In my last blog, their was quite a bit to cover, me and Hannah had just seen Busted vs McFly, we’d had a range of trips away, as well as quite a few extra tidbits to add on top. This time, is a bit more old-school. Sure, there’s a few things to report, but, I think it’s fair to say this will be more of a mute interlude as we approach Christmas, as opposed to the novels of the last few. But, there’s nothing wrong with that. But, this is me, even with nothing to report, I’ll still, somehow, probably reach a million word novel. Here we go.
Halloween remains confusing
If there’s one time of year that I think Hannah still doesn’t, quite, understand, in the UK, it is, of course, Halloween. Makes sense, really, as it’s nothing to do with us, in reality. A whole bunch of nonsense we’ve inherited from the US. Whilst, naturally, there’s some Celtic and Catholic origins in the definition of Halloween, the whole addition of the Pumpkins, to Trick or Treat, all rubbish from the Yanks.
This year, Hannah was hoping to take part in the Halloween celebrations a bit more, but, no matter what she wanted to take part in, their was always, somehow, something that came in her way.
- Let’s decorate some Pumpkins, my love – By the time we’d decided to decorate a Pumpkin for Halloween, there was none left to do so. Although, to be fair, I think both our work commitments were more the reason why, in reality. Though, I will say, I didn’t realise how long Pumpkins can stay ok until going off.
- I want to do Trick or Treat – Now, despite what some idiotic folk may believe when they see Hannah, she is, in fact, obviously, not a child. Despite this, however, one kid tradition in the UK that happens surrounding Halloween is Trick or Treat, where you dress up in crazy scary outfits, knock on random peoples door, say “Trick of treat” and expect treats. … It’s incredible how pathetic it sounds when you spell it out, really … Well, this didn’t work out, either. Despite getting a costume she was wanting to wear, the idea of going with my Sisters two daughters, fell on deaf ears as they both had prior plans with their school friends. So, no to that, as well.
In the end, the closest thing to Halloween Hannah got to experience, was eating the un-claimed sweets and a few selfies next to decorations around. Better luck next time, maybe.
Bonfire Night 🎆, even more confusing
Whilst I can blame the US for the absurdity of Halloween and Trick of Treat, Bonfire Night, is all us. And, by us, I mean us, not United States. Bonfire Night is, of course, more accurately referred to as Guy Fawkes night, where a protester to the Government, at the time, plotted to storm into the Houses of Parliament and blow the whole place up.
What’s most wild about Bonfire Night, is how it’s based on something from back in 1605, at the time of King James I. Crazy, when you think of it like that. The infamous rhyme goes;
Remember, remember, the 5th of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot
I see no reason, why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot
What’s even more wild about Bonfire Night, is how we’re not celebrating, or, condoling the blowing up of Parliament and the King, because it was actually a failed plot. We’re ironically, celebrating the unsuccessful plot. Weird, isn’t it. So, in reality, it’s just an excuse for Fireworks all night, get togethers, and, if you’re that with inclined, consumption of Parkin Cake, which, considering it’s a mixture of treacle and oatmeal, is awful.
Like last year, it continues to be impossible for Hannah to understand such a tradition. But, I think on this occasion, I’ll let her off.
Bus on Fire outside White Rose
Despite the fact that Bonfire Night and Halloween both have their fiery flares, ironically, it was a Bus in the nearest Shopping Centre that suffered such fates at the close of October. Apparently, no one was hurt, but, quite the wild event, indeed. My suspect, stupid children.
Stitch, all the things
Since Hannah has arrived in the UK, she’s gone through many phases, most recent of these, being Stitch of “Lilo and Stitch”. This, newfound, re-obsession of such, has resulted in us checking out the Movies and even going back to check out the former TV Series which, I have to say, is quite funny. What isn’t good, is the latest Live Action Movie of Stitch, which I would describe as ‘everything wrong with modern Disney’. If you know, you know.
I’d never really paid attention to Lilo and Stitch when I was young, I think, mostly, as the UK offered far better children’s entertainment, but, I have to say it’s actually quite good. I like the banta between Jumba and Pleakley, and, who can’t love Gantu’s trusty sandwich obsessed sidekick.
To celebrate Hannah’s Stitch obsession, I ended up getting her a nice Large official Disney plush, as shown above. This comes in handy when she wants an absurdly early night, so, she’s something to cuddle 😁.
Trying out Grok’s AI Imagine Tool, plus, The Problems with AI
Keeping briefly, on the topic of Stitch, I had a little fun with Grok’s AI Imagine tool and it was quite impressive when given Stitch as a target. (Obviously, there’s many competing tools, most popular being OpenAI’s ChatGPT, but, that’s made by lefties, so, never touching that.) In fact, this isn’t even the best result, just the one I thought was appropriate to link to Hannah. We’ve had dancing ones, it’s kind of crazy how realistic and life-like you can make any object. I think AI works better on animals and creatures, than humans, at least, for now. And, to say it’s free, can’t really argue with that.
I have to say, though, for me, personally, I’m not a fan of AI. Or, I should, more accurately, say, I’m not a fan with how its overuse has taken over everything! You can’t even buy anything these days, without AI shoved down your throat. I wouldn’t mind, but Artificial Intelligence has been a thing for decades. Operating on machine learning and tools underneath is a pretty basic technique in technology. But, now, it’s just got insane. Hannah recently got a screen protector with AI, I mean, come on, that’s just bollocks. The only difference now is it’s becoming more visual. Literally, in this example.
The problem with AI: Lack of regulation, and, as a result, trust
Like him or loath him, Elon Musk famously warned 5+ years ago that if the world doesn’t recognise the threat of AI and regulate AI, it will go out of control. Well, I challenge anyone to deny that as today’s reality. AI Voice can make anyone sound like they said something they didn’t, sing when they can’t, it can edit how people look and act and more. Plus, with service like Sora, it can, literally, produce full animated videos with accompanying sound from just a description. On one side of things, it’s great, incredible, even. But, from the other, it’s the most easiest thing to abuse we’ve ever seen.
Now, it’s out of control. Which is where the trust element comes in to play. On a daily, and regular, basis, there’s people falling for AI, believing what it’s interpreting is real. Celebrities and politicians alike, in the most bazar of circumstances, to, honestly, anything else. AI providers have tried to hide this with watermarks, embedded data on the produced files, but, problem is, you can use competing AI to remove those watermarks, and, the data can be removed in a few clicks too. Today, at least, most AI generated content can be, with a sharp eye, noticed. But, based on how fast it’s developed in just the last 12 months, it’s not far from being completely indistinguishable. Then what?!
It’s not just visual and audio, of course. AI is also used to, essentially, take over our jobs. AI really is the next, “internet” boom. The internet has already killed Retail, killing traditional TV, redefined the Music and Movie industry, and our entire living habits and obsessions with the worst thing introduced in our lifetime, social media! AI, is already going much, much, further. AI can generate content it would take humans minutes, to hours, to do, in seconds. It can now understand language even better than before with advanced language models. Impressive, yes, but, when AI can do Customer Service better than a human, generate content better than a human, produce graphics and more better than a human … who needs the human?
To me, AI has its purpose, and, as someone who loves the evolution of technology, I’m not here wanting its demise. But, I can see,due to lack of regulation and vested interests allowing it to go out of control, AI becoming the biggest contributor to the loss of jobs worldwide. Don’t believe me, it’s already begun. Paired with automation, the use of a humans in work is becoming a very scary future for us all indeed. Especially for those who want capitalism to continue.
Now we’re all terrified of our demise in the future, shall we move on 😅
Christmas market, X3?
Almost X4, if you can believe it. But, yeah, it’s that time of year again, as November reaches its close and December dawns, in comes the Christmas lights and the many Christmas markets. Typically, I don’t bother with any of them. In fact, if I’m honest, post-18, I’ve not really bothered with much over Christmas, before. But, since Hannah has been arriving in the UK, I’ve always felt it best for her to get a taste of Christmas festivities in the UK. Only annoying thing about that, naturally, is that we really don’t do it like we used to. The lights were so much brighter, the markets were so much better, and, well, the world was less woke, pathetic and green obsessed. But, alas, here we are.
So, where else to start the festivities than locally;
Cleckheaton Christmas Lights continue to disappoint… but, saved by the Birds!
In a world where Councils waste money on pointless virtue signalling rubbish, they don’t bother funding important things that boost moral and help people, so, unfortunately, as a result, the Cleckheaton Christmas Lights are, quite frankly, pathetic. Somehow, even worse than last year. So, the focus had to go on the market itself.
As we’d nothing better to do, me and Hannah ended up having a look around. Although, the actual reality was that Hannah had a day off, and wanted to check out some Charity shops. Although, most recently, she’s becoming obsessed with an online equivalent, which we’ll get to later. Whilst we were travelling around having… fun?, I got a message from my sister, who was out with my Mum and her daughter, inviting Hannah to go on one of the rides. The markets always have Shops that sell expensive tat, and some rides. In the end, despite meeting up with them, making my sister jump twice from two different angles, in the end, she changed her mind. We took this as an opportunity to stick around with everyone whilst all reaching to the conclusion that it’s probably time to go home.
But, before we did so, I wanted an Ice Cream, everyone else wanted some food, and, apparently this year there was some Birds you could have a photo with. This immediately got everyone’s attention, so, off we went to check it out.
Hannah + heavy bird = inevitability
Easily, the highlight of going to the switch on was the Birds. They had everything from tiny birds, up to an Eagle. My sister’s daughter went small, went for a tiny bird who posed calmly with her. Although, hilariously, ended up pecking her aggressively just for picking up a feather which it had shedded whilst there. Hannah, however, thought, let’s go big, going for a rather big Owl.
The only issue with this, naturally, is that this not only comes with a lot of weight, but, it’s very sharp feet. Hannah was warned about this by the INCREDIBLY Scottish woman manning the stand, though, I don’t think Hannah took it that seriously. She did when it was on her, that’s for sure. Hannah was given a huge, at least on her hands, Glove, to wear for the bird to sit on whilst she posed for Camera.
Try as she might, it became, very quickly, apparent, that Hannah was struggling with the wight of the Owl, so, was briefly aided by the woman in charge of the event, until, it happened, Hannah’s arms failed her and the bird went to the ground. Due to this, it had zero interest of going back on so that was that. Still, got plenty of photos from the event;
Once that was done, it was time to head back. Their really wasn’t much else on offer at the Switch on, plus, it was also raining pretty badly all day, so, whilst it was baiting a little, we took the plunge to get off home. I’m not sure whether it was a better event that last year, for Hannah, but, I can say that if it wasn’t for the Birds, it would have been even more disappointing.
This is why you don’t stroke neighbours cats!
There’s quite a few cats that live on my Street, many of which naturally like attention. However, there’s a time and place, and Hannah picked a bad one. Right outside the house, their was a neighbouring cat, which Larry doesn’t like (although, Larry doesn’t like every cat), and Hannah was like “he’s so cute”, so, started stroking it. Trouble is, it took this as an invite, so was waiting outside the house, for a good hour, expecting to be let inside and given food. Slowly, but, surely, it learned, thankfully.
OK, let’s move on to number 2;
Brighouse Christmas market… yeah, disappoints too
I don’t know why, but, for some reason, everything we did last year, was worse this year. I’m not saying the Brighouse Christmas market was amazing, last year, but, geez, it was bad this year. All the stalls were worse, the shops were much more barer, to the point where, after an hour, we were already contemplating going home. In fact, I think if it wasn’t for Hannah’s slow Charity shop trips, we probably would have gone in less than an hour.
We spent most our time in the Supermarkets, ironically, where we discovered that Lidl is terrible, Sainsbury’s had nothing of good, and all of them, including Brighouse as a whole, lacked a waistcoat my Mum was looking for as a Christmas present. Tesco worked as a good toilet visit. So, in the end, Hannah got some cheap touch-screen gloves in Peacocks, my Mum a new decoration, and, that’s about it. Worth it.
Hopefully, number 3 is a bit better;
Leeds Christmas market = A lot more flair, but, not what it once was.
Obviously, Leeds was always going to be the best on show than the other two, more space, investment, and, as a result, options, of things to do when you visit. It’s clear that the Christmas market, like all, focuses more on the children side of things, with the Adults able to visit quite a section of additional outdoor bars.
Outside of the Train station, you had the Food areas, all of which are the expected over priced, not worth it, rubbish. Then, if you travel to the top of Leeds, around where the Art Museum is, climbing even further up, you’ve a collection of rides and attractions. Everything from a huge lit Ferris wheel, to rides, to a Carousel, to an Ice Rink, and more.
Whilst, in the end, we didn’t really go on anything, Hannah does want to go back, though, annoyingly, the weather and schedules haven’t really been playing ball. So, might have to be next year. We did take a few photos, though, from our first look around.
After a good couple hours of checking everything out, it was time to head out. Then, with that, came the most frustrating time ever! For me, at least.
Leeds Council, and the Buses, are pathetically stupid.
Naturally, with all the Festivities taking place, you expect a bit of travel chaos, but, this really takes the biscuit. Think that’s the best PG way I can put it. If there’s one thing that is TERRIBLE about Leeds, it’s that after 7PM there’s, basically, nowhere to go to the toilet. Bus station? Nope, closed (and chargeable, pathetically). John Lewis, nope, closed. Fast food places, nope, closed due to asshole chavs always doing drugs and vandalising them. Literally, you’re left with the Train station. It’s ridiculous. This is also at the opposite side of Leeds to the Bus station, which means;
This led to me running, and, I mean, running, to the Train station, from the Bus station, whilst Hannah waited for the, at the time, less than 10 minute away, Bus, where the plan was, she’d catch, and I’d catch it later down the road. Seems logical, right? Of course it is, in fact, we’ve done this before. Well, here’s something for you…
I ran back and could just make it to the stop after the Bus station, meaning, less people would be on, so, I could get on a Seat next to Hannah before the Boar Lane rush. OK… waiting, as were many others, by the way. Huh??? The bus decided to completely skip that Stop, for some reason. And, by skip, I don’t mean drive past, I mean, never even went on the entire road through Leeds! Baring in mind, if I didn’t have Hannah telling me this, and, didn’t have a Bus tracker, I’d never know this. The Bus stop had the times still stating minutes away, etc, no signs or mentions at all that this stop wasn’t in use. Ughhh, you’ve got to be kidding me. So, what can I do? By this point, Hannah was telling me, she was nearly leaving Boar Lane, yes, it still went there. So, I went running, again, as fast as I could to the Stop immediately AFTER Boar Lane. Crazy thing is, I made it in time, for it to get there, it would have gone there, IF, it didn’t ALSO decide to skip this Stop too, and, even the one after!!!
Above is the Stop I ran to after, itself. Now, tell me, any signs to suggest it’s not running? Nope. The Screen still stated a bus coming, the road isn’t closed. Literally no reason for it not to come. To make matters worse, at this time on a Saturday, they’re 1 every hour. So, Hannah was travelling home freely on her Monthly bus pass, whilst I was stranded in Leeds due to the pathetically BAD Council and bus services.
You know what makes this even more annoying? I work in Leeds, so, naturally, I was going to be there the following week. The Christmas festivities and events will be there until New Year’s Eve. Guess what? All buses went to each of the Stops I waited at, and, did, from that moment onwards. So, why the hell did they not that day?! I don’t know if it’s because I made a formal complaint about it, but, damn, I was SOOO mad!
Ending on a frustrating Taxi, and, a Chinese!
So, there I was, in Leeds, completely exhausted, sweating, walking helplessly in Leeds destined to be there for over an hour, as the next Bus was, incredibly, somehow, already marked as going to be late. No, not on my watch. In the end, I just HAD to get out. You know when you’re so stressed and pissed off, you just need to get out, yeah, I was there, and, then some. Booked a frustratingly expensive Taxi back, which took a wrong turn, ironically, convenient as it led to me meeting up with Hannah, rather conveniently, outside a Chinese place in Cleck. Hannah got herself some Singapore Noodles, extra Spicy, but no Prawns, with some Fried Rice. This has become a staple of what Hannah gets. To the point where she’s on “the usual” terms with the owners. Although, communication isn’t always on point, as Hannah discovered when asking “do you have any desserts?”, to which the Chinese woman looked puzzled for what seemed like a year, to ignore Hannah and ask, “how’s the weather?”. We’ll never forget that.
But yeah, Leeds; a lot of flash, but, a lot of frustrations.
An, almost, fourth?
After the un-success of Cleck and Brighouse, yes, my Mum is going to go somewhere else. Originally, the plan was, for my Mum to go with both my Sisters to Halifax Christmas Market, though, one bailed last minute. Becoming a regular thing, concerningly, I’d hate to speculate, publicly, as to why.
But considering Halifax is literally a s**thole, I decided to say no, plus, Hannah can’t on that day, so, that worked out, thankfully. Probably the only thing in Halifax is The Peace Hall, where McFly are playing next year, ironically, but, I think even that won’t be enough to get us there. I mean, it’s no VIP Experience in First Direct Arena 😅.
Although, surprisingly, my Mum came from the day out rather impressed with everything at Halifax, so, who knows, maybe it’s improved from being a s**thole, to, just, not amazing. Such an upgrade, I know. Her obsession with Christmas markets continue as they’re planning to go to Leeds, too. Though, be careful of the Bars…
A very awkward Filipino, occupied, Church ⛪︎
It’s been said to me, by many people, that me and Hannah being together is a bit of a miracle, due to our complete differences, we really are the complete opposites in many ways, even compared to my past relationships where their was, at least, some similarities. This is also true when it comes to social. I don’t mean social media, even if Hannah does have an unhealthy addiction to that, I mean in terms of people. I will happily spend time on my own, or, with as little as possible. I’m also very selective when it comes to adding in friends to my circle. Hannah? Complete opposite. She can make friends visiting a McDonalds or Tesco, whereas I’d be like, leave me alone 😁.
As a result of this, Hannah has actually enveloped quite the Filipina friend base. One of these is a Manger at McDonalds who goes to a Church, just outside of Leeds (said Hannah, it bluddy wasn’t), so, invited Hannah along … which, of course meant, I had to come too, oh the joy. Yeah, not only am I a firm non-believer, but, generally hate everything about religious settings. But, I think we both weren’t expecting what we found when we got there. Everyone was from the Philippines! Even the pasture was wearing the whole Barong Tagalog ghetto. Was soooo weird.
Of course, we had to get there first which wasn’t, exactly, straight forward, at all. Hannah was like, oh, it’s just outside of Leeds. Well, I don’t know about you, but, I don’t class a half hour bus ride, just outside of Leeds. It took us quite a bit of working out, and calculation, but, thankfully, a bus was worked out. In the end, I was a bit annoyed as I bought a Day ticket, knowing we’d need multiple Bus services to get there and back, to then, be given Travel back. But, ahh well.
Sooo awkward
Due to the confusion with Travel, we ended up being quite late. Though, if we’re both honest, that probably wasn’t too bad of a thing. It is no exaggeration when I say they were all Filipinos in attendance, to the point where there wasn’t even a single Brit in there. It felt like I wasn’t even in the UK anymore. The only sense of Western influence for the day, was a guest Speaker from the US, who was being treated like some unbeknown Celebrity. Gave me his Card, for some reason, try as you might, mate, you’ll never convert me to that, thank you very much.
Of course with everyone being Filipino, that meant, everyone was noisy, extra crazy and strange. It was rather creepy, as well, with everything that was said was followed up with a loud “AMEN”, and over-enthusiasm. Just, so weird, and awkward. Then, they all wanted a Photo taken, yes, even us two, I was very firm in my refusal, but, Hannah was included. So, that was awkward, but, not even close to what was yet to come.
Why are we being called in front of everyone? Then, food.
I would have been very happy to have the limit of the awkwardness of the day being the, “sorry, we’re late”, at the beginning. But, no, it just kept on coming. This one, though, just made no sense at all. The pasture was like, ohh, let’s call up our new members?? Hey, I signed up for nothing! So, there we were, the whole room staring at us, as we walk up to the front, he was even going to give us microphones to do some sort of speech. The sight of that made us both slowly try skimming back as much as possible. Thankfully, such madness was avoided, but, damn, that was close. Then, came loads of talk of how great it was for us to be there, how hard it is to find people believing in the Faith. It didn’t really feel the time to be like, yeah, you’re talking to the wrong guy, so, just let him have his moment.
At this point, I’m thinking, right, can we go now? Service is over, right, so, time to… what? Food? Yep, before I knew it, tables a plenty, Food is served. Of course, nothing I like. Although, nothing Hannah really liked, either. Turns out, they normally have Filipino food, but, due to the visiting American, they had Western food, which disappointed Hannah. So, in the end, I’m there, eating a rubbish Cake, cos everything else is awful, on a larger Table full of Filipinos I’ve only just met. Not fun. I think even Hannah, wasn’t exactly, enjoying this. Though, I think she’s lying if she didn’t enjoy that feeling of the Philippines, at least. Though, I can confidently say, she probably won’t be going back.
To add to the awkwardness, well, how about a Taxi being bought for us to get home in. Well, ok, not really awkward, but, definitely felt a bit guilty having that paid for us, but, on the other hand, was happy to get out asap, so, thank you for reading the signs.
We ended up bumping into the woman, whilst going through Leeds weeks later, and was cool with us both, so, least we didn’t ruin that for Hannah.
Decorating the house 🎄🎅🏼
The closest Hannah has ever got to spending Christmas with us all in the UK, was last year when she stuck around until the end of November. But, naturally, being that she left before December, meant that she’s yet to witness my Mums rather, not so, muted, Christmas decorations. But, not before witnessing my Mum get yet another new decoration whilst in Brighouse. In fact, she’s yet to really truly get into the Christmas spirit here, really. The only issue, I’m expecting, from Hannah spending Christmas in the UK, is she can be incredibly stubborn when it comes to the whole, “everything’s better in the Philippines”, lark. Even if it’s actually not. So, she’ll get her own Advent Calendar, more on that shortly, we’ll all be exchanging Gifts on the day, obviously, and experiencing the UK Christmas Dinner, with NO rice. Well, that’s what we’ve all insisted anyway.
As for the decorations, well, what do you think;
Believe it or not, this is actually less than their used to be when I was younger. You know, it’s crazy, I actually miss the decorations that were used in the 90s and early 00’s. I mean, where’s the old paper floating ones that you used to have hanging from the roofs across the room, and those plastic huge 3D pictures of Santas and Snowmen etc you’d have on your main living room doors. Ahh, the nostalgia. It’s hard not to be when things just simply were better back then.
That’s not to say there’s not some hints of the old school, my Mums very original Santa she, apparently, has had since she got post-Marriage, the nativity set that’s been there before the beginning of time, it would seem, even if, unfortunately, the Light has broken. Yeah, it’s always nice to see the decorations up, but, very hard not to be stuck in the past, sometimes.
I’m not sure if it’s back to the Philippines better lark, or before, but, I have to say, Hannah didn’t exactly seem that bothered about it all, really. I mean, sure, it’s just Christmas decorations, but, the reaction was more, oh ok, rather than, oooo look at that, kind of thing. But, they’re up, and, who knows, maybe now she’s seen them she’ll be the back influence I thought she could’ve been and contribute to more.
Hannah’s new found love of Vinted!
Imagine a world where you have a Charity Shop in the palm of your hand, with the ability for you to contribute and make money yourself… OK, that’s probably not the definition they’d be hoping for, but, essentially, Vinted is a second hand market of user provided items, and, for many, a way of making quick money for things they no longer need. Yes, you’ll find a collection of rubbish, but, at the same time, you may find a bargain. That’s where I’m making the Charity Shop link. Hannah was recently exposed to Vinted and, yeah, she’s now a very avid user.
What do they sell? Well, it’s honesty up to the seller. The adverts always prioritise Clothing, which, to be fair, they do sell and allow you to sell yours, but, they also have Electronics, to Toys / Plushes, and, so much more. If it’s on eBay, there’s probably someone on Vinted trying to sell theirs. The only thing you won’t find on Vinted, well, two things; anything new, and, a warranty. The anything new part, probably makes sense, but, the warranty side, is something that makes this a more, eye with caution type of place. There’s, 99% of the time, zero return policy or refund. So, if you get something and it arrives, that’s what you got. The 1% exemptions being, cancelled before delivery, or, item being completely different to description disputes, which are very rare as there’s decent penalties to the seller which, rightfully, discourages that.
So, yeah, Ghibli things, they’re there and at decent prices. Clothing, yes, they’re there at, sometimes, decent prices. Other things, yes thh… you get the idea. Hannah’s made quite a few purchases so far and has her eyes set on trying things to other way around soon.
Trying out InPost
Typically, when you buy something on Vinted, you’ve two choices, home delivery, or, InPost. InPost is something that’s only just arrived in the UK. It’s a Polish company that allows you to collect parcels from placed points around the Country. I had my first experience of things when collecting a couple of Hannah’s things. It’s surprisingly easy. Well, it is, when Hannah stopped being stubborn and got the app. Then, it worked. Scan the QR code, suddenly, bummm, door opens. Crazy.
Obviously, the bigger reason why you’d use this is actually it’s cheaper to use than a standard Delivery courier. Plus, for sellers, it’s easier too, as you literally can go to a Locker to sell too. Buttt, only if one is available. This was a problem for one item we needed to deliver.
The awkward Angel purchase
One of the many Christmas decorations we have around the house, as you’ll of seen, there’s quite a lot… even if you don’t believe it’s toned down from before 😁. One of the ones we have is a hollow clear Angel, which, a few years back, we decided to put on top of a Fibre-optic Tree base, which allows the Angel to reflect and refract multiple different colours. My Grandma now wants to do the same with one of her old Tree bases, but, lacks the Angel to do so.
Well, we searched far and wide, and, couldn’t find anything, even remotely, close to what this was. Until, Hannah went on her trusty Vinted and found a second hand of the exact same one! Was a bit pricey, but, we managed to price them as far down as it would let us, and we got it ordered. Sorted. … Or, not. Well, it turns out, the seller couldn’t deliver by InPost as there was no available Big Slots to deliver it in. Which meant, in the end, we had to cancel the order. Nooooooooo … OK, I, personally, wasn’t bothered, but, this would be a disappointment to my Mum who was gifting this to my Grandma. Now, we’ve re-ordered and just paid a bit more for normal Delivery, but, this just shows how it doesn’t always just work. At the time of writing this, it’s with Royal Mail set for delivery shortly, so, as long as it doesn’t come in multiple pieces, we should be all good.
Hannah’s first Advent Calendar
This blog has turned into, mostly, a journey of weird traditions that Hannah doesn’t understand, even after being explained. Well, here’s another, the Advent Calendar. Now, for anyone religious in Christianity and Catholicism, Advent should be something they’re perfectly aware of… well, apparently not, in Hannah’s case. But, obviously the idea of an Advent Calendar is more of a European thing, in reality. Though, popularity has grown further afield. Not to embroil you with too much history, but, it actually began in Germany, of all places, after the second World War. It’s essentially, a countdown to Christmas.
In a traditional Advent Calendar, you have accompanying doors from 1 to 24, typically with the Christmas Eve door hiding something more significant. Although, I do remember the 1999 Advent Calendar was much bigger, though it just meant smaller chocolates, as we counted down to the Millennium. But, that was an obvious one-time exception. Hey, who knows, they may still be a thing in the Year 3000? Who knows, but I hear not much has changed, but we live under water…
I think it’s fair to say Hannah hasn’t really shown much interest in the Advent Calendar. I mean, this wasn’t helped, initially, by her having a bit of Flu at the start, but, even after, she finds the whole concept rather pointless. To be fair, this is more of a thing for Kids, but, even if we don’t bother for her next year, it was just to give her that experience. Even as I’m writing this, there’s quite a few days just ignored, with me having to remind her it exists. At least, there’s something better on Christmas Eve to look forward to, before, of course, the big day!
A bit of a 2026 Preview?
2026
Wow, we’re talking 2026 already? Well, kind of, obviously, we’ll be giving 2025 the usual In Review send off, I always do. Although, it’s fair to say that a lot of next year has already really being set out. It’s not often you have a following year set out, in many ways. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t before our Wedding / the end of 2023, so, I don’t have everything predicted. But, whilst I don’t really have next year fully figured out, enough has happened for me to, pretty, accurately, set it out.
There’s going to be some big changes in my life next year that have already been announced to take place, but, not before, the already planned next trip to the Philippines. So, I think it’s fair to say that, the first half, at least, I know what to expect. After that, for now, is a mystery. I’m a combination of nervous, but, also excited for the next chapter in my life. It’s been a good few years, but, when the signs are there, you know it’s time to take that chance when it comes, and, I am.
What am I talking about? Well, I think I’ll save that for another time next year once it’s actually happened. Though, I think you can probably figure it out, in reality.
BEHANN 