN and well done to our Cath.

I'm also the same age as Siouxsie Sioux, Billy Bragg, Dawn French, Glenn Hoddle, Madonna, Stephen Fry, Lindsay Hoyle and Donny Osmond. We have some amazing parties.

Thanks very much Jenny. It hasn't happened yet though. It's still over a week away. 

I don't know if it's a good or a bad thing that we rely so heavily on the mobile phones at clock change time. I hate the things but they have their uses as years back I'd sometimes become distressed over wondering if the hour I was altering the clocks by was an hour in the right direction. My mother once altered hers a week too early and couldn't be bothered changing them back again when she realised her mistake but she should have done for the sake of the week of great confusion it caused in the family.

I think Paul Newman's eggs may have been in the film Cool Hand Luke. 

Thanks for reading my poem anyway, and your comment is greatly appreciated.

Thanks Di.

We went away to stay with friends in the mountains for the weekend, returning early Sunday evening, so feeding the team was the responsibility of the house-sitter lady. She's very good at dealing with life's abnormalities so we think we'll do the same whenever any other minor difficulty arises.

I'm pleased that you like the photograph as the taking of it was a risky business. The bells are suspended from a sort of gantry thing at the top of the hill in the medieval fortress. The whole thing was covered in ice at the time (almost nine years ago) but it was too good a photo opportunity to miss. I knew it would come in useful eventually.

The autumn clock change is indeed grim Jane, but what a burst of happiness I get from the spring the other way one. Unless we move to the bottom end of Argentina for half of the year we're stuck with dark winters, so I tend to bite the bullet and don't complain about them, unless somebody somewhere needs a poem. The problem is that the men who wind up the world seem intent on messing with our minds at a time of year when they're already messy.

Strangely I don't mind the winter solstice because at that point we've reached the middle of the tunnel and things can only improve from then on. I usually have a small sherry on that day so I'll raise a glass in your direction.

Splendid news! Thank you AF. You're a very kind editor. 

That makes perfect sense to me CM.

My goodness! Who'd have thought that writing about such gloomy subject matter could brighten my mind as much as it has done this evening?

Thank you very very much,