R's rue

  Picking the right gift for someone is fraught with difficulty. I once realised that a relationship was going south when a boyfriend bought me a microwave oven for Christmas  I was right, that relationship failed  Not because of the Microwave,  But because he was a knob. I’m usually pretty good a buying the right gift for the right person. This year I’ve concentrated on slightly alternative gifts For friends I have bought tickets to the Royal Ballet, The Liverpool Philharmonic and to the famous Folk Festival here in Trelawnyd. Of course I’m going too which means that I have in effect bought myself a whole set of Christmas Gifts too ( there’s method in my madness)  Other gifts have been more eclectic . My sisters always the pragmatists make a Christmas list each, so I’ve gone in quick sticks and ticked off all of their nicest wants before anyone else can get to them.  Other recipients will get a whole plethora of alternative presents. A tobogg...

View up our suburban street five minutes ago at 11.05pm on Sunday night Here in northern England, it had been an exceptionally mild autumn until this past weekend. I got up very early on Saturday morning - disturbed by an infuriating ticklish cough. I looked out on our back garden and noticed that there had been a light dusting of snow - like icing sugar sprinkled on a sponge cake. I made a mug of tea and sat down in  the study with the desktop computer in front of me. I am sure you know yourself how easy it is to fritter away time when online. An hour later, I got up and went into the kitchen to check out the back garden once more. In that hour a couple of inches of snow had fallen - associated with Storm Arwen - the first named winter storm.  The decking furniture was thickly covered in the white stuff and so was the bird table. It was six thirty in the morning and snow was still whipping down. I went back to bed and with Radio 4 playing on the side, I managed to ret...