Seasons' Salutations to all and sundry...

[CRAZY-HORSE]

whether at work, at home with family or away from loved one i hope you all have an enjoyable Christmas and a safe New Year.

[JeromeD]

Just like what Crazy dun said! Have a great day, one and all.

Was reading the news - apparently in one state in the USA (can't remember which) the temperature plummeted from 5 to -15 degrees in a single hour. Nuts!

[Music Head]

^^
probably here Jerome

yea yea merry christmas to all
bah humbug
no fun without kids

[JeromeD]

I heard that there was one homeless person who died of exposure in Kentucky. I am sure there are going to be plenty more in both the US and Canada.

[Ruby]

Happy Christmas everyone! Hope Santa is good to you all.

Sorry for all those less comfortable and those who are sad – difficult time of year for many people. The only thing to do is help ease things a bit, in some way, if, and where one can.

And we will still find a way to make merry over here, even if not white, bright or even light!

[CRAZY-HORSE]

^^
its been a very subdued lead up to Christmas here,
shopping centres arent as packed as they used to be pre-Covid, the usual christmas dining table staples were readily available right up till close of business yesterday (Christmas Eve) and the general mood of people does not seem to be as hectic and chaotic as previous years neither.

maybe it is the possibility of a global recession or several recent interest rate rises that are making people cautious,
or maybe, just maybe, the whole Covid pandemic has forced people to reassess priorities???

call me a cynic or a humbug but Christmas just lacks its usual 'feel' this year, it just feels like another normal day.

that all said, with my limited work duties (what i can do and time spent at work) over the last few weeks (due to knee surgery) i actually spent a little bit of time volunteering in a soup kitchen on three or four occasions to keep busy in early December.

[JeromeD]

I think Covid has a lot to do with the change in attitude. Xmas does not mean a whole lot to me. That wore off many years ago. I can't wait for it to be over to be honest. Still I can appreciate the wonder it must still hold for kids. One other reason that people are not showing the same interest is that they simply cannot afford the 700 Euro phones that the kids want anymore. And they are already in debt. Plus the energy crisis is not helping matters although I do not think there is an actual crisis. Governments are inflating the cost of energy in order to meet their climate targets - which they won't anyway. If you tell people to use less energy but don't inflate the prices then people will continue to use the same amount. Boost the price and they will curb their energy consumption. Simple economics.

I am curious as to your experience in the soup kitchen Crazy. Good work my man. This year I made a donation to DEPHER - I admire what this guy has done off his own back. https://burnley.co.uk/depher-founder-i-w...s-made-me/

[CRAZY-HORSE]

Soup Kitchen,
volunteering with a local charity based organisation called Crossways http://www.crossways.org.au/ who do a lot for the community.
basically just prepping food (peeling, dicing, chopping etc)...
then serving portions into containers and packing in bags with bread rolls, plastic cutlery, bottles of water, fruit to make ready for pick up or delivery to those who need it the most.

DEPHER seems like a worthy cause Jerome and im sure any donation would be used correctly there. now that is the sort of guy who deserves National recognition in terms of acknowledgement in the form of an OBE or similar IMO.