And so this is Christmas, or so it would seem,
another year over - so soon it has been.
But it sure must be Christmas,
though the days still be long.
It says so in the 'Wethers' (local pub)
and Tim can't be wrong (Tim Martin, CEO of the Wetherspoons chain).
With apologies to the late John Lennon (not that he cares - he's dead and out of it! Which just goes to show my present state of mind).

Cynical? Yeah, I guess you could say so. But it's a cynicism based on bitter experience - that's what life does to one. There are times that, sitting here, I can envisage little more attractive than stepping out into the midst of the Woodgreen / Turnpike Lane traffic. Not that it would achieve much other than an excruciatingly slow death, given that the average speed along the local highways and byways here hovers around that which might be expected of a particularly respectful horse-drawn funeral procession. But then, swigging back the second or third tankard of the day (today's tipple being the insanely strong Abbot Special Reserve - weighing in at an impressive 6.5% alcohol by volume and possibly lethal in large doses to the unwary), one opens ones email and lo and behold, more often than not a smile comes to one's face. No less true than today, people, when upon opening my mail mere moments ago I found myself faced with this gem, yet another of the set I posted so many moons ago originating I believe from the Spic and Span magazine stable published in the sixties and to which I owe so much in terms of my descriptions of the school-type uniforms featuring in the INSTITUTIONALISED series. I have boosted the contrast ( strictly speaking the 'Gama' if we are to be technical) and I think the detail revealed is remarkable. Notable are the integral belt loops and the breast pocket detail, the perfect space to fill with a colourful and suitably humiliating badge and slogan. If one needs a guide to the sort of thing I am - or will be - eluding to in the domestic discipline / 'schoolroom' scenes in my stuff this is it!