It’s still unbelievably mild! Mid-December and the temperatures around our neck of the woods are similar to what we might expect in May, so the very nice BBC weather woman told me on the radio on Friday morning. Certainly not what we are used to in December! Lots of photos of daffodils blooming in various parts of the country – ours are not out but we do have the green shoots of some of our spring bulbs thinking about making an early appearance. Oh! They’re going to be pretty pissed off when the winter finally kicks in.
The BBC web site had a bit of an explanation as to why it has been so warm so far in December. El Niño is playing its part, apparently, by churning up warmer air around the equator than might normally be the case.
So, not much chance of a white Christmas around here then.
As I said last time, the Christmas cards made their way into the post last week and this week I also finally got the e-version dispatched. Some of you will receive both versions; some of the luckier amongst you may receive neither version (if we have an incorrect e-mail address for you or, even better, you’re not on the list at all). Still, I wouldn’t want anyone to feel disgruntled so you can access the online version here. It has a few advantages over either the postal or e-version – more photos which you can click and admire in even greater detail!
And, while on the subject of Christmas, it’s clear that the festive season has begun in earnest at Framington House. We have been an entertainment juggernaut! On Thursday evening we had guests to dinner and on Friday we had another set of visitors for dinner. It seems a dinner invitation to Framington House is the hot ticket this season. Then, on Saturday evening we were out being entertained for dinner. I am not at all sure I can stand the pace but I will do my best.
More projects for the ever-energetic Ms Playchute. Thursday she started on the onerous task of stripping the wallpaper off the walls in our bedroom. It’s an onerous task because there are about twenty layers of wallpaper, all of which need to be removed. Some of the older layers, particularly a turgid dark brown layer which probably dates from when the cottage was built, were clearly pasted onto the walls using some sort of 18th century superglue the likes of which we haven’t seen since the early years of the space program. Even were it not for the tenacity with which this dark brown paper clings to the wall, I have to wonder about anyone choosing anything that dark in a hallway (which is what this originally was) with such poor natural lighting.
I ran across what I thought was an interesting article in a couple of places about the makers of Nurofen being investigated by the UK Advertising Standards Authority for selling identical pills under different names and at different prices targeted at specific types of pain, i.e., period pain, migraine, tension headaches, back pain, etc. The intriguing thing is that the chemical makeup of each “targeted” medication is exactly the same. Only the labelling on the box and the advertising is different. Not surprisingly, the pills sold for a specific type of pain cost up to twice as much as the same, generic Nurofen ibuprofen, even though the tablets are precisely the same.
Is this an example, I wonder, of advertising actually working in some way? It seems that people who buy the more expensive, targetted ibuprofen feel that it works more efficiently and effectively than the “ordinary” tablets – and, of course, we all know about the placebo effect. Perhaps they should be entitled to continue to advertise and sell the targetted medication as long as they include a large disclaimer – this medication is exactly the same as the generic version at twice the price! (And, just for interest – Nurofen branded ibuprofen is about twice the price of generic ibuprofen which you can buy at any pharmacy).
And another article which caught my eye – a recent poll of Republican voters in the US showed that 30% of those polled would support the bombing of Agrabah in the fight against terrorism while only 13% would be opposed – the remaining 57% were not sure. The interesting thing? Agrabah is the fictional kingdom from Disney’s classic Aladdin. So, apparently without any background or context, nearly a third of Republican voters polled were in favour of bombing a place which doesn’t exist. Of course, we all know how reliable or otherwise polls can be. This one seems to have been based on a fairly small sample size but intriguing nevertheless that a significant proportion seem to be in favour of bombing anywhere that sounds as if it might be Arab. Another article looked at some of the statements made by the Republican candidates:
The level of tough-guy militarism that Republican candidates spew looks like a race to see who would start more wars harder and quicker.
Sadly, you couldn’t make it up.
We’re ramping up for Christmas – I think we’ll be ready in time! Hope yours, however and wherever you spend it, is superb.
Love to you all,
Greg