'A Truly Heart Warming Christmas Card & Letter'

I was really touched the other morning when I received a Christmas card and a letter 'out of the blue' from someone who knows me only from my 'One Man's Guide to Hastings' series and as 'The Clean Up Man'. I love making videos for my Youtube channel (Maybrick44) and especially videos to do with my home town of Hastings, East Sussex so it gives me a real boost when something like this happens and I get some recognition from someone that they are watching and appreciate my efforts!

The Letter & Card From Dave Booth

The voluntary work I do clearing the streets of rubbish and litter and generally 'looking out' for the well being of my local community as 'The Clean Up Man' can also be a lonely and sometimes soul destroying job but people like Dave Booth, who the letter was from, (thanks so much mate!) who reach out to me REALLY fire me up again to keep doing what I do and to try and make a difference...

I have been doing my 'work' in the streets of Hollington as 'The Clean Up Man' now for the best part of five years and get a lot of pleasure from the result of my efforts every time I see a horrid, smelly area suddenly look new, neat and nice again. In a way, I feel a bit like a 'vigilante' for decency, which is why I gave myself the 'superhero' monicker of 'The Clean Up Man'... It's all a bit pathetic though in a way as I should be working a proper job and creating a life for myself but I just don't feel up to that and lack the confidence required to 'take life by the scruff of the neck'. In many ways, 'The Clean Up Man' gives my battered ego a chance to feel good about who I am and what my contribution to the world is for a change and kind people like Dave really help to keep me going in the 'scarey' world of ours.

Dave is obviously a 'man after my own heart' as he tells me in his letter how he regularly relates to many of the things I talk about and show in my videos. Dave lives in West Sussex now but is yet another of the 'ex-pats' (as I call them) that still have a soft spot for Hastings and get their 'fix' of the place by tuning in to my Youtube channel. It feels good to know that my words and feelings about the place I love are not just 'lost to the ether' and I'm glad that Dave and people like him find comfort and solace in my videos and thoughts...

Dave mentions 'Woolworths' (and the Kings Rd branch), the two swimming baths, our long lost but sadly missed Memorial Clock Tower that was lost due to vandalism and 'your beloved pier' in his letter - and assures me he could tell me a tale or two about them all...Keep up the good work! He says to finish with...

Well Dave, I will! THANK YOU so much for your card and 'words of wisdom' - the boost they have given me is much appreciated, I can tell you! 2016 has been a pretty awful year for me emotionally and it feels really good to know that there are people like Dave 'out there' who notice and who care.

Have a VERY Merry Christmas Dave and all the best to you and your boys for a happier 2017...

'The Usual Boxing Day Luck And Farewell For This Year'

Unsurprisingly. I failed to pick a single winner on the gee-gees at Kempton on Boxing Day... A decent win on Boxing Day is one of my most longed for things at Christmas time simply because I ALWAYS seem to have such bad luck each year. In over 30 odd years of gambling i do not remember a single winning Boxing Day!!

Still, I was reminded more so than ever this year by one of the lovely presents I got from a friend of why none of that matters a jot! Just take a look at this video to see why?

I hope each of you have at least one friend who cares for you as much as I do and never be afraid to tell someone how you feel about them - far better to speak and be heard than never to say what you really wanted someone to know!

As for other Christmas events this year, I managed to help send a couple of kids toys out to Africa for the kids out there this year after spotting an appeal on Streetlife.com, which was nice and have been promised some photos of the kids receiving them later on (so I may post them here next year).

On the 'Spread Christmas Spirit Campaign' front I've not had any cards through the post or letter-box as yet from any of the recipients but I'm sure I will get some response in time. If nothing else my 'campaign' is 'blooming good fun' and brings me closer to 'Santa' as in effect I am 'pre-empting his footsteps' - just using paths instead of roofs!

Well, I think that is about it for this years blogging! I wish all of you a FABULOUS New Years Eve (don't forget to look out for the lonely and isolated New Years Eve, eh?) and the very best wishes for a cracking 2016. Hopefully, fate allowing I will be back here next year with some more festive blogging to accompany the build up to the big day...

Love Tony xx

'A Christmas Update!'

Well, not long to go now! I hope you are all sorted with your Christmas preparations?

Now, a little word of advice for any of you 'dreading' the next few days...

People are what make Christmas what it is and it is purely down to YOU whether you enjoy it or not. we all moan about our relatives or get irritated by what others think, do and say but it is just as well to remind yourself BEFORE you open your mouth next time something similar happens that you are LUCKY to have those people in your life...

Many people have no-one and face a Christmas with nothing but the telly, a book or the radio for company. My 'little world' is shrinking fast and as I get older I'm becoming more and more aware of that. This blog, my video channel (Youtube Channel Maybrick44), my writing for 'Hastings Town' magazine and my creativity are all ways I use to help me deal with being single. Most of the year round it works well and I don't miss what I don't know - if you see what I mean?

These last few days though I have been to a fantastic get-together with my writing club (Shorelink Writers) for a Christmas meal in the 'Capital City of Christmas - Westfield' which was lovely and spent an evening with two of the most Christmassy friends I know in their beautifully decorated flat. Both evenings would be nothing, mean nothing without the human interaction so just you remember that next time 'the mother or father-in-law gets your goat', eh?

Right, that's my 'Christmas Sermon' to the nation for this year out of the way! (lol) Now I will tell you what I am planning for tonight!

I am HOPING that the weather will be good because I have (belatedly) been writing a lot of my 'To The Occupants' cards and hope to walk the streets late tonight 'delivering' cards to houses in and about my area that have made a great effort this year to put up Christmas decorations, lights and or a lovely Christmas Tree! I always sign these 'THANK YOU' cards 'From Santa' so I thought if I were to make the effort on Christmas Eve the recipients would literally wake up with a Christmas card fro Santa on their mat! How great an idea is that, eh? Ho! Ho! Ho! Doesn't even start to cover it, does it!!

I have written about 30 cards out so far (sadly, not as many as last years campaign but then I have not had the time to prepare this year) and hope to add a few more to that total today. Then, come the cover of darkness, I shall be off out with a sack over my back just like Santa! Mind you, I WILL be sticking to doors and letter boxes - I don't think I will try squeezing down chimneys or 'popping in' to leave my card by the Christmas Tree in the living room! I might be 100% genuine (and Christmas Potty!) but I doubt the local constabulary would see it that way and spending New Years Eve behind bars for having 'too much Christmas spirit' (in the non-alcoholic sense)' would not be much fun!

As with last year, creaking gates, tight 'Arkwright's till' like letter boxes and security lights will be my sworn enemy tonight so I'm hoping that the weather will be kind (fat chance!)...

Right, well I'm off to get writing and preparing - be fun to see if I get any cards back this time around? I think last year I 'delivered' about 55 cards and got 7 back..

'Nearly There!'

Well, we are nearly at the finishing line for this years Christmas build up. It hasn't been the most memorable of Christmas run ins this year for me as the weather (will it EVER stop raining!) has been far from anything you imagine when thinking of a 'Winter Wonderland'. My luck hasn't been that great either as far as my camera letting me down TWICE on visits to Battle and my unavailability because of a writing festival in London to be able to attend my favourite Christmas Fair...

The papers though have cheered me up a bit with a few Christmassy stories and my old pal, Charles Dickens, would be well chuffed with teenager, Jordan Cox, who according to THE SUN used a selection of promotional vouchers to 'buy' £572.16 worth of food from Tesco's for 4p and then gave the lot to the charity, Doorstep. Now THATS the Christmas spirit old 'Charlie boy' was hoping to conjure up in all of us!

Old 'Charlie boy' Mr Charles Dickens and GOD BLESS his cotton socks!

Christmas is such a special time of the year but it is also a time when loneliness, financial worries, frustrations and thoughts of the past/missing loved ones strike home hardest. This Christmas please make sure that those you know who are alone are made aware of how loved and cherished they are. We all tend to get carried away with the hullabaloo that surrounds us at Christmas and often many amongst us who are sad, lost or are suffering are made to feel more so by the happiness of others. Christmas is a time to open your eyes as well as your heart and that is a part of the Christmas message I will always mention at this time no matter how many years (or not) I write this blog...

We all have unfulfilled dreams, we all 'wish' for pipe dreams but equally we all fail to see what a wonderful life we ALREADY HAVE. People are the most important thing on Dec 25th not money, not presents, not television, people and as a single guy myself I know that only too well. 

Me with my friend, Sally Patricia Gardner at our writing club Christmas meal.

I am not going to get all maudlin on you though, my GOD no! HA HA I am a 'bouncing off the walls' person at Christmas and so I will continue to spend the festive season in good cheer and complete with my Elf costume! The world cannot handle the festive cheer I pump out to others in December each year and I never tire of peoples looks of 'nutter' when I stumble across a member of the 'Bah Humbugian Sect'. Dear old Ebeneezer (the former) shall never dampen a TONY MAY CHRISTMAS no matter how hard they try!

No, no, no, be HAPPY over Christmas whatever you do PLEASE - but just be aware of the other side of the coin for others and make sure you always have a spare glass of wine/sherry and a mince pie for the less fortunate as well...

Love to all , xxxx

'Retro Home Movies On Youtube'

There are some lovely old Christmas home movies to watch on Youtube and I never get tired of watching excited kids open their presents or cause havoc by getting bored at the dinner table or by falling over strewn wrapping paper...

Christmas is after all a time for children and I think that applies more so now than ever. The world these seems to expect kids to 'make the effort to grow up as soon as possible' and it seems as soon as they can we stuff a mobile in their hands, push them out the door and tell them to be independent.

Christmases back when I was a kid though were so much more family orientated and I have come across a couple of lovely heart-warming videos to share with you here that prove my point. This first one is of an American Christmas and dates from 1970...

The second home movie I want you to take a look at is of a family enjoying Christmas 1975. I love the way tiny tots are like cats and get into everything. Watching them is a bit like playing the video game 'Lemmings' because you have to prevent them from doing all kinds of daft stunts! 

I would love to have had a family but things just haven't worked out for me in that way. Have had every emotional hang up you can shake a stick at over the years and taking responsibility for looking after a wife and kids has never been something I have thought I could do. Its a real pity because I'm good with kids and love them to pieces. Still, watching loads of retro home movies, recalling owning the toys that they unwrap and thinking of so many of my own 'childhood  happy Christmases I have to be glad for what I HAVE had rather than sad for what I have not...