Yesterday was evidently Christmas Eve and there was still a certain degree of clearing up to do after our very successful little party for the carers yesterday. The two carers turned up this morning a little late but I really did not mind as I was running a little behind myself. One I had not seen for several months and so there was a certain amount of catching up to do. After we had breakfasted, we were looking forward to seeing our friends down the hill as we generally do each Tuesday and we thought that we try to make it today even on Christmas Eve. When we got there, we did make contact with one of our friends who was especially pleased to see us but not the other two who had warned us that they might be able to make it. After we returned home, we awaited the 'sit' call from a carer of whom we are particularly fond - as she is a liberal Muslim, we enjoyed chatting over the kinds of ways that we spend Christmas and the similarities and differences with their parallel celebrations of Eid. She offered to hoover the hall area for me, which offer I gladly accepted as this is the part of the house that has to bear the traffic of the wheelchair itself as well as couple of carers four times a day so regular vacuuming is indeed required. I prepared a lunch in which I poached some mackerel fillets in milk, using the remainder of the milk once the fish had been cooked to make a parsley sauce. This was accompanied by some purple sprouting broccoli and a baked potato and was very enjoyable. As we had so many soft drinks left over from yesterday and the carer had not managed to make the party, I encouraged her to take as many of the spare cans as she needed so that she and her family could enjoy them as a sort of Christmas present tomorrow.
In my 'computing' life, I often find that one thing leads to another and so it has proved in the last few days. I found that I could (and did) quite easily install Microsoft's Outlook on my newly acquired tablet - the only 'grown up' software available for the tablet in the opinion of one reviewer. Fortunately, I had links to Outlook on the laptops both in the Main Lounge and also in the Music Lounge so I trying a slightly different way of working (and writing this blog) Outlook can let you use a font called 'Comic Sans MS' which is rather like a handwriting script but without the joined up letters. Now there is quite a body of IT professionals who hate this font and think it should be banned or its use officially discouraged as it appears so frivolous and non-serious. But the very first time I saw the font was when the Vice Principal of what was to become the University of Winchester used to use it to write friendly and informative emails to members of staff and it certainly made a favourable impression upon me at the time. I decided to consult the wider internet with the question 'Am I the only person in the world who likes Comic Sans MS' and I found an amazing diversity of opinion. There seemed to be quite a number of individuals who thought (like myself) that in its place, Comic Sans MS was suitable for informal documents and anything that, for example, might be used for materials for young school children. I can understand why the computer professionals dislike this font but I think it is 'horses for courses' i.e. a formal document should be written in a conventional font but for informal, and one might say trivial, purposes Comic sans MS has its place. Personally, I quite like writing in this font and will continue to use it for drafts and the like but not for other purposes. There seemed to be quite a number of individuals who thought (like myself) that in its place, Comic Sans MS was suitable for informal documents and anything that, for example, might be used for materials for young school children. Personally, I quite like writing in this font and will continue to use it for drafts and the like but not for other purposes.
Christmas Eve afternoons used to follow a traditional pattern in that at 3.00pm the traditional Festival and Carol service is broadcast to the world from King's College, Cambridge and I generally start to prepare the vegetables for the following day (spouts, parsnips and potatoes generally) But today, I had a mountain of washing up to do, some of it a hangover from yesterday but the rest being from this morning and lunchtime. However, I asked Alexa (the smart speaker system) to play J S Bach's Christmas music and got a wonderful selection, some of it was drawn from Bach's Christmas Oratorio as well as old favourites such as the chorale 'Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring'. This last chorale has a particular significance for me. Firstly, it was sung or us at our wedding by a very close friend of mine who I knew in London and who was training to be an opera singer. This was sung from the organ loft and really resonated throughout the church. The second occasion was the morning after I had gained my PhD and I turned on my computer and played a Bach CD and when heard this chorale, I just burst into (happy) tears of relief that I succeeded in gaining my PhD after only 2-3 intensive years of writing. The final occasion was the celebration of our 50th wedding anniversary where a friend of ours who had played the trumpet since his youth (being brought up as a Salvationist where a trumpet was thrust into his hands) played this chorale for us on his trumpet at our celebratory meal. So I found this music a wonderful alternative to my usual fare on a Christmas Eve.
© Mike Hart [2024]