December 2025
Coffee & Christmas Crackers
29/12/25 09:24 Filed in: Family
On Christmas Day I went to my sister’s for the big, fancy Sunday lunch. And she did a fabulous job. There were two new visitors there including her new puppy. I’m not sure how many weeks it is before a puppy becomes a dog, but Coco is not old at all. She’s quite an active puppy/dog and likes jumping about and picking things up—and maybe eating or hiding them. She certainly seems most interested in shoes and fingers at the moment. Looks lovely and it’ll be great to see how she turns out. She’s a German Shepherd.
A little video I did of Coco shows her current typical behaviour. Jump, nibble, claw, bite, sit, behave…repeat.
There were five of us at the meal (not including Coco) and after we ate our fill of turkey, beef, roasties, mash, cauli, broccoli, carrots, pigs in blankets, gravy, cheese sauce et al sis announced that rather than getting crackers for us she’d picked up a box of Amazon Returns for each of us. I’ve always found crackers a sad part of the Xmas day—the food, the people, the drink, the TV (and maybe a new dog) are far more important and much less a throw away instant waste.
The five rather large boxes were brought out—and they were quite impressive in that way—and I selected the one my niece brought in. The boxes all looked the same so it was just luck what would be in each one. Anyhoo, it proved lucky for me. Mine included a coffee machine (circa £60 worth) as well as a camera tripod, a whisky glass set, and a small Thermos flask. Much better than a coloured paper hat, a barely audible bang, and a sad joke. Everyone got some things which were useful (though I think the coffee machine was the best thing). Not sure whether it’ll become a Christmas Walker tradition, but maybe it will.
BTW I heated some water up later that evening to clean the coffee machine. And, yes it worked fine.
A little video I did of Coco shows her current typical behaviour. Jump, nibble, claw, bite, sit, behave…repeat.
There were five of us at the meal (not including Coco) and after we ate our fill of turkey, beef, roasties, mash, cauli, broccoli, carrots, pigs in blankets, gravy, cheese sauce et al sis announced that rather than getting crackers for us she’d picked up a box of Amazon Returns for each of us. I’ve always found crackers a sad part of the Xmas day—the food, the people, the drink, the TV (and maybe a new dog) are far more important and much less a throw away instant waste.
The five rather large boxes were brought out—and they were quite impressive in that way—and I selected the one my niece brought in. The boxes all looked the same so it was just luck what would be in each one. Anyhoo, it proved lucky for me. Mine included a coffee machine (circa £60 worth) as well as a camera tripod, a whisky glass set, and a small Thermos flask. Much better than a coloured paper hat, a barely audible bang, and a sad joke. Everyone got some things which were useful (though I think the coffee machine was the best thing). Not sure whether it’ll become a Christmas Walker tradition, but maybe it will.
BTW I heated some water up later that evening to clean the coffee machine. And, yes it worked fine.
Comments
AI Update Update
Three weeks ago Mani from the Stone Roses passed away and then I found that AI was telling me the gig I went to at the Royal Court never happened. The same AI now says it did and has added some detail to it. Amazing what a difference such a short period can make. I wonder if my comments on it being wrong contributed to the alteration in AI’s assertion.
AI Spot the Difference. Same question to Google three weeks apart.
Three weeks ago AI said this…
Now AI says this…
A couple of days ago I was told about a cool app where you can input/look up and record all the gigs you’ve been to. It’s called ‘Concert Archive’ (should surely be gig not concert in my opinion. Not sure I’ve been to many concerts). I quickly downloaded it and have since added quite a few gigs to the app over the last couple of days. This morning it sent me a notification that it was 30 years ago today I went to see Stone Roses in Liverpool.
Or did I?
Anyway the app looks good. Although the gigs all seem to be at least ten years further back than I first imagine. Sheesh! Unfortunately I can’t blame AI for that, just the rapid passage of time as you get older.
AI Spot the Difference. Same question to Google three weeks apart.
Three weeks ago AI said this…
Now AI says this…
A couple of days ago I was told about a cool app where you can input/look up and record all the gigs you’ve been to. It’s called ‘Concert Archive’ (should surely be gig not concert in my opinion. Not sure I’ve been to many concerts). I quickly downloaded it and have since added quite a few gigs to the app over the last couple of days. This morning it sent me a notification that it was 30 years ago today I went to see Stone Roses in Liverpool.
Or did I?
Anyway the app looks good. Although the gigs all seem to be at least ten years further back than I first imagine. Sheesh! Unfortunately I can’t blame AI for that, just the rapid passage of time as you get older.