So how was your Christmas?

My Christmas was meant to be very quiet. But about three weeks beforehand, my wacky cousin invited himself to stay. We've been best mates for over thirty years now, although there have been many times I've wanted to throttle him during those thirty years or so. Like the night he phoned me, as drunk as a skunk, and said 'hello darling, I'm just lying in the street and it's such a lovely evening ...'.

He seemed somewhat surprised when I squawked, 'well just get up off the street now, you silly old queen, put your mugger-magnet phone away and go home'. 'Okay', he said, and hung up. Fifteen minutes later, he called back, and I could hear someone talking in the background. 'Who's that?' I demanded. 'Oh, it's just this really sweet homeless guy I've been talking to. I'm taking him to the cashpoint (ATM) so I can give him some money'. 'Whaaaaaaaaaat?' I yelled, before letting out a foul-mouthed tirade at him about how stupid an idea I considered this to be. Luckily, the silly old twit was too drunk to remember his PIN.

I felt like I had a forty year old toddler staying with me for Christmas. He left doors open, lights on, taps running, and TVs blaring in rooms where no-one was watching them. He aggravated my cats, and protested like a cantankerous baby if he felt even the remotest twinge of hunger. Considering he never stopped eating the whole time, I couldn't work out how he ever felt hungry. And that's before he kicked up all my fluffy, light violet-coloured rugs, or deposited his muddy boots on them, or dislodged all my nice, cream throws, as he hopped from seat to seat, squirming, and complaining that he couldn't get comfortable. He then chose to spend the whole holiday lounging on an airbed, his eyes glued to the TV screen. Men! Give me cats any day.

Christmas presents were a bit thin on the ground this year, as usual. For some reason, my immediate family seems to get the sulks with me every year, just before Christmas. Now, if I was really cynical, I'd say it was to avoid giving me any Christmas presents. This year, I think they sulked because my cousin came to stay, and he's from a side of my family (my father's side) that the rest of my family don't talk to. So, I decided to buy myself a couple of presents just before Christmas.

First up, is my brand new MP3 player. I've been after one of these for ages, as I'm sick of lugging around a Sony CD player and discs. The Creative Zen Stone was going for £17.99 a couple of weeks ago, so I snapped it up.

At that price, I didn't think the headphones would be up to much, so I invested in a decent pair of Creative Labs EP-630/A Earphones, which were reduced from £17.00 to £7.99. It was a wise move, as they sound much better than the pair supplied with the MP3 player, and I can use them with my laptop too.



Strangely enough, I seem to use my new toy more for listening to podcasts than music. I used to love listening to the radio in bed when I was a kid, and for some reason, listening to podcasts in bed, is helping me to get off to sleep much quicker than usual. I think the earphones fit so snugly in my ears, even at a very low volume, they help to shut out the usual noise that disturbs me at night, e.g. noisy neighbours, sirens, car alarms, etc. In fact, I've fallen asleep a few times, still listening to one of my favourite paranormal podcasts. I've had some really bizarre dreams as a result.

Anyway, I'm rambling in a random, half-asleep manner, so I'll shut up in a minute. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas - thank you for the kind messages some of you left here. Here's to a wonderful 2008 - I hope all your dreams come true. Happy New Year!