Christmas Eve.

It's been very warm today. Haven't got the heating on, don't need it. Very strange. 

Santa has brought me four presents. The German tradition was to open them on Christmas Eve, but I will resist the temptation and open them tomorrow. 

Today I did my Christmas shopping at the Farm Shop. I got there just before they were closing at 1pm. This is what I bought. I won't wrap them as I don't know who will get them. I will give them out willynilly, to whoever I come across over the next week. I hope I can resist the temptation of eating them myself. 🍪🍩🍰🎂

I will also give my hearts away. 

Yes, I have a Christmas tree. I put it up last Christmas and it has been there all year. I switch it on every night. 

As I finished the Billy walk this afternoon I could see that there was going to be a lovely sunset. I picked up the camera and went in search of some photo's. Here are two of them. I'll post some more soon. 

Have a good day tomorrow. I have an invitation pending to go to Nottingham, but it will have to be postponed. Aunty Lyn is not very well and not up to visitors just yet. I have another idea. I always have a plan. See you soon. 

Toodle pip.   ilona

A nice walk, but no sun.

Hardly any wind today. Quite a pleasant walk, it's a pity it was so overcast though. No sun at all. I shall keep on taking my vitamin D supplements. 

I scoured the woods as I walked along the track close by, looking for the odd deer or two. Oh, there's one. The white bum is the giveaway. It spotted me as I got the camera out of my pocket, very slowly. Please stay there, don't move. I set the zoom in motion. Gotcha. A second one came into view and I hoped I could get the two together on the same photo. Sadly they moved on and I lost them as they disappeared further up the bank. 

It's been a couple of weeks since I have been along here. This field is almost bare of it's crop now. Nineteen pallets of good quality turf, ready for loading on a 40 tonne truck. I would like to see how they scrape it all up with the machine, leaving the land so smooth and flat. And stacking it so neatly on the pallets. The soil is very sandy around here. Ideal conditions for turf growing. I wonder if a lorry will come and pick this up tomorrow, or if the job will have to wait until the end of the week. Years ago they used to have to rope and sheet this load. Nowadays they use a curtain sider. Drivers have got it dead easy now. 

Time to get a bite to eat. Now what shall I have. Check the fridge first to see what jumps out at me. Make it up as I go along. 

I hope all your Christmas plans are coming together and you will be ready for the big day. Please don't feel sorry for this pensioner spending Christmas Day alone, because that's how I like it. 

Catch ya later. Toodle pip.   ilona

Fun at the Tractor Rally.

The video is done. Here are a few more pics to go with it. This Sparrows wrecker was my favourite, of course, although I love anything on wheels. The more wheels the better. 🚌🚚🚜🚙

Someone has spent a lot of time getting their tractors ready for this. Painstakingly securing the lights to as many surfaces as they can so they don't fall off during their journey.  

Even the vintage tractors were lovingly adorned with Christmas attire. 

I spoke to a young man about this one. It is his pride and joy, and is almost as old as me. He does all the mechanical repairs himself. A fantastic hobby for a young person to immerse himself in. 

The pub car park was buzzing. The event brought a lot of the locals out to chat and swap stories, over a pint or two. 

I was running to catch the start of the arrivals, so the beginning of the video is a bit rushed. 

It's been bitterly cold today. The wind was biting. Almost blew me and Billy boy off our feet. 

Let's see what tomorrow brings. We are past the shortest day thank goodness. Things can only get better.

Thanks for popping in. A very Merry Christmas to all who read my blog and watch my videos. 

Toodle pip.   ilona

It's life.

 Good morning. I am watching the news reports of that horrific slaughter of innocent people at the Christmas Market in Germany. People are so rightly angry that it was allowed to happen. What is mentioned a lot is for people to take extra care when out and about at busy places. The 'stay safe' mantra is meaningless in these situations. There is only so much you can do to avoid the horrors that are becoming far too frequent. 

I talk about going with your gut instinct. If something doesn't feel right then it probably isn't. But how do your instincts kick in when you want to go out and enjoy yourself. Some people see no danger at all, and will happily go about their business, dealing with whatever comes their way. At the other end of the scale others will cower in fear and never experience the life they only dream about. There has to be some middle ground, between what you are comfortable with, and what you are not. 

Protecting oneself and ones family has to be at the forefront of everyone's thinking. Risk taking is personal to the individual. Some protection can be put into place, as in the case of putting up barriers for the purposes of crowd control and hopefully keeping everyone safe. But there will always be flaws in that. The wicked will find a way in, and the hapless will not see any dangers. 

It's pie in the sky to expect everyone to risk assess every situation. It's almost impossible for anyone to predict what could happen. But we live in a very volatile world, and life as we know it is constantly changing. 

I know what risks I am willing to take, and I base that on which situations I feel uncomfortable in. For me it's a case of fight or flight. Am I in the place I want to be, or should I bail out and choose a different path. My gut instincts tell me. I may not always be right, but a lot of the time I am. 

One word of warning for those who choose to take responsibility for their own lives. If you are going to go against the flow, and swim against the tide, be prepared and have a back up plan. It's much harder to find friends among those who are more likely to be part of a herd. 

My chosen way of life protects me. I have no religion. I ride out the bumps and imperfections, knowing that they won't last. I greet every day with the same optimism. What has gone before has finished, it can't be changed. A new day is a new start. Who knows what it will bring, but I am excited to find out. Bring on 2025. 

Thanks for reading my blog and watching my sometimes rubbish videos. I do my best. 

Uploading the tractor video today. It will be out later. 

Toodle pip.   ilona

Christmas tractors have arrived.

Hello. Just a quick drop in tonight. A tractor rally passed through our village. They were scheduled to come through at 5.30pm, but they were a bit late, due to them making an extra pub stop. People had gathered to see the spectacle and we were all freezing cold by the time they did arrive. They were parked all over the place, we are quite a small village. 

I'll park these six photo's here. There will be more tomorrow, and a video to come. 

Now Mayze wants her nightly cuddle so I have to stop typing.

Thank you for popping in. Have a good Sunday. Toodle pip.   ilona