The eleventh Annual Christmas Card Audit (ACCA)

Here we are again - it's time for the Annual Christmas Card Audit (ACCA), which has become a feature on this blog, even to the point where people have got in touch to send me cards because they have read the blog. (Well, one person has done that - hi Jon from Melbourne!)

The postal strikes and knock on effect on deliveries meant some cards didn't arrive until well after Christmas so we left them up on display a bit longer than normal this year. That prompted my friend Stewart to contact me a few days ago asking where the audit was. I reassured him that it was on the way.

Last year I included the cards designed by kids in the audit post. Here's the one Stewart sent us, designed by his daughter Delilah. 

Delilah's card got counted in the reindeer category.

Anyway, on with the audit. As ever, I've included the previous year's figures for comparison.

Total number of cards: 63 - This is actually a huge drop from last year's total of 91. Whether this is because of the rising cost of living, the spiralling cost of postage, or disruption caused by strike action is hard to day - probably it's a combination of all 3. But anyway, it's quality, not quantity that matters!

Hand-made / home-produced cards: 5 (8 in 2021)

Cards designed by kids: 2 (1 less than last year, when we had 3)

Cards with glitter: 3 (A quarter of last year's total of 12. It would be good news for the environment if glitter disappeared altogether.)

Cards sold in aid of charity (or fundraising): 38 (Down from 53 - which feels a proportionate drop given the overall drop in cards received.)

Total number of charities represented: 37 (40 in 2021) 

Most popular charity represented: Mind, with 10 cards. This is the first time Mind has been the most popular charity, although most of these were on multi-charity cards. There was one card that was just sold in aid of Mind. The second most popular charity was the Alzheimer's Society with 9.

Charity card cause breakdown

Cards raising money for cancer charities: 14 (down from 24)

Cards raising money for other health issues: 16 (down from 36)

Animal charities: 1 - the RSPB, (Was zero in 2021)

Children's charities: 6 (8 in 2021)

Overseas development charities: 8 (down from 11)

THEMES

There's always a bit of a challenge with some themes - the card above, by Zachie, featured spiders and cacti wearing Santa hats. Obviously it is absolutely brilliant and would raise everyone's joy levels as much as it did mine, but for avoidance of doubt, it got counted under 'other animals' rather than 'Christmas foliage'.

Religious themes

I always start with the religious themed cards as technically, Christmas is a religious holiday. However, the number of religious themed cards does seem to be about the same proportion every year - more than a fifth, less than a quarter.

Religious-themed cards: 14 ( down from 19). 

Cards featuring the Nativity: 7 (down from 12)

Some of the following characters from the Christmas story may have featured on the Nativity cards, but they only get counted if they appear solo on the cards. 

Three kings: 0 (This might be the first time ever that the kings / wise men / magi didn't appear on a card. They were on 2 cards last year.)

The shepherds: 0 (Again! That's three no show years in a row.)

Angels: 1 (The same number as 2021.)

'Cartoony' religious: 0 (This fluctuates year on year between a few and zero; 2022 was a zero year.)

Other themes

Santa: 3 (down from 6)

Christmas Elf: 1 (Relisted this year after being dropped as a category.)

Penguins: 2 (Half of last year's total.)

Bears: 2 (After a bear-free Christmas last year, they have returned!)

Reindeer: 3 (down from 6)

Christmas trees: 5 (down from 6)

Christmas food: 1 (down from 3)

Christmas decorations: 2 (down from 4)

Robins: 4 (A rare category that increased! Up from 3 last year)

Sheep: 0 

Dogs with or without Santa hats: - I'm delighted that after a zero showing last year, we had 2 dogs cards and 1 had dogs in Santa hats!

Other animals with or without Santa hats: 8 (Up from 6. It was a bit of a menagerie, with a koala and a narwhal featuring on cards.)

Winter scene/scenery: 3 (down from 8)

Snow & snowflakes: 0

Snowpeople: 2 (After a good showing of 8 last year, this is quite a drop.)

Licensed characters: 3 (Down from 6 in 2021.)

Hares & Moons: 1 (Another stable category with 1 last year as well.)

Christmas foliage (formerly listed as "holly and wreaths"): 3 (Up from 1 in 2021)

CARD FRONT MESSAGES

Word 'Christmas' on the front: 27, of which 4 were religious. This is an increase from 25 overall and 2 religious cards in 2021. 

"Seasons Greetings": 3 (down from 4)

Mentions "Jesus": 0 (For the second year in a row.)

"Peace": 3 (Up from zero last year - perhaps it reflects a year with a fairly big war kicking off on the eastern edge of Europe.)

Bible verse on front: 1 (This is one of the most consistent categories. We always seem to get 1 card with a Bible verse on the front.)

Lines or titles of Christmas carols: 2 (down from 4)

Lines or titles of Christmas songs: 1 (down from 3) - I sort of cheated here because one of the cards had the words "A Child is Born" on, which is the title of a Christmas song. Otherwise it would have been zero.

Message in Welsh: 4 (up from 2)

Puns: 1, which is a huge drop from 8 last year. Is the era of puns over?

In conclusion - we got a lot fewer cards this year so the overall trend for all the categories is downwards. There were a couple of categories that bucked the trend. It was nice to see bears reappear and, of course, the dogs in Santa hats, which just epitomises Christmas to me.

In fact, any animals in Santa hats epitomises Christmas to me. In addition to Zachie's spider (above), our friend Helena drew chickens in Santa hats for her Christmas card - which I include here to finish off the eleventh ACCA in style!

Our 2021 menagerie of adopted animals

At the start of 2021, when the world was locked down, Cathy and I read about a number of zoos and other places that cared for animals that were finding finances difficult. We decided to sponsor an animal a month in different places, which means by the end of 2021 we had accumulated quite the virtual menagerie! (And some toy animals too!)

We have sponsored rhinos for a while through both Save the Rhino and WWF. The updates from both organisations are encouraging, and some rhino populations are doing quite well. However, these brilliant animals are still targeted by poachers who are after their horns for use in 'traditional medicine'. Rhino horns are made from the same substance as fingernails so it's not exactly a rare commodity. If anyone wonders why I have a very dim view of humans, the rhino poaching industry is exhibit A in my case against humanity. 

Anyway, we started the year by sponsoring the care of a rescued bat at Cuan Wildlife Centre. This is a growing rescue and rehabilitation centre in Shropshire who do some wonderful work for wild animals. Their Facebook updates are an absolute joy. As part of the sponsorship package, we got a cuddly bat.

In February we sponsored a turtle at The Deep in Hull. This is a stunning aquarium that we visited in 2019 while on holiday in Yorkshire. We particularly liked the sawfish. However, we chose the 'turtles' sponsorship package which came with a toy turtle in a tin with various other goodies in it, including a nice fridge magnet.

In March we decided to sponsor a seal at the Cornish Seal Sanctuary in Gweek. It's some time since we went there last. There's a choice of sponsoring a seal pup that will be released or sponsoring one of the permanent residents. Reading through all the biographies of seals you can sponsor presented us with a tough choice. We eventually picked a grey seal called Pumpkin, because he has a very rare illness and is on permanent medication so he can't be released into the wild. Cathy identified with the rare illness and medication side of things. 

There wasn't a cuddly seal in the adoption package, but there was a fridge magnet of Pumpkin. It's on our fridge along with some of the other magnets we've acquired through sponsorships - Pumpkin's is bottom right. The rhino in the picture is Lankeu, our WWF adoptee. 

April's adoptee was a Painted Dog at West Midlands Safari Park. They call them Hunting Dogs but I prefer the name Painted Dogs. These wild dogs are very rare now, and like most wild dogs part of the problem is that humans either regard them as pests and kill them, or regard them as pets and feed them, thus disrupting their natural existence. 

They also have the most amazing ears, as seen in the glossy photo that came in the adoption pack. The ears are captured in the little toy dog that we received as well. 

In May we adopted an elephant at Woburn Safari Park. We had a great day out at Woburn a couple of years ago and while we were there we got to go to an elephant's birthday party. Well, we watched from a distance as a troop of elephants demolished a "cake" made of branches and the birthday girl bounced a giant red ball around with glee. There was also a 'parade' where they brought a well-behaved elephant right next to people and we could reach out and touch it. An amazing experience and one I would recommend. 

We took a bit of a different tack in June. We had been watching the puffin cam set up by The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales, so we sponsored a puffin through them. The certificate was very detailed, including the leg ring identity of the puffin we support.

In July we sponsored Biggie the Aldabran Giant Tortoise at Bristol Zoo. Biggie has been a resident in Bristol Zoo since 1975, the year Cathy was born. He is the oldest animal currently in the zoo and has been there longer then any other animals. Biggie weighs 200k, which is the weight of a silverback gorilla. So that's why he's called "Biggie". The cuddly version of him looks a bit grumpy.

He seems happier in the photos in the adoption literature. Although, it's hard really to tell how a tortoise is feeling. They're inscrutable. 

August's adoption was a bit different. For the first time we adopted animals at somewhere we have yet to visit. The Wild Place is linked to Bristol Zoo and we sponsored their sleuth of bears. (Did you know a collection of bears is a sleuth? I didn't.) The bears are Neo, Nilas, Albie and Gemini. I'm a big fan of bears. Definitely my spirit animals. 

We hadn't adopted any amphibians yet and they are probably the biological phylum most in danger of disappearing entirely. We made up for our oversight in September by adopting a Fea's Tree Frog at Paignton Zoo. Aparently these particular frogs aren't overly endangered at the moment. Long may it stay that way.

Not content with already having two rhino adoptions on the go, we adopted the rhinos at Folly Farm in October. It was a trip to Folly Farm on a cold February day in 2018 where we learned about the work of Save the Rhino. I remember one of the rhinos present peering cautiously out of the rhino house door at swirling snowflakes and deciding outside was not for them that day. I don't blame them!

Technically, we sponsor all the rhinos, but the one pictured on the certificate is Manyara the matriarch of Folly Farm's crash of eastern black rhinos. 

We went back to aquatic creatures in November, buying a Stevie Shark cuddly toy from WWF's Cub Club. The money from the sale goes to support shark conservation in UK waters. Stevie is filled with 100% recycled polyester filling and has got to be one of the cutest sharks ever. He is very soft and nice to cuddle!

December's adopted animal is still on its way to us, delayed by Christmas post. (And probably by omicron as well - everything is getting blamed on that at the moment!) So, there will be an update post at some point in the next few weeks to round off the 2021 menagerie!

April 2021 End of Month Review

And another month of 2021 has passed. I had a conversation recently with a friend who said that the days feel long but the weeks are flying by. It does feel like that.

April is always one of my favourite months because it has my birthday at the beginning. This year my birthday was on Good Friday so I had the day off work and a long bank holiday weekend to follow it. There are some birthday traditions in our house. We had pancakes for breakfast and I had to wear the birthday crown.

I've blogged about how I spent my birthday building a big Lego model with Cathy. 

I also got a second big Lego model as a present - everybody say hello to Grogu (Baby Yoda) from The Mandalorian. It was an interesting build. His ears are adjustable so they can look droopy and sad.

The beginning of the month was also the start of the baseball season. I joined in the #OpeningDay selfie fun on Twitter, wearing my retro 1984 Padres World Series shirt and also the Slam Diego t-shirt that commemorated the Padres brief run of Grand Slams last season.

On the subject of baseball, I was also a guest on the Tea & Topps podcast, talking about my collection of Tony Gwynn cards, among other things. If you want to watch and listen then you can do so here.

Ahead of that podcast recording I was asked to create a baseball card of myself they could use in promotional posts. This was the result.

Meanwhile the pandemic restrictions are slowly easing. This meant that we were able to go to Shrewsbury and see my family for the first time since September. My brother's family has grown with the addition of two new children and I met my new niece and nephew for the first time. They are 4 and 3, and both really lovely. 

I also got to play some back garden football with my oldest nephew. He says his favourite player is Harry Kane. He likes to thwack the ball straight at his hapless uncle more than he likes scoring past him. 

We have also been able to meet up with friends, including visiting the back garden of some friends who have moved into a new house, and sitting on the patio of other friends watching their twins being fed dinner. It has felt nice to actually see people, even if meeting up is still a bit weird and stilted. 

Another part of pandemic life is getting vaccinated. I got jabbed in March. Cathy got jabbed in April, with a short-notice invitation. Unlike me, she didn't get to go to Jabs'R'Us down the Bay. Instead we went to Splott.

Scandalously, when she came back to the car after getting jabbed she showed me she had been GIVEN A STICKER! I never got offered a sticker! I was fuming, and pouted all the way home. 

And finally, our addition to our managerie of adopted animals this month was a Painted Dog who lives in the West Midland Safari Park. I'm going to do a blog post about the menagerie at some point. It's filling up with some cute animals. 

So that was April. Roll on May!

2017-18 football season review - new records in the modern era

With the World Cup over, I no longer have an excuse for not writing my season review of 2017-18.

2017-18 was a record high season for me in the 'modern era', which for me is any time after about 1996. I went to 30 football matches, the second most I've been to in a season ever and the highest number since 1993-94. Along the way I saw the champions elect of England, I went to Wembley twice, and I saw Wales blow their best chance of making it to a World Cup since that time they lost a qualifying play off to a bunch of juiced up Russians.

As per previous seasons, here are the overall stats:
Season: 2017-18
Total games: 30
Most goals in a game: 8
Fewest goals in a game: 0
Total goals seen: 81
Number of football grounds visited: 7 (2 of which I’d never visited before)

In previous years I gave a little pen picture of each game, but that would be exhausting for 30 games. Instead, I'm just going to do a rough overview and then give out some awards.

I went to thirty games for three main reasons.

1) Shrewsbury Town had their best season in a generation, spending a lot of the season in a promotion place before slipping to third in the final weeks of the season. They went to Wembley twice - in the Checkatrade Trophy final and in the play-off final.

They also had a sell-out televised third round FA Cup game, which included Joe Hart's return to his hometown club. I saw them win away at Bristol Rovers, I saw them beat Walsall for the first time in many encounters, and I even saw them win on my birthday, against Oxford United.

2) Football is a people activity. My friend Sara is a season-ticket holder at Cardiff City, and so are most of her family. But sometimes they can't all go to games and they invite me along to fill a vacant seat. I saw five games with them this season. My mate Steve sorted me a ticket in the away end of Cardiff City Stadium to see QPR, and we also went to a couple of other more random games. And my mate Ben came with me to a couple of matches, and I went to see him play in the Welsh League a couple of times. Until he decided to swap sunny South Wales for some place called Los Angeles, California. What was he thinking?

3) Barry Town are back in the Welsh Premier League. I decided to go along to one of their first games, and ended up there five times over the course of the season. It's a nice atmosphere, it's affordable, and the games usually had a decent number of goals. There's a hard core of fans who sing throughout and I really like that. And you get unexpected stuff like this.

THE AWARDS

Best team: Without a doubt, Manchester City. I have never seen football played like that.
Best moment: Seeing Shrewsbury win with a late, late, goal at Bristol Rovers, courtesy of an unpredictable bit of skill from Alex Rodman. It was the first time Shrewsbury had won at Bristol Rovers since the 1960s. I'd driven over there on my own. The weather was crap. The stadium is crap. The game wasn't great. And then there was THIS!
Second best moment: Ben Woodburn. The dream was still alive! Russia, here we come...
Biggest disappointment: After two trips in a season, Shrewsbury have now been 5 times to Wembley. I have been 5 times to watch them. I have seen them lose 5 times. That's all you need to know about Shrewsbury's season, really. Ultimately, after being surprise candidates for promotion, they ended up with nothing. Here's a suitably dismal photo.

Most frustrating game: Shrewsbury's 0-0 draw against West Ham in the FA Cup. Live on TV and West Ham were poor. Shrewsbury's Stefan Payne missed the one chance that fell to him that would have won the game. This was my only 0-0 of the season. But I did see Alan Shearer and Ian Wright in their temporary TV studio. Later they got their make up done.

Strangest goal: Kevin de Bruyne against Cardiff City in the FA Cup. I saw this from behind the goal and he made an absolute idiot out of the whole defence.
Most memorable miss: Neil Maupay for Brentford against Cardiff. I was again stood behind the goal and I have absolutely no idea how he missed. Cardiff then almost immediately went up the other end and scored a second goal to seal their win.
Most touching moment: It's unusual for a visiting player to get a round of applause from the home fans when his name is read out. But Joe Hart did when his name was read out over the tannoy when West Ham came to the New Meadow. Then the rest of his team-mates got booed. As you'd expect.
Strangest scoreline: STM Sports 4 v 4 AFC Lwydcoed. I went to see my mate Ben play for STM Sports in the Welsh League Division 2. he got subbed off when STM were winning and we watched his team score one and concede two goals in the last 10 minutes of the game. I took this photo of him in action, along with a STM Canine Superfan who had made his owner bring him along.

Most unusual match up: Wales 'C' v England 'C' at Jenner Park, down in Barry. I have now seen Wales, Wales B, Wales C and Wales Under-21s play. Read a full review here.
Best crowd: Has to be the Barry Town fans. They always make me laugh.
Unlikely moment of fame: I went with my friend Steve to see Cardiff Met play in a post-season play-off against Barry Town. The game was live on Sgorio. And so were we at one point!

And finally, the most stupid thing seen at a football match: This sign by the concession stands in Wembley!

And that's it. Roll on next season.

I promised you some Christmas cards, so here you go

Cathy has been a star and scanned in some of the Christmas cards that we received in 2015. (Read the annual audit here) So, for your enjoyment, here are the 10 cards that really stood out for us this year. Enjoy!

First up - one of the dogs in Santa hats cards we got this year. He looks happy it's Christmas...

What could be better than a pug in a Santa hat? How about a dog driving a car while wearing a Santa hat?

Cathy says the one on the right is obviously meant to be me. What do you think?

(I only noticed when compressing these that he is kind of wearing Shrewsbury Town colours. Freaky.)

Anyway, we had some other snowmen (snowpeople?) too. I liked this snow family.

Want to get in my wife's good books for life? Draw her a Snoopy card! The kid who did this was 8. She did a better job than I would have.

I quite liked this deer card. It's cute and it also has a beveled edge like a stamp making it feel much posher. Die-cut cards aren't that common so it stood out.

Googly eyes! Always a winner. A pun! Toast! Everything you would want on a card, here.

I always love cards that teach me something new. Here's a charity I have never heard of before: Perennial, the charity that cares for horticulturalists in need. (Loaded up large so you can click on it to read the text)

But in terms of charity logos, this, for the Roald Dahl Marvellous Children's Charity, wins hands down.

And finally, there is always one card that makes you think, 'What on earth...' This year's winner in that category has a back story and was in a good cause, but even so, was one of the strangest card designs I think we've ever received. (Again loaded as a larger file - click on it to see it in all its glory! Be warned, though. You can't unsee it.)

So, there you go. If any of your cards made the cut, then well done and thank you for sending us a card.

The big 2015 Christmas Card Audit

Now in it's 4th year! (See 2012, 2013 and 2014)

No preamble. I'm just going to jump right in...

Total number of cards: 103 (up from 91 in 2014 and arresting a 3 year decline)
Hand-made / home-produced cards:  7 (same as 2014)
Cards with detachable tree decorations: 1 (also same as 2014)

Cards sold in aid of charity (or fundraising): 60 (up from 47 in 2014)
Total number of charities represented: 39 (It was 40 in 2014) 
Main charity represented: British Heart Foundation (9 cards)
The top performers: BHF (9), Diabetes UK (8), Traidcraft etc. (7), Macmillan (5), Leprosy Mission and Sue Ryder (both 4), Cancer Research UK and Fareshare (both 3).
Marks and Spencer cards: 7 (these promote the Woodland Trust but aren't 'charity' - one did also raise funds for good causes)
Notable newcomer: had not heard of Perennial, which looks after destitute horticulturalists (no really) or the Roald Dahl's Marvelous Children's Charity before
'Political' fund-raising cards: 0

Themes
Religious-themed cards: 45 (massive increase from 27 in 2014)
In a crossover category correlation, 31 of the religious cards were also raising money for charities.
Cards featuring the Nativity: 22
Christmas story 'characters':
Three kings: 11 (very popular compared to previous years)
The shepherds: 0 (no one liked the Shepherds this year)
The star of Bethlehem: 3
*Angels: 5 (new category)
There were also 2 cards with the cover message of "Joy to the World" and quite a few with lyrics from carols on.

Other themes 
'Peace': 1
Santa: 14 (up from 7 in 2014)
Penguins: 1
Various cartoon bears: 1 (Well down from the all time high of 12 in 2012)
Dogs in Santa Hats: 2! (There were 3 dog-centered cards in total, with 2 depicting a dog in control of some kind of transport)
Deer/reindeer: 1
Christmas decorations: 1 
Christmas trees: 5
*Christmas food: 2 (new category)
Robins: 3
Mistletoe: 1 
Winter scene/scenery: 7 (down from 14 in 2014, but even so this was most glitter-heavy category) 
Snowmen: 5
Owls: 1
It seems Like Santa was the big winner in the non-religious category. I guess if we were getting pedantic, we could say he is St Nicholas really and class him as religious. But then he's also a shill for Coca-Cola, so maybe not.

Messages
Cards that mention 'Christmas' on the front: 34 (almost the same as the 2014 total of 33). Only 2 of the 34 were religious themed. Cards seem to be either about the religious origins of the festival or explicitly say 'Christmas' but very rarely have both. I've noted before how this is kind of weird.

So, that's it. I'm going to scan some of my favourite Christmas cards and post them for your enjoyment later.

The big 2014 Christmas Card Audit

This is the third year I've done this (see 2013 and 2012), so I'm beginning to get observable trends. This year the big thing I noticed is that yet again religious-themed cards rarely featured the word Christmas. Small things that stuck out included a fund-raising card for a political cause (the Countryside Alliance), the emergence of Owls as a theme, and the return of dogs in Santa hats.

New categories are marked with an asterisk And here are the numbers...

Total number of cards: 91 (down from 97 in 2013 and 104 in 2012)
Hand-made / home-produced cards: 7 (no change)
Cards with magnets on: 0 (no change)
*Cards with detachable tree decorations: 1

Cards sold in aid of charity: 47 (up from 44 in 2013 and 42 in 2012)
Of which...
Traidcraft cards: 8 (up from 5 last year)
Oxfam cards: None (for the second year running)
Main charity represented: Traidcraft
Total number of charities represented: 40 (down from 62 in 2013 and the same as 2012)
Marks and Spencer cards: 6 (down from 12 in 2013)
*Notable newcomer: RNLI (3 cards)
*'Political' fund-raising cards: 1 (Countryside Alliance)

Themes
Religious-themed cards: 27 ( down from 33 in 2013 and 37 in 2012)
Cards featuring the Nativity: 18 (up from 15)
Christmas story 'characters':
Three kings: 2 (down from 5 in 2013 and 9 in 2012)
The shepherds: 3 (down from 4 in 2013 but one more than in 2012)
The star of Bethlehem: 0 (down from 2 in 2013)

Other themes 
'Peace': 2 (stays the same)
Santa: 7 (down from 10 in 2013, but up from 6 in 2012)
Penguins: 4 (up from 3 in 2013, but down from 5 in 2012)
Various cartoon bears: 4 (up from 2 in 2013 but way down from the 12 bear high point in 2012)
Dogs in Santa Hats: 1 (up from 0 last year)
Deer/reindeer: 4 (down from 6)
Christmas decorations: 5 (up from 4)
Christmas trees: 4 (down from 5)
Robins: 4 (up from 3)
Mistletoe: 0 (down from 2)
Winter scene/scenery: 14 (double the 2013 total of 7)
*Snowmen: 5
*Owls: 3

Messages
Cards that mention 'Christmas' on the front: 33 (down from 35 in 2013 and 45 in 2012)

Conclusions and trends
Despite fewer cards received, many of the categories stayed pretty constant. The big change was the number of cards featuring winter scenes and scenery. They ranged from country churches covered in snow, through to the cute dog character Boofle, out sledging. I was very pleased to see a return in the Dogs wearing Santa Hats category, as I feel it captures the essence of Christmas. Although the overall total was down, the number of cards we received that raised funds for charity went up and percentage wise the balance towards fund-raising cards was much higher.What nice people we know!

Once I've done this for 2015 I will have four years worth of data and by then I can start creating graphs and stuff. So roll on January 2016!

The real meaning of Christmas captured on a card

Amazingly, we got two of these cards, with a picture that I think really captures the essence of midwinter festivity in honour of the birth of humanity's saviour.

You know you want it!

Do you remember the fugly bunny?

Well, that was just for Easter, but this beauty you can enjoy all year round. Introducing the mother-of-all-that's-fugly* poodle!

Yes, that's right - it's a metre high and bright red. What's not to love.

And all for a bargain £149.95. Because you can't really put a price on 'art'.

*Or as I like to say, motherfugly.

Song lyric of the week: Muse, Knights of Cydonia

"Don't waste your time,
Or time will waste you."

That got me thinking, especially as I heard it on the radio after seeing Up, the new Disney/Pixar movie. Up is all about putting off your dreams until one day it's too late. It's made me think about a few of my personal dreams/ambitions. Some are doable. Some are dependent on getting the right breaks. But all mean I should stop wasting time.

Incidentally my Dad has raved about Up since he saw it last week. he thinks it should be required viewing for retired people. I found it very moving - as Disney/Pixar films have a habit of being - without being overly sentimental. There were also a couple of laugh out loud moments when Cathy had to 'shush' me because I was so noisy.

And I loved Doug the Dog. He was great. ("I do not like the cone of shame.")

Jongudmund's rating: 8/10 (well worth seeing)