Sunday, December 20, 2020

My Christmas Message

In the fine tradition, begun my predecessor and mentor, the Boss, it's the time of year for my Christmas blog, and what a year it has been. In our wildest imaginings we couldn't have foreseen this time least year, what was coming our way. Whilst it has been a very difficult time for everyone, we are aware that for 67,075, people to date, it has been a total disaster, and for each of those, there are a whole network of bereaved family, friends and dogs. Our heart goes out to everyone directly affected.

Whilst we have escaped relatively lightly so far, we have had the inevitable cancelled holidays and family events, long spells not working (thank Dog for furlough and self-employed income support for keeping me in dog biscuits) and the frustration of being confined to quarters for long spells at a time. We have missed seeing loved ones and are particularly sad that our Juniors, who are both in tier 4 in London, cannot come home for Christmas. It will be the first time without them both. 'Junior Him' was caught out by COVID without somewhere of his own to live, but has now bought a flat, and 'Junior Her' is presently without a job, but there is still a lot to be grateful for, and I have been counting my blessings as follows:

  1. Firstly, all of my hupeeps, 'Them Indoors' and our wider family, especially the Seniors: 'Him Indoors' mum, who is almost ninety, and 'Her Indoors' parents, who are comparative youngsters at almost eighty, are all well, to date. We think 'Junior Her' probably had the horrid COVID, which really needs a huge bitey on the bum, back in March, and 'Her Indoors' had a few sleepless nights, but with the resilience of the young, she shrugged it off with only mild symptoms. Thank Dog!
  2. Secondly, COVID has meant that 'Him' and 'Her Indoors' have spent much more time at home than normal. As I suffer from separation anxiety, this has been a real bonus. 'Her Indoors' might be slowly climbing the walls, and reckons she knows every leaf, twig and stone in our village, but she has been forced to stay with ME, and that's what matters.
  3. For different reasons, both Juniors have spent long spells at home. Now unlike the Boss, who grew up with them, I don't have that shared history, and, I'm slightly ashamed to admit it, but I was a bit scared of 'Junior Him' initially, as he is a tall man and I wasn't much used to that in my previous home. However, we have bonded, and I developed a man crush, learning how to watch football, snoozing by his feet. When he finally moved into his own flat, I searched the house for him, but he has given me visiting rights so I've already crashed at my London pad. 'Junior Her' was an easy win. She loves all dogs and BTs in particular, and I found happy sanctuary in her bedroom. I still miss her but I know I will see her as soon as she is able to visit.
  4. In spite of the various problems, we still managed to get away in our motorhome, and I got to meet a few of my Twitter Pals in the process. I sneaked across the border to meet Hamish in Strathclyde Country Park. Our humums chatted for England and Scotland whilst me and Hamish exchanged views on who to bark at and how to deal with swans. I also met up with Bonnie and Molly at Clumber Park. We hadn't met before but a finer couple of furs you couldn't hope to meet. 
  5. There has been a lot of gardening. Actually, there is always a lot of gardening, but this year, 'Them Indoors' have surpassed themselves. I've barked, at every given opportunity, and a few that weren't given but I seized them anyway, at ol' fluffy woofy next door. His name has actually developed into ol' cheesy fluffly woofy after one of 'Her Indoors' friends, on a socially distanced garden visit, accidentally referred to him as a Leerdammer instead of a Leoburger. Serves him right!
  6. Clap for the carers was also a high point. It brought the community together and focused attention on those who work so hard to keep others safe and well. We would like to give a huge bark of thanks to our Pals in the NHS, the scientists who have put their lives on hold to work on the vaccine and folk in a whole range of other occupations, seen and unseen, that have contributed to the greater good during this difficult time. 
  7. And finally, I'd like to give a paw clap to technology, to the Zoom and the Teams and the Skype that have kept us all connected. The oft maligned social media, particularly the special, unique madness that is the Twitter group, the BT Posse, has kept us sane with their humour, kindness and the antics of us little brown dogs.

So my Christmas message to all of you, is stay safe, hang onto your mental health and get your hupeeps queuing up for that vaccine the moment it becomes available. And if any youngsters are worried about an overweight man in an at-risk group, visiting every home in the world, and his potential to be a superspreader, I believe he has already had the vaccine as a key worker, but just to be on the safe side, I'm leaving a mask and some hand sanitiser next to the mince pie, sherry and carrot for Rudolph this year. Just for the record, I've been a very good dog. 

                                                                Meeting up with Pals!
 



                                                        Happy Christmas everyone!

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