Happy Xmas. War is Over.

 It's 41 years ago today since John Lennon was shot. I remember hearing the news on the radio as I was lying in bed and couldn't quite believe it. Double Fantasy had just come out and fans like me hoped that this album would be the first of many. It was not to be. Yet John Lennon's legacy lives on.

One of the sounds of Christmas every year is John and Yoko's 'Happy Xmas. (War is Over).' It was written as part of their peace activism and a wish for peace and that war be over forever. It's eminently sing-a-long-able (is that a word?) with a simple, overriding message of Christmas being for everyone and a hope that the coming year is lived without fear which is one of the reasons it does the rounds every Christmas season.

Ahh, that living without fear thing. That seemed like an easy thing to do pre-Covid. But with omicron arriving on our shores and doubling every 2 or 3 days, a government that is happy to gaslight the population, the NHS on its knees and living through climate change, it's not quite so easy to live without fear these days. Oh well, the song is still great. I love that combination of melancholy and hope in both the lyrics and the music. I will always wonder what music we've missed due to Lennon's untimely death.

Further links

Happy Xmas (War is Over) Wikipedia entry 

Happy Xmas (War is Over) lyrics

Lennon's death, I was there. a BBC reporter's account of what happened.

The Murder of John Lennon Wikipedia entry

Art is good for you. Christmas Wrapped Up.

I was feeling pretty stressed today and it was getting me down. I always feel a creeping sense of anxiety as the New Year gets nearer and today wasn't a great day for various reasons. But I did have something to look forward to - a Zoom creative writing class. 

I haven't done any creative writing since I was at school so I was a bit nervous. I'd signed up for it on a whim but I'm glad I did. We started with a bit of freewriting and some sharing of our initial thoughts on the topic of Christmas. Hearing others read out some of their ideas really helped me shape mine. After that, we had some time to hone our poem. This is mine;

Decorations, tinsel, handmade cards

Christmas lights in the busy stores

Christmas Carols and Midnight Mass

I’m lonely in the crowd.

Everyone else with their families

Feeling the pressure to belong

Is that really the Christmas Spirit?

It’s simpler on my own

The glitz is overwhelming

Too much cash spent on nothing

Money can’t buy anyone’s love

No matter how much you have.

A Christmas wreath and Christmas lights

The Wizard of Oz, Morecambe and Wise, 

Nut roast and a mince pie

That’s my Christmas wrapped up.

It's better than I was expecting to come up with, even if it is a bit dour. Most of the group were a bit down about Christmas as it happens which I thought was interesting in itself. Anyway, Christmas will be done and dusted by the time of next month's session which is already in my diary. 

After a couple of hours doing something completely different, my mood lifted. Art is clearly good for you and I recommend you try this stuff. You never know what you might discover about yourself and others.

As a bonus, here are The Waitresses with their hit, Christmas Wrapping.

The Poetry Advent Calendar

Historically, I would have described myself as an ambivert - happy at times to be extroverted and just as happy at other times to be entirely introverted spending time in my own company. As I've got older, my introversion is overtaking my extroversion - not helped of course, by time spent in lockdown. It's now the norm for me to stay in and not go out at all, so I often have to be encouraged, or encourage myself, to go outside. And as for social stuff, that's been really very limited for the last two years, and was limited before that due to (willingly) spending most of my time caring for my Mum.

Staying in isn't all bad and it doesn't have to be about being alone. One of the lovely things that happened during lockdown was that my friend, Adrian*, hosted a regular quiz on Zoom. When I started doing the quizzes, I didn't know anyone except Adrian and his family, but soon, as I got put into different teams, I got to meet the other regulars which was a social lifeline to me. And that included the poet, Owen Collins. Sometimes, as part of the quiz interval, Owen would read one of his poems. We haven't done the quiz for some months as restrictions lifted, but we had one last week which was great. And it was during last week's quiz, that I found out Owen does a poetry advent calendar - one poem a day until Christmas Eve. What a great idea! It's rather good and you can find it here. Yesterday's poem alluded to this year's Christmas Tree in Trafalgar Square, hence the picture.

I know Zoom fatigue is very real, but Adrian's Zoom quizzes were/are brilliant. They kept me sane during particularly testing times. I look forward to meeting some of the other quizzers in real life at some point too.

* Adrian runs Minimum Ego and also writes and hosts quizzes online and in person for companies and charities. He's one of my Swan Youth Theatre chums from back in the day.

It's Quizmas!

My friend, Jane, runs the International Quizzing Association and is arguably, the Queen of Quizzing. She and her team write and verify thousands of quiz questions for TV and radio quiz shows and mobile quiz apps. She also runs various quiz events including the World Quizzing Championships and the Quizzing Olympiad. And if you run your local pub quiz or need quiz questions for a magazine, newspaper or something else, you can buy them via  the store on her website.

As a Christmas treat, Jane and her team have put a FREE Quizmas Quiz into their online store for you all to enjoy this festive season. The quiz has three rounds of 10 questions along with an anagram round and a picture quiz. It's designed for you to share with friends and family over the holiday. If you go to the Quizzing.com home page, just hit the 'Store' button on the top right and follow the link.

Not only that, but you can also have 20% off any of the 16,000+ questions that are the Quizzing store too. These questions are available to download as soon as you have paid for them - just type QUIZMAS in at checkout. (Code is valid until 31 December 2017.)

Good luck and happy quizzing!

Day 15/25 Blogmas

Tis the Season

It's most definitely that time of year. I was out in Central London last night and stumbled across the opening of the Carnaby Street Christmas lights replete with free cocktails (too strong, tasted synthetic, threw mine away), DJ, a steel drum band and discounts in shops, bars and restaurants in the area. I've never seen it that busy so they were clearly doing something right. My friend and I tried to eat in one of the many local restaurants, but by the time we got there, the wait time was more than 45 minutes so we wandered further into Soho and found somewhere else.

But it's not just Christmas Lights that signal the festive season. It's the battle of the Christmas TV ad. I do love a good Christmas advert. One that tells a story, that is a short film and doesn't oversell the brand they're advertising.

I haven't seen a clear winner yet unlike previous years, and there have been no tear-jerkers yet, but there are some contenders nevertheless.

Very - Get more out of Giving



Debenhams, You Shall Find Your Fairytale Christmas starring Ewan McGregor



M &S Paddington Bear and the Christmas Visitor (I have a soft spot for Paddington!)



Argos, Ready for Take Off




The Vodafone Christmas Love Story with Martin Freeman. Parts 1 - 3 are great. Am eagerly awaiting part 4. Will he get the girl?



And of course, it wouldn't be Christmas without an entry from John Lewis with Moz The Monster



Although these may not be as strong as previous years efforts, they're still beautifully crafted with high production values. Please can we see more of that all year round whether that's on digital or on TV?

Day 10/30 NaBloPoMo

Off to Worcester for some R 'n R

I'll be puterless and broadbandless for the best part of a week so I won't be blogging over the next few days whilst I get fed and watered in return for doing a bit of washing up.

Just wanted to wish all my friends, readers and fellow bloggers and mobilists a wonderful Christmas and a happy and successful New Year.