The sun sets on another glorious Yorkshire day. The burning sun cracking the marble walkways to our glorious palm tree avenues. Sunflowers swaying gentle in the warm, dry summer breeze.
Or
It’s all a tragic fib. Another grey, misty, damp, frigid Yorkshire winter’s day. Mud everywhere. Every dog walk, covering the floors and furniture with muddy paws. Bath, after bath, after bath.
Ok, of the 3 photos, 1 is most definitely not from today……
The perfect muddy day for writing Christmas Cards and finally picking up the courage for that job….. Reading that pile of photocopied Christmas letters that are increasingly coming with cards these days. Those ‘this is what happened since last Christmas’ review letters. Holidays, failed diets, a second cousin once removed getting married, new cars, changed jobs, kitchen refurbishment and countless family portraits. If only I had the faintest idea who some of these letter stars are. Someone gave a concise history of a virus which is apparently called Covid. Then there was that letter that was just odd. Literally no idea who that family was. As hard as I wracked my peanut brain, I just couldn’t work out who these people were. Then the penny dropped. The postman had dropped off a card destined for a neighbour. Oops.
That’s 10 minutes of my life I won’t get back.
No time left to write our own family review letter. Again…. What would I write. Maybe I could just copy the letter which talked about buying that time share in Marseille then still had money left over for a skiing trip to Austria. Yes that sounds like a year review I could get behind.
A Dad trying to cope with the loss of his Partner and becoming a single parent. 
It’s nice of the family to keep everyone informed. I hope you both have a nice cozy Christmas.
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Thanks Sadje
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You’re welcome my friend
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I’m guessing that many in your family don’t know about this blog? If so, what a terrible loss for them. No two posts here are the same, I never know what I’m going to read but I always come away a little more thoughtful and mindful of how life is for others.
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They haven’t got a clue. I did tell one sister but she thought I was winding her up. So it’s still a secret.
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That’s 10 minutes of my life I won’t get back. Always thought that was funny👍🏻😂
Sent from my iPhone
>
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❤️
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Not sure why you would want those ten minutes back. The school did not email you, nor did a disaster strike your home. Seems like a good, calm, safe ten minutes. And now you know you can use the next ten minutes better than you used that ten minutes. Go for it, Gary. Make them count!
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I could listen to Time or House of the Rising Sun or Sound of Silence.
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You could have, but those minutes are gone. Listen to them now. Sounds like good listening!
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Your blog post made me look into the room (bit o’ a mess) and ponder the thoughts “What the #uck could I write about 2021 that makes sense of it all?” ~ “Question: Did this last year exist?” ~ “Wasn’t this last shit year the same as the shit one before?”…
Thankfully I don’t do those Round Robin things, and those that did send me them in the past have stopped (actually I wonder why and now that’s another thought tangent).
I’ve nabbed a day off work under the guise of “I do the winter solstice and need the 21st off”. Up far too early for the shortest day, (wait, those words could be joined together for comic effect “Up Fartwirly”, but moving swiftly on.
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I had another one if those pages to read today. They talked about a new sofa and matching wallpaper. Wow I’m missing out on so much 🤣🤣
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Nothing matches here and apparently it’s classified as “Eclectic”. So there’s posh innit. Actually how’s this for colourful, scroll down my blog post below to see a rainbow staircase I painted:
https://oversoil.wordpress.com/2021/12/23/wax-lyrical/
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You could have fooled me with the first sentence. Then it got ridiculous
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Good
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Hahaha too funny – The Ten Minutes that gave you a great post@
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Thank you 😊
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Love the first two pictures! Sympathize about the mud. It gets everywhere even when you don’t have a dog. Is it better if it gets cold enough to freeze it? Personally, I am in favour of ditching the Christmas card routine. It causes too much stress, especially when you get older and you get messages back from bereaved relatives to say that you have lost yet another old friend. You know too well what it’s like to get mail addressed to your deceased partner. Its awful discovering that you have caused someone more pain.
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It causes stress. It’s supposed to be a good time.
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What a gorgeous sunset. I love it. And Captain Chaos looks so cute in his mud bath.
You are too funny, Gary. I love your thoughts about a Christmas card that was not even meant for you 😂
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You should have seen the mud bath today 🤣🤣🤣🤣
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I am sure, he enjoys it… lol… the mud, not the bath… haha.
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Does not sound like much fun. Hope your festive season improves
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Thank you
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Annual review letters are still a thing?!?
Too bad the weather is so cold… that mud looks FUN!!
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Sadly yes they are
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Awe, the pups does not look happy.😊did you get through all the letters?
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He actually loves the baths. He was waiting to leap out if the bath and cause havoc
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Hahaha now that is such a good pup that loves to bath Lowell ok and reak havoc afterlol
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I’m laughing at, “That’s 10 minutes of my life I won’t get back.” 🤣😂🤣😂 Well, it could have been worse. It could have been 10 days, weeks, month or years. If it takes me months to read through a letter, or letters, those better be the best letters of my life…. 😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂
Have a Merry Christmas Superdad! 😊❤
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I hope it is the best letters of your life. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Merry Christmas Tina ❤️❤️
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I’ve often wondered if most of that stuff is made up, anyway. The little moments, though maybe not review-worthy, are what makes life worthwhile. 🌟❤️
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I get a couple of those from friends. I don’t read them. I’m glad their life is absolutely amazing (I see their social media posts and know that at least most of it is true) but I don’t need that amazing shoved in my face.
My two puppos, don’t drag mud in so much, but they sure bring in the leaves that I haven’t and won’t rake except out of the house.
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