It is the Royal Wedding, soon!

The royal Wedding is soon. Later this month, in fact. Everyone in Britain has been given a day off to celebrate the Royal Wedding, or to ignore it, as they see fit.

I am somewhat ambivalent to the Royal wedding. Unlike some people I do not follow everything the Royal family does, but unlike other people I have nothing against them. In fact, I am something of a Royalist. The system of government that we have (with the King or Queen in a fairly ceremonial position only, with certain exceptions) works, by-and-large, quite well and my rule is "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

The Queen or King never has to go out on the hustings, never has to indulge in electioneering and can, sometimes, back a cause that might not be very popular, but is the morally right thing to offer their support to.

A president, however, might shy away from such activities if -for example- it is within several years of his or her election.

The system is fairly cheap (in fact the Crown Estates generates far more income than is spent on the Queen and the rest of the Royal family) and the Queen also pays taxes, though legally speaking, she doesn't have to, but does it voluntarily, instead.

Plus there is the tourism industry and the amount of income the Royal family generates. Far better, one would suggest to say: "That's where the Queen lives, and as the Royal Standard is flying, she is at home, now," than: "That's where our Royal family used to live, when we had a Royal family.

"Oh, look! Over there is a poster for the election of the president. He is likely to be re-elected as a couple of months before the election he introduced a new law that, although popular with much of the electorate, might be seen to be grossly unfair on certain minorities. But shhhh! We'd best not talk of such matters, as the Presidential Intelligence Service have spies everywhere!"

COV 16th December 2007

Well, here we are. The last COV before Christmas! I nearly have all of my Christmas shopping done, but will probably be out on Christmas Eve, doing some last minute gift buying!

But on with the COV for 16th of December!

Sideon writes:
Here's the link for my COV contribution, which is about Romney. I love the guy like I love George Bush and Karl Rove and Dick Cheney, which is the kind of love that can best be measured with an electronic microscope. Other measurements would require a ruler, but that's another topic for another day.

http://sideon.wordpress.com/2007/12/06/sl-trib-comments-about-romney

“SL Trib comments about Romney
It’s been curious seeing the headlines change through the day about Romney and his “historic” speech. Initially, the headlines highlighted this gem: “Freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom.” (Hey Jesus, can you come back down here and bitch-slap your followers starting with Romney, please pretty please?)”


And now to From the Ashes a Christmas-themed posting
http://emergingfromtheashes.blogspot.com/2006/12/winter-solstice-and-ritual.html

“I grew up thinking that pagans were the epitome of evil. Worse than Catholics or Muslims, because at least they believed in God. My exposure to pagans and paganism was extremely limited, of course. My only exposure, I think, was from the movie Dragnet with Dan Aykroyd. Those pagans partied, did drugs, stole police cars, dressed in animal skins, and sacrificed virgins. And wasn't there something about playboy bunnies? They were bad. Okay, so I still think sacrificing virgins or anyone else is definitely not a good idea, but my thoughts on paganism have changed.”

MATT INTERJECTS: This was the Mormon upbringing that I had, too. I tried to square it with the fact that my Grandmother was a descendent of the Wise Women of Wales (she could cure warts, for example) and I failed. Grandmother would be pleased with the fact that I left Mormonism)


And a Christmas time post From The Ashes Post

http://emergingfromtheashes.blogspot.com/2007/12/were-happier-than-everyone-else.html

“We got roped into attending a Baptist church's Christmas choir performance today, as my father-in-law was playing in the orchestra. Not our cup of tea, but we wanted to go at least to support him. You know, the "the relationship is most important" mantra I'm trying to use to negotiate this Mormon-EvilAtheist divide in the family.”

And next we go over to the blog of Sister Mary Lisa
http://sistermarylisa.blogspot.com/2007/12/if-i-were-free-from-all-fear-i-would.html

“If I were free of all fear, I would...
I have an idea that I'd like to try with the help of my friends who read my blog. Once a very good friend gave me the assignment to write about this topic:

I posted it elsewhere, and it was raw and scary and amazing to write about my fears and to interact with others about them from the relative anonymity of the internet. So I hereby propose that it'd be cool for anyone who wishes to anonymously send me their thoughts on this topic, and I'll post them here for anyone to read and comment on. Trust me, this is way cool to do. It puts you in touch with yourself in a way that is not common, and I was so glad I did it.”

Now to South Bay Soliloquies

http://south-bay-soliloquies.blogspot.com/2007/12/bricked-ipod-update.html

This is really scary and NOT for the fainthearted! It’s about IPod surgery!!

“Bricked iPod, Update
I finally got around to cracking my iPod case open. It took a penknife and a guitar pick. If you try this at home, know that there's a little trick to it and you really have to dig at the case to get it to pop open the first time. There are videos floating around on youTube if you want a little guidance.”


And here’s one from CV Rick aka Ninja Writer but NOT Clutch, as that’s not what he is known by in the Blogosphere. Sorry ‘bout that. I’ll keep that in mind for the future!

Hey,

Here's my submission.
http://www.cvrick.com/cv_rick/2007/12/growing-up-morm.html

It's about the Christmas Tree, so that's appropriate.


And here is the submission of Matt

http://notamormon.blogspot.com/2007/12/i-think-my-brother-has-problem-with-me.html

“I think my brother has a problem with me. But I am not entirely certain why. In fact, in truth, I haven’t got the foggiest notion what crap he is pulling through him! Seriously I would like some input on this one as it is a puzzle to me. Can you please comment on this problem I have? I think there might be multiple causes.”

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year, folks!

The next COV will be Sunday 30th of December.

I think my brother has a problem with me...

I think my brother has a problem with me... But I am not entirely certain why. In fact, in truth, I haven’t got the foggiest notion what crap he is pulling through him! Seriously I would like some input on this one as it is a puzzle to me. Can you please comment on this problem I have? I think there might be multiple causes.

Firstly, I think he might resent the fact that I am out of TSCC. I mean, let’s face it? What will I do this Christmas?

After a leisurely and late breakfast with a mug of Irish Coffee, or freshly brewed coffee, we will enjoy mince pies and a glass or two of vintage Port or Sherry.

We might enjoy a glass or two of 10 year old single malt and settle down to watch some Carol service on the TV. We might even take in a Carol service at the local church. (We probably won’t, but we could, if we wanted to.)

With our Christmas dinner we will enjoy some suitable white and red wines –perhaps a Rose?- to go with the various courses. And afterwards we will open up a bottle of Champagne.

We will then sample various beers and with our supper (turkey and stuffing sandwiches) we will drink a little more wine and go for a walk in the cold air here on the English/Welsh border. When we get back we will enjoy glasses of Smoking Bishop and more mince pies!

(Here’s the recipe for Smoking Bishop http://www.msgr.ca/msgr-2/dickens_smoking_bishop.htm which is basically a mulled wine punch.)

And what will my brother and his family enjoy?

Breakfast with Barleycup. (A vile concoction that many people have a life-threatening allergy to).

Mince pies with Welch's Grape Juice. (I tried Welch’s grape juice at a food show recently. It has to be one of the most evil-tasting drinks I have ever tried. Any Mormon who expresses “love” for it is a liar, in my opinion.

And then it’s a case of “Anyone for another drink of Hemlock... err... sorry!... Barleycup?

With Christmas dinner there’s either Welch’s Grape Juice or Schloer grape juice which is just a little more palatable than Welch’s. But not by much!

My bother did not want me to know he was emigrating to Canada with his family. And seemed really put out when our mother mentioned this to me in passing.

Even more galling only months later it seems his darling wife who was pushing to emigrate to Canada now decides she doesn’t like Canada, so is pushing for them to move back!

He came back home for a week –he stayed at our mother’s flat- but not once made any effort to contact me. I phoned my mother on Monday to check if he was alright, he came later that day and he left late Friday afternoon, just before I phoned my mother again.

He clearly wants nowt to do with me. But why?

The summer before last my aunt had her 90^th birthday. I was holding a plate and a can of lager when my nephew asked me to write down my email address. I asked him to hold my plate and drink whilst I wrote it down. At this my brother came running over, knocking an elderly relative out of the way in his haste. He realised what had happened –that I had not been offering my nephew (who is 16) a drink and looked very, very foolish indeed. (I’ll add here that under UK law it is perfectly permissible for children to drink alcohol within the home, and also for children 14 aqnd up to consume alcohol in licensed premises with a meal.)

What my brother did not know was that I had been giving my nephew the kind of talk HE should give him! My brother is under the impression that his son does not drink alcohol because “the church teaches that we should not drink alcohol.” WRONG! Sadly, my nephew drinks like a fish. Not wisely or sensibly, mind you, but spirits and he and his friends guzzle the bottles down until they are empty.

I pointed out that this was not sensible as it would make him feel very ill. He admitted that it did, I advised him to either keep of spirits altogether, or to mix water or soft drinks with them. If you want to drink alcohol, I told him, stick to small amounts of lager, or beer. I told him about the advantages of drinking real ale over other alcoholic drinks (highly carbonated lagers will make you drunk much quicker.)

Actually, my brother –who is a couple of years younger than me- has resented me for quite a while before that incident, so I don’t think it could be that.

At another family party my mother had found me in the kitchen chatting about various types of real ale that we had tried. She looked at me, looked over at my brother (who had his “smug git” expression on) and she surprised me by saying: “Talking about beer with the lads, are you?” To which I proudly acknowledged .

She looked at me, looked at my cousin, patted me on the arm and said: “Well, thank God ONE of my boys has turned out normal!”

As she walked off, a smile on her lips, my cousin –who is a nevermo- said: “What the bloody hell was all that about?” To which I replied: “I haven’t a clue!”

My brother also has a problem with my wife. She is a Catholic and that has caused some friction.

So… any ideas? Please post your comments!

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