Friday 12 December 2014

Far From the Madding Crowd









I've had enough of the Xmas madness already, I needed to get some food shopping today and couldn't face going into the city fighting the crowds and traffic so headed out to the little Co-Op at the coast.  I got there by 9 and out again before it got busy.  I used my co-op stamps I have been saving through the year which amounted to £25 so saved myself some money as well.  I know I'm a miserable old so and so but I really can't cope with all the Xmas craziness.  I just keep thinking about all the resources and energy being used, all the animals that are going to be killed and eaten ( or often wasted, you can only eat so much) and all the waste that will be thrown into land fill afterwards.  Yes I know Ba Humbug but I like to keep it simple, for me it is about being with the ones I love.   The bearded one and I usually go in to the city on Xmas Eve and buy a little something for each other.  It is surprisingly quiet by then, and lots of things are in the sale.  We have a meal, a glass or two or three of wine, well o.k. a bottle and chill out before catching the bus home.   Oh well each to their own.




Heavy skies







Here comes the rain























The beach bar that was nearly swept away last year has built up it fortifications.


Of course being by the sea I couln't resist a walk along the beach even though it was blowing a gale.  I put on so many layers I could hardly move, but it was a wonderful way to get away from it all.  The perfect antidote to all the madness.   I needed the exercise as well, I have an app on my phone which tells me how far I have walked, I'm managing less than 5,000 steps a day.  Useless!  I have been in pain again lately so I really need to get fit and healthy and lose some of the weight I gained while recovering from my ops.  The last thing I want is another operation!

Stay warm everyone,

Chickpea xx

Welcome to Carol :)


26 comments:

  1. We popped into town on Wednesday, thought it would be quiet, we just wanted to top up on fresh fruit and veg, we went into Sainsbury's and nearly walked out, it was manic.

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  2. I've just been into Salisbury to meet some old friends for lunch and it was busy busy busy. Your sea pics are the perfect antidote. Lovely :o)

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  3. I am getting very excited by Christmas. I always do but it is the quiet kind like your.
    What a lovely way to spend Christmas Eve.

    cheers, parsnip

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  4. I like the sound of your Christmas eve and love the pictures of the empty beaches.
    Christmas eve here will be preparing for 12 here the next day. How did that happen?. I said Christmas Day or not at all so everyone is here - me and my big mouth!

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  5. Crazy isn't it Simple Living, at the co-op they had a sign up saying they were open on Boxing Day so thats only one day that the shops are closed.

    Thank you CT. :)

    I like to have a quite Xmas Eve parsnip because after that we have a house full of family that need feeding :)

    Haha Sue, you'll have to keep quiet next year. We will have either 5 or 7 on Xmas Day, On Boxing Day 12 or 13 if the new grandchild has arrived, but it will be a buffet.

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  6. I absolutely love that beach, its one of my places to go to when we are down. Many a memory from there.
    I love Christmas but hate the shopping, this year has been all online.. but come the 30th I will be down in Cornwall, maybe i'l get to take a walk on those sands, weather permitting.

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  7. We usually go for a walk there on Xmas day as well knuttyknitter,

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  8. I remember, with great gladness, and much poignancy, the wonderful atmosphere, the lights - in the shop windows, on the pavements, peeking out through a crack in someone's curtains, twinkling Christmas trees - the sense that everyone is "rushed", and the smell of damp - from a recent rainfall / sleet - delicious aromas oozing out of coffee shops, the salivating smell of fish and mushy peas, candles inside a church - and, most of all, the darkness of the night too early in the day.

    I miss an English Christmas. Terribly.

    Here it is hot, it is light until 7.45 - 8.00pm and the English "magic" is missing. It's not the same.

    Enjoy the tradition - you'd miss it if you weren't there to experience the familiar.

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  9. I haven't been near a shop in weeks (except to poundstretcher for puppy pads)! I do all my Christmas shopping online, or make gifts myself. Richard does the grocery shopping and I am ever so grateful for that. I look forward to a Christmas like you describe it. One day. The children are still small and it is always mad here. x

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  10. What a lovely way to spend Christmas Eve, I quite envy you. We are planning a last visit to Chester on Monday evening, I'm sort of hoping it doesn't happen!

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  11. I want your Christmas. It looks wonderful. No traffic, no crowds just time to reflect and enjoy the scenery x

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  12. I love your photos of the sea weed feather and shells they would be great framed and in the bathroom :-)

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  13. Your Christmas Eve traditions sound like a Christmas should be. And your sandy pics are pared back and wonderful because of it.
    Jean x

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  14. Gorgeous pics. I've sent all my cards so feel much better but now have to do all the ones that don't get sent. Better get started! x

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  15. Yes I would Dani, Once the shops are closed on Xmas day it is lovely, it is just lead up to it, the whole commercialisation of it that stresses me out. My cousins in Australia would love to have an English Xmas :)

    We have our grandchildren aged 2 and 4 from Boxing Day onwards Christina so it gets a bit more child centred then :)

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  16. I always enjoy Christmas Eve too. It's usually calm and just the 2 of us then we go to DD on Christmas Day.
    I love the beach photos. It looks awfully wintery there.

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  17. I make sure everything is done before Xmas eve so we have a quite day before everyone arrives Joanne.

    Even tho we have a houseful I try to keep things simple, we don't eat xmas dinner until later in the day so we can have a walk on the beach while it is still daylight Saver

    Good Idea Dawn!

    Thank you Jean

    I haven't even written mine yet, all this chilled out xmas malarky comes at a cost :)

    Yes it's been very stormy here PP

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  18. As long as you do what is right for you and as long as you enjoy it then you are doing exactly the right thing and having exactly the right Christmas, so please don't ever feel that you need to explain or that you are a humbug! You aren't!! xx

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  19. Beautiful photos :)

    Dave and I are big 'bah humbugs' too - we don't like the waste, the expense and the enforced gift buying and family visiting! My family are not big on christmas, we're not religious at all and there are no children in the family really now so it seems pointless!

    I love christmas eve though - I like to go out for the day with Dave and do something nice or go for a nice walk, then we just hide away over christmas as much as we can!

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  20. Apart from milk, fruit and veg I will not be going shopping until Next week sometime. I went on Tuesday and took my friend Maggie, and will probably repeat next Tuesday. I see some of the piled up trolleys and wonder what sized houses people live in to have space for so much.

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  21. Simon and I are also 'bah humbugs' there is just too much of everything, most of it totally unnecessary,plastic destined for land fill or food just wasted. We are going to friends on the 21st to celebrate the solstice, a nice quiet evening in on Xmas Eve, would love to go out for a nice meal but no good restaurants within fifty miles and no public transport, and friends coming to us on St. Stephens day for a meal. The only thing to get is the turkey which is still running around on a farm near us, veg straight from the garden. Simple but still a celebration.

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  22. I can almost smell the sea when I look at your pictures! You live ins such a beautiful part of the world.

    I like the family part of Christmas, but the shopping just about does me in. We have simplified things greatly over the years, but there's still the food to get, and I need to face that task next week. Interesting that you find the shopping to be quiet on the 24th. I don't think that would be the case where we live.

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  23. I feel the same about Christmas and try to arrange it so that I avoid all supermarkets for the two weeks up to the day. I use the local small shops and farm shops instead. The skies look very dramatic in your pictures xxx

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  24. Beautiful photos.
    Like you I dread "popping' to the shops from now until after Christmas - it's just far too busy!

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  25. perfect antidote to the xmas mayhem xxx

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  26. Well if caring about all the waste and excess makes one a 'Bah Humbug' - if that wasn't a noun it is now - I'm one too!

    This year we are invited to my mother's where my sister will be organising all the food and I will just have to roll with the 'eat and drink until you fall asleep' routine, but I'll be leaving them snoring and going for a walk.

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