'On The Naughty List'

I had to laugh yesterday! Last Christmas I videoed the film 'Elf' starring Will Ferell, James Caan and Zooey Deschanel but until yesterday afternoon it had 'hung around' on my Sky box and not been watched...

My Great Grandfather,
Walter Hobbs

Well, you could have knocked me down with a feather when the main characters father (played by Caan) turns out to be called Walter Hobbs.

A self-centered businessman, Walter is on Santa's 'Naughty List' at the North Pole and as such is the kind of 'Scrooge' like character in the film. Will Ferrell plays 'Buddy' the Elf who it turns out is actually Walter's son. Buddy's mum never told Walter about his birth and put him up for adoption instead. He ended up with Santa at the North Pole after crawling into Santa's bag of presents as a baby (Santa was delivering to the orphanage he was in at the time and had been distracted by a large plate of cookies left out for him).  The film itself is about as daft as you can get but its good, clean fun and the kind of thing Sir Norman Wisdom would have been AWESOME in. The cheesyness of the traditional Christmas spirit message is as safely cheddar as ever but its nice to watch films like this when you are in the Christmas spirit because it gives you a glimpse of the idealistic thing Christmas could be if we all really did get into singing carols together in local parks and by the side of the road.

Anyway,  the reason I laughed so much at the name is because I have THREE ancestors with the name Walter Hobbs! No wonder my luck always seems to turn sour at Christmas! I don't think any of the three were particularly naughty but perhaps Santa knows better!

The first Walter Hobbs you see here was my Great Grandfather. He was a coal merchant and had his own business based in Hughenden Rd, Hastings. He was a member of the Ancient Order of Foresters and was well-known in and about the area. Walter got married to his first wife on Christmas Day at St Michael's Church, Silverhill as well! Could he really have been on the 'Naughty List'?

The second Walter Hobbs you see here is my Grandfather. He was a 'Lamplighter' for a number of years and served in the First World War. He was very musical so it may be from him I get my musical talents. I loved my Grandad very much as he was the type to spend a lot of time with me. If I was collecting stickers or stamps he collected them as well and would bring around a few 'swops'. Sadly, he died in 1975 but I will always remember him..

The third and last Walter Hobbs you see here is of my Uncle. He was a brilliant but troubled man who was very autocratic. Uncle loved to show you how things worked or demonstrate the features of the new radio or T.V. he had bought but he wasn't a good listener like my Grandad. I would have liked to have been closer to Uncle than I was but he did not make that easy really. Still, I do have some happy memories of him which is nice!

Oh well, I guess I know now where the run of bad luck I seem to perpetually get at Christmas time comes from! With THREE Walter Hobbs's in the family I guess my family has a bit of a 'history' with Santa!

'Into the Present Hunting Phase!'

Glad to say my Christmas spirit is starting to get into gear. I love planning my Christmas presents and cards list each year and get a buzz out of searching for just the right gift to give each of the people on it.
When I find something that you feel the person in mind will love and enjoy receiving I get the fun then of looking forward to giving it to them and (hopefully) seeing their reaction to it.

Obviously, this plan doesn't always work out as it should! Sometimes the person in question seems totally unmoved by the item, other times you send it to them via the post (occasionally at quite a bit of expense!) and you never hear another thing about it or worst of all (because it means you have completely wasted your money and then have the dilemma about what to do with the item) you buy them something they have already got.

Still, the fun is in the looking, planning and hoping and last year I actually brought a tear to a good friends eye with the gift I gave him. It feels SO GOOD to know that you have succeeded in showing someone you love that you were thinking of them and what THEY might like when you did you Christmas shopping and happy memories of great Christmas gifts never fade - I know because I have never forgotten the CD transfers my mate Martin Smith ( he of Megabass and Jive Bunny Fame) spent time producing for me of my old recordings with him.

The money thing is always a problem but I am rather a self-centered person most of the year round (not deliberately but I get tied up in my own thoughts and feelings) and so it does me good to take stock and think of the people in my life to whom I owe a debt of gratitude.

If you really want to get into the Christmas spirit 'think of others' and you will soon find the Scrooge in you reseeding!

Places other than Amazon.co.uk/com to start your present search include....

Vistaprint

Prezzybox

Firebox

 All of these sites are highly recommended and will provide you with a plethora of unusual gifts to choose from. Prezzybox is a similar site to Firebox (they could even be linked) but I found them to be the cheaper of the two sites. Firebox is a bit pricey but if you can get an order of over £50 together they do deliver for free which is quite a good saving. They deliver REALLY fast as well so no worries there...

If on the other hand you like getting creative and personal with the gifts you give this Christmas why not try Vistaprint for personalised calendars, cards, posters, mugs, t - shirts, etc, etc. The quality of their stuff is top draw and again, if you make the most of special offers etc you can get a good deal. They are  quite pricey on postage though and their economy service takes a while to arrive but if you get your skates on now and get organised you will have everything you need in plenty of time...

Another site worth exploring if you like music and would like to compile a special CD compilation for a loved one is Mixpixie...

Mixpixie

Compiling your own CD is time consuming and the finished articles are a little on the cheesy side but this said, you can grab tracks from CD's you like just the one song from or put together cracking 'Best Of's' that are not available in the shops. At 99p a track they are not cheap either and you can only have 10 tracks on each CD but you do get to record a short message to include on the disc if you'd like so its an ideal gift to send to those far away.

All in all, HAVE FUN doing your Christmas buying this year - its not as hard as you think...

'A Sensible Christmas!'

Now if there is one bloke I would love to meet for a Christmas drink and a chat it is Captain Sensible! Our Ray is a real character and a pretty good lyricist when he puts his mind to it as well. The records he released with Producer, Tony Mansfield at the helm in the mid 80's are a delight and range from the sublimely ridiculous 'Wot!' to thoughtful songs like 'Yanks With Guns'.

Aside from singing ode's to his beloved home town of 'Croydon' and whisking his way to the number 1 spot with 'Happy Talk' from 'South Pacific' its a little known fact that the good Captain released a Christmas single called 'One Christmas Catalogue' in 1984.

The song didn't quite come over as Christmassy enough at the time I remember and failed to sell but listening to it nowadays I rather like it!
The video is really good as well incorporating elements of the classic 'A Christmas Carol' and 'The Witch, The Lion & the Wardrobe' stories.
To try and boost sales of the record the record company released a limited 12" version of the song which  came with a real foam beard on the cover and the Captain's lively version of F.G.T.H.'s 'Relax' on the b side as well as a couple of other non-lp tracks. None of it helped the record into the charts though

Frustratingly, during the recording of their third album of songs together, Tony and Ray had a disagreement over the musical direction of the songs recorded so far and so the album was scrapped and they parted company forever. Well, I for one would LOVE to get a copy of those unreleased songs for Christmas! Be they good or bad it would be great to hear them and find out what all the fuss was about.

Pop music today is SOOO lacking characters like Captain Sensible, Roy Wood and the late, great Alvin Stardust. Music seems to have gone the way of modern thinking these days and become dour, ultra serious and 'arty'.

Give me a blast of 'Wot!' any day!

God bless you Ray (& Tony) wherever you are...

'Christmas Scratch Cards'

Doing the voluntary work I do clearing the streets of rubbish every week as 'The Clean Up Man', I get to see and witness both the changes in society's attitude to life and the worst of the human race. it never ceases to amaze me what people throw away or where when they do they throw it! I once famously found a crash helmet next to a pregnancy detection kit under somebodies hedge! Another time I found a full length dead (thankfully!) snake in a white material sack and I am always coming across intimate items of clothing that just seem to have been discarded casually in the street! How jolly it must be to toss your underpants into the gutter or chuck your bra up into the trees...

Anyway, all of these experiences do give me a unique perspective on the thinking of people today and their lack of care or thought for anyone other than themselves is the one thing which shines through more than anything when I really think about it. Community in general seems to be in steep decline as people spend less and less time with real people and more and more time on their phones. This 'singularity of mind' also seems to have given the green light for a drop in general moral standards and today it is now seen as o.k. to peddle Christmas scratch cards. That Jesus himself was dead against gambling and that Christmas (even the non-Christian version) is meant to be about thinking of others, celebrating what and who we have and giving thanks for it/them has obviously not been considered worth worrying about.

 Yes, I know you can say 'Oh, just lighten up for goodness sake' but just hang on a minute there! I am not a religious man myself but I do have enough respect for those who are to be mindful not to deliberately upset them or 'pour scorn on their beliefs'. What does the existence of scratch cards like these say about how us Brits value Christmas these days? Is all Christmas is to us now a 'brand' to be exploited for financial gain or personal greed? I know that essentially these cards are meant to be fun and I also take on board the fact that the National Lottery does not intend to incite people to spend money they cannot afford on gambling but the fact is I find LOADS of losing scratch cards (and the odd winner as well would you believe!) every day when doing my rounds and I often think to myself about how much good could have been done with the money someone has casually spent on them and wasted...

It is true that the National Lottery helps to fund many worthwhile causes and I'm sure that at least some of the money raised from festive scratch cards like these will go to help poor and disadvantaged people but I still feel uneasy about Christmas scratchers on a moral basis.

What do you think?

'On This Winters Night'

I really don't want to get too festive yet, after all its only the end of October and I HATE the way Christmas is spoilt by being pushed down our throats earlier and earlier each year myself. You may find this hard to believe bearing in mind I'm writing this a blog in October but Christmas is something you feel and I always seem to get the bug as soon as the nights start drawing in, the weather changes and we get those HORRID grey skies overhead. Maybe I start dreaming about Xmas to get away from miserable days of rain and wind - I don't know?

Anyway,  I'm not here to sell you anything so there is little commercialization of the Christmas message going on here. I just like to wax lyrical about what I see as a special time of the year when its actually o.k. for once to feel and be 'real'. In the ever quickening pace of life today that isn't seen as 'cool' these days and I hate that!

This track by Lady Antebellum is therefore the easiest way to gradually ease you into the idea of what comes in mid-winter. This live version of 'On This Winter's Night'  is perhaps a little cheesy with the kiddy choir and their lil' cute faces but the song itself is like a warm hug from an old friend in front of a blazing log fire. The song comes from a lovely E.P. of Christmas songs the band produced in 2010 and really brings out the romantic in me! So, go on! Take some time out from your schedule and sit and watch this video. The ad at the beginning is a pain but its worth putting up with because the bands performance is sensitively done and the stage set is as wintery as it is Christmassy so not too much schmaltz.

Enjoy!

'Welcome Again to the Christmas Build Up 2014'

Well, how the devil are you? I hope 2014 has been a good year for you and that you will be helped to get into the spirit of the forthcoming festive season by reading this blog over the next two months or so.

2014 has not been a bad year for me but it hasn't been a great one either. I continue to do a lot of voluntary work and have been fortunate enough to have now completed enough songs to put a Tony May Christmas album together (watch this space for more on that project) but I am still surviving on the dreaded benefits and having to use up my savings to have much of a life so its no bed of roses at the moment. This said, I know a lot of people are struggling these days and so I try to be grateful for what I still have while I still have it rather than think of the other side of the coin...

I also lost my beloved 104 year old Nan this year in June. This Christmas is going to be a tough one for me as it will be my first without her. I wouldn't wish Nan back as she was towards the end because her quality of life was very poor and she was in a nursing home. When people go in those places they kind of lose the sense of who they are and it was always upsetting visiting her but funnily enough its the person they were before they went into the home that you miss when they finally die - its as if you re-connect with the independent  person you knew as a kid again...

Anyway, no more talk of sadness! This is a Christmas blog and while I love to take you all on time travels back to (I think) better days my intention is not to depress you but bring out a few cherished memories or remind you of great songs, films, or T.V. series!

With that in mind and as a little tribute to the days when I used to watch these guys as a kid cuddled up to Nan on the sofa, here's a classic Christmas sketch from Morecambe & Wise...

http://youtu.be/Nqn2lnx9SbI