Write-Place

Christmas Day, 2019 As another Christmas Day dawns, after weeks of preparation and anticipation for many and a similar period of dread for many others, let's hope that the day has some peace, some joy and mainly some love for everyone. I am fortunate that I have a loving family who I will spend time with today and over the coming days and am thankful for this whilst obviously being aware of those who are alone, unwell or bereaved. Perhaps it is wishful thinking on my part, but I do feel that this year that the majority are feeling less inclined to use the festive season as an excuse to over eat, over drink or over spend and are trying to keep the spirit of Christmas within their hearts. It is difficult to write a Christmas message without sounding sanctimonious, so this one is short, before it has the chance to be so. With all good wishes for a Happy Christmas and a Hopeful and Peaceful New Year, Brenda 

Having reached three days before Christmas Day and not yet had the opportunity to sing Christmas Carols with gusto and joy amongst a crowd of equally joyous people, I attended the carol service at my local church last night. I have bashed out some old favourites on the piano myself and sang along, over the last couple of weeks, which only resulted in the dog becoming extremely stressed, clearly thinking there was something drastically wrong with me. My grandchildren are growing up quickly, as childen tend to do, and the three who are still at school avidly avoid such gatherings, at school or anywhere else, if possible.  "Last Christmas I Gave You My Heart" and "All I want For Christmas Is You"  are lyrics that are more likely to be heard than "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks" as we go about our daily shopping, so I was looking forward to singing along with "real" carols at this service. Anticipating that this service which would lif...

Seems like The Police have recently seen sense in the way they interpret the law -  Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986, to be precise. Quite rightly of course, this part of the act makes it an offence to utter ‘threatening, abusive’ words ‘to cause harassment, alarm or distress’, but new guidelines say that police officers need to be a bit more thick skinned to carry out their job effectively. A street preacher was arrested, held for seven hours and charged with a public-order offence after he told a gay PCSO that he believed homosexuals were acting against the “word of God”. The charges have now been dropped and he has been awarded £7,000 plus legal costs in compensation and will get an apology in person from the Chief Constable. The right to free speech allows people to express unpopular view as long as their behaviour is not unreasonable or violent so it’s about time that beliefs can be expressed which provoke debate rather than be an offence. The police bank account could...

I am not sure how this will come across to people. Probably with mixed reactions. It's often difficult to portray what we really intend on a blog - especially when one's blog has gone from being an upbeat, regular "topical" piece to an almost non-entity ! However, as I am having a problem writing much at the moment, I wanted to acknowledge that and to also acknowledge that I am sure there are many others feeling the same, but perhaps not wanting to voice their thoughts. It's Christmas, and usually at this time of year I am well into the festive spirit with shopping like crazy, making sure I have all the foodstuffs that I know won't even be eaten, but have to have because its Christmas, playing carols and singing with the kids etc. I have to admit that I can hardly believe that it is Christmas Eve and I have only just put up the tree this year (and a very small one at that) I have presents not wrapped and every advert on the TV for the "magical" da...