All I Want For Christmas ….? By Alfred N.Muggins

24/12/21
Is more mobile phone chargers and more charging wires, because the people in this house keep moving them, and half of them don’t work any more! He suspected that sometimes the others pulled them too hard, or trod on them, or bent them, and that was why they didn’t work any more. He had been unable to charge his old phone, which he used as a kind of grand ipad, as it no longer had the phone contract on it.

    He had spent part of yesterday thinking the boiler wasn’t working properly because it refused to switch back from hot water to the radiators. He had worked out that you had to play little games with it to get it going, like opening the hot water tap for a short while to coax it to shift when he switched it off. But even then that didn’t work yesterday! In the end it started working when he pretended he didn’t want the pipes (radiator) on, by turning the thermostadt down. Then he had the bright idea of turning it back up. Immediately the boiler switched back to the radiators as he wished, and heat began once again to flood into them. He had learned another small lesson, as with grandkids, you had to use your imagination, to play with the boiler. Simple prayer was just not enough! But it might decide to start working if you entertained it with a trick. 

    Alfred had a sneaking feeling that something was amiss with it, as it shouldn’t be needing games like that to provoke it into action. But at least Christmas was saved, once again. He remembered, a couple of years before, having a very cold Christmas when the boiler packed up.

     At least he had a pen this Christmas, so he was thankful. You couldn’t write a book with chocolates (although he supposed you could eat them!), but you could with a pen (and paper of course!)

    He had watched part of a good film about a young lady imprisoned in the Soviet Labour Camps of the Stalinist era (Stalin’s Holiday Camps!!) She kept herself and everyone happy by drawing pictures on any scraps of paper they could find. But even in the most miserable circumstances her art was valued and appreciated. If she had lived in today’s up to date world she might have found her pictures not so much noticed, because everyone was relatively happy and entertained by other things. The worst circumstances can sometimes bring some good!

    Santa’s in his dressing gown, and he won’t get up. He’s staying in bed, and he’s writing stories, about the Past, the Present, and the Future!