I'm cold. Are you cold?

 

Hello all.  I hope that you are ok. Am I the only person who finds the extra hour we got today more tiring? Must be something to do with body clocks, I suppose. I remember putting the clocks back used to really annoy me when I had small babies. All that wanging on about the extra hour in bed while it was business as usual for a small child who had decided that we should continue with Banana Surprise for breakfast at the usual time, thank you.

We had FOW2 round this afternoon and asked if they had put their clocks back, but apparently, that is not a thing for the young people because they only use phones and Apple watches, and they sort themselves out. We are all going to die a horrible death, aren't we?

We went to the pictures on Monday and, if you can find it, I'd really like to recommend the film "I swear." It's the true story of John Davidson, who came from a working-class family in Galasheils in the early eighties. At fourteen, he began to display the symptoms of Tourette's Syndrome, which had a devastating effect on his life and that of his traumatised family. He is bullied and beaten because of his compulsion to shout and swear. He is rescued by a wise and kind lady who lets him come and live in her family. I think I cried about four times. HOH probably more. Highly recommended. One or two thoughts.

1. Maxine Peake is an acting goddess.

2. It's right at the beginning, so not a spoiler, but the way HM The Queen didn't even flinch when he shouted a word she probably didn't hear every week while presenting him with his MBE makes me think that we were very lucky to have her. 

3. If you are thinking of going to see it, there is, obviously, a lot of swearing. And I mean A LOT. 

I have continued with my half-baked Christmas planning by warning everyone that I am about to re-issue my Christmas present buying instructions. The whole Christmas buying vibe, which I have decreed, is that the whole thing is lower level than birthdays - very tokeny if you get what I mean. Everyone only buys one present for everyone else. So, as there are four of us, everyone has to come up with three presents for the rest of the team to buy for them. (It's immediate family only. For instance, FOW2's chap is an artist, and he paints for everyone else.) I think it is a perfectly simple system, but every year, my family act as if I am asking them to crack the Enigma code - without the machine. "How many presents?" "What if we all buy the same one?"  "Can I have a refresher?" "Could you put all the points in an email?" Good Grief.

It's still a long way off, of course

HOH had a top trip to Bristol to see FOW1. All went well until, on the way back,  nearly all the trains home to the South West were cancelled. Obviously, everyone was irritated, especially as the platform turned into The Hunger Games as three lots of train passengers tried to get into the same carriage. I suggested that HOH is old enough to have booked train support, so he got a guaranteed seat, but he felt that he wasn't up to the train manager keep coming up to him during the journey and shouting "ARE YOU OK, MR H? WOULD YOU LIKE A SNACK BOX? OR A NICE DRINK?"

Anyway, I'm finding the extra hour a bit trying now and may well go to bed with Moonfleet Murders and an extra blanket.  It's definitely colder as well. We actually put the heat on for an hour this afternoon. Ridiculous behaviour.