Anglesey Abbey lights

This evening, we visited Anglesey Abbey, our very local National Trust property, as they were illuminating some of the trees and shrubs, and the house. In fact the illuminations were excellent.  On the way around we stopped for some food and drink. Luckily the rain that was forecast held off.

Anglesey Abbey - the house illuminated this evening.

Strictly Come Dancing BBC1 TV

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b04vwz35/strictly-come-dancing-series-12-week-12 .

Like many men I suspect, I watch this with my wife.  Frankie very much reminds me of my wife Lis when we first met.  Frankie is also a very good dancer, so most weeks I go online and give her 3 votes. Voting online is totally free, whereas phone votes are charged.

Years ago, I used to ballroom dance with my then girlfriend Ann. These were special times, long ago now.  I still treasure those days, even though I have been happily married to my current wife since 1971. Somehow ballroom dancing was with Ann, and only Ann. I want that to remain so.

I have not really ballroom danced since the 1960s. These days I am still too ill to dance because of my cerebellum brain bleed in September 2013. This has been a strange year and I shall be glad when I am better again. Life is still hard.

Dutch marriage proposal

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-30462825 .

In the Netherlands, a man proposed to his girlfriend from an unsecured crane which managed to topple over onto a neighbour's roof causing great damage.  By the way, I understand the girl accepted. Not sure if the roof damage would be covered by insurance.

Meteor shower peak

Meteors should be good overnight as we are at the peak of the Geminids shower. The weather here is overcast, so I probably won't see anything

Computer glitch we are told

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30454240 .

We are told that UK airspace has been restricted due to a "computer glitch". The cynic in me says there may be a far more sinister explanation: either terrorists have compromised the NATS computers or there was a terrorist threat to a plane or planes and the "powers that be" closed  (some of) the airspace.  Of course it could all be perfectly true and there really was a computer glitch.

Also we have still not seen a single piece of evidence that Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 crashed in an ocean. Surely, after all this time something of the wreckage would have been seen?

NS&I Pensioner's Bond

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30452877 .

Starting in January, pensioners over 65 years old can apply for a Pensioner Bond  up to £10k with a return of 4% before tax. This is a better rate than anything available currently. Interest will be paid at the end of the term. For 4% gross, this is in 3 years time.

Lighter evenings from next week!

Even though the mornings get darker for a while yet, the evenings start to get a little bit lighter here just before the winter solstice.  I think this will depend on your location.  By the end of next week the evenings here stay lighter by 1-2 minutes. By the end of January it is very noticeable. The change is slow at first but speeds up: by early March it is light until 6.30pm. I think the rate of change follows a sine wave with the fastest change around the equinoxes.

Although there is something nice about cosy evenings in, I prefer light nights.