FOR SALE....

One Slightly Used Notebook & Pen*
*(writes as new)

I've decided that I'm going off Christmas time... not in a "Bah Humbug" kind of way, (although I shall come back to that in a moment) but just down to the weather issues playing havoc with the football schedule.

Yesterday saw the under 15's on a resting day through rearranged fixtures & the under 16's home game postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. The problem is, that when the football doesn't play I have almost a whole Sunday with nothing constructive to fill it. Now, Mrs M-W will tell you that I have plenty to be getting on with. A certain list of "little Jobs around the house" is magnetted to the fridge, but it's Sunday & that is now football day. This moves into Sunday night, (at work) & then Monday, (blog day).


... Returning to the Christmas Bah Humbug theme, without the football reports to think about I end up with time on my hands to divert my thoughts to...

Saturday afternoon was spent at Milton Keynes shopping centre, now this I have no quibble with for 44 weeks of the year, but the 4 weeks leading upto the 25th December & the 4 weeks or so January sales is just a nightmare. Shoulder to shoulder we all tramped around the stores in the sudden realisation that Christmas is only two weeks away, why sudden I'm not sure, as far as I can remember at least, Christmas has always been designated to the week before December ends. Mrs M-W, of course, is well organised. Shopping carefully throughout the year so as to avoid the disappointment of products being out of stock, it's my part that lets the well-oiled machine down. J & C want to buy their presents for "Mum & Dad" so it's my deal to take them around for "Mums" & hers to help shop for mine, this of course has to fit around my shift pattern & the all important footy which can mean it pushes into "Shopping Hell Season" before I realise it.

Now I get to the bit where I have been thinking long & hard...

Why not allocate Christmas shopping to people on an Alphabetical basis*..? Surnames A to C, the first 2 weeks of July, D to F the following 2, so on & so forth through until November. Or through the power of tinternet, issue tickets like the ones at the deli counter in Tesco's (other stores are available) allocating a time & date to shop. This would get pretty much get everything done well in advance then you could allow ALL the Dads & Husbands to wander around without the need for Alexis Carrington shoulder protection to get the bits that we need to..!

*The most cunning part about this little plan is for those like myself, we get THREE bites of the cherry to get the ideal present for our own "girl who has everything," shopping for both M, W & Dads & Husbands.... (you'll have to pick your own letters for the purpose of this excercise, after all I want weeks M & W to be as clear of shoppers as possible..!)




Enough already, rearranged League Cup fixture next week so need to jump-start the pen & give it a run before the game. An alternative ground is on standby incase the Terns haven't vacated by then.