Well, that’s that. It’s the twelfth day of Christmas. I’ve stripped the tree, put all the angels/fairies in a bag and all the baubles in another. The lights have been packed in their box and the nativity scene in its bag so that Joseph can’t get lost, as he almost did for this Christmas. All I need to do now is put them in the cupboard in the attic. The tree has gone back to its place in the garden and I’ve vacuumed up all the fallen needles. There’s a pile of Christmas cards which I’ll possibly put in a safe place in case the small people want to cut them up to make new Christmas cards next time. Or maybe they’ll just be thrown away.
Anyway, that’s it. christmas is officially over for another year and we can get back into the old routine.
The old routine seems to include high school shooting in the USA. Here’s a report of Donald Trump’s recent sympathetic response:
“Donald Trump told an audience at a campaign event on Friday in Iowa to “get over” a deadly shooting at a high school in the state a day earlier.
After offering sympathy and emotional support for the victims of the shooting in Perry, Iowa, and their families, Trump said at the event in Sioux Center: “It’s just horrible – so surprising to see it here. But we have to get over it. We have to move forward.”
Trump’s comments on the shooting that occurred about 36 hours earlier were the first he had made addressing the violence.
Friday’s remarks were not the first time in the last year that Trump has apparently tried to deflect from having a substantial conversation about gun violence in the US. During a speech in April 2023 to the National Rifle Association, Trump argued that the long history of deadly school shootings in the US is “not a gun problem”. He instead blamed the issue on Democrats, mental health issues, marijuana and the transgender community.”
Some things don’t seem to change.
Now, according to this article we are becoming a more “sweary” nation. I can certainly vouch for the fact that Granddaughter Number Two (20 years old) uses the F word far more than I personally find acceptable. But then I’m of a generation who grew up regarding the F word as almost totally taboo, only used in extremis, apart from one friend who has always liberally scattered her indignant speeches with that word. Nowadays, it seems to have taken over from “bloody”.
Incidentally the smallest member of the family was delighted recently to discover the expression “blooming heck”. Having heard someone say it, he asked for a meaning and how to use it. Then he spent some time trying out different occasions to use it appropriately! The joy of being 4 years old!
We walked up to Dobcross, down the other side and then back along the Donkey Line bridle path.
There’s still an awful lot of water running down from the hills but at least we haven’t had floods. Just some very muddy footpaths.
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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