'December! December! & Disaster At Battle'

Santa arrives in Battle!

Well folks, its DECEMBER and now thoughts of the 25th can really start to kick into gear. I have so many festive fantasies that go through my head at this time of year you can't imagine and not all of them involve being trapped in a lift with a beautiful Mrs Santa either! HA HA

No, I may be as keen on the opposite sex and a festive version of Leslie Phillips but Christmas is about TRADITIONS and CUSTOMS and FUN and GIVING and I love all of those things! While I must confess I could use WAY more cuddles than I get most of the year it is so easy to get into a happy mood at this time of the year just by opening your eyes to the festivities around you, tapping in to your inner child and remembering that sense of wonder you had as a kid, and just TALKING TO PEOPLE.
How in the hell have we lost the art of simple communication? I had a very disappointing day in Battle yesterday because my beloved (but temperamental - like his owner) camera developed a fault and would not allow me to take a single pic or get any festive footage.

Road Closed For Christmas Claus!

I went to Battle nice and early with a mind to walk out into the countryside from there and get some lovely autumn pictures of the gold, orange, green, red and yellows that our trees and bushes are full of at this time of the year. Sadly, once up to my knees in mud, the cold seemed to get into my camera and he started playing up. Giving the camera a rest I returned to the centre of Battle and then started getting some pics and film of the decorations about the town. Suddenly, the camera packed up on me for good and an error message which said 'Card not initialized' came up on the screen. Try as hard as I might by doing the usual things (removing the batteries for a while, cleaning the card) nothing could bring the camera back to life and so I was left without a chance of capturing Santa's arrival and the subsequent spectacles!

Was I fed up! This year seems to have been somewhat ill-fated for me as far as getting the most out of Christmas goes. I had to miss my favourite Christmas Fair this year again because of a clash of date with a pre-booked writing festival in London and yesterday I missed another lot of Festive Fayres to go to Battle! Good job I'm determined to enjoy Christmas, eh!

Aah, cute!

I DID meet some really nice people yesterday. Had a long chat with two ladies in one of the shops there and both were very sympathetic. Jill even tried to help sort me out by seeking advice on the Internet from her tablet and finding me an alternative card to try. In the end though I didn't want to risk wrecking her card for her so I accepted defeat graciously. Jill did promise to send me a few pictures from the day though and it is her pictures you can see here today. THANK YOU JILL.

I also met some people at the bus stop and we all had a jolly good laugh swapping Christmas stories and talking about old films. The bus we were all waiting for was held up by the arrival of Santa and his entourage so I did at least get to see that part of the fun. On the bus home there were two really naughty kids who kept clambering about all over the place and swinging off the safety straps. When they got off everyone in the bus moaned about them at which point I piped up that I would not be visiting their chimney this year now. "It just goes to show what they say is true doesn't it, Santa knows!" I said to much merriment...

Fun for the kids.

I will try and get back to Battle before Christmas and see if I can get my camera to play ball. Having sought out more help on the Internet at home I have now re-formatted the camera and card and both seem to be working o.k. again for now. I love my camera and hate HD because it takes up so much space on your hard drive and is so unnecessary for most of us. Can't replace my little pal though as you cannot buy non HD cameras these days. Oh well, I will just have to hope that my 'repairs' will keep him with me for a few more years yet...

Off on his next stop before The North Pole!

The big tree at night.

Merry Christmas! xxx