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Christmas 2018 – No Coal, Lots of Lovely Presents & Seeing the Magical and Musical Mary Poppins Returns

By Friends & Family, Happiness & Joy, LifeNo Comments

Christmas was great. The best thing about it is always the precious time spent with loved ones. The food, drinks and presents are just huge pluses. This year I must have been extra good because I didn’t get any coal (the traditional gift for the naughty) and instead got lots of lovely presents:

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Christmas presents I was fortunate to receive from friends and family (1).

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Christmas presents I was fortunate to receive from friends and family (2).

My good friend Jayne and I went to watch Mary Poppins Returns (MPR):

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Mary Poppins Returns Cinema Poster

MPR is magical, musical and all-round marvelous. It had a number of brilliant cameo appearances by: Julie Walters, Meryl Streep, Dick Van Dyke and Angela Lansbury.

My Christmas was finished off by seeing Adam Lambert perform Believe in tribute to Cher. A gorgeous man with an amazing voice. This performance made me cry the first time I saw it. I have watched the performance numerous times since. You can see the performance below:

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Blog soon,

Antony

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Friday 28 December 2018

Book Review: The Christmasaurus – The Musical Edition by Tom Fletcher

By Amazon, Books & Authors, Music & Radio, ReviewsNo Comments
The-Christmasaurus-Musical-Edition-by-Tom-Fletcher-book-cover
View on Amazon.co.uk
 The Christmasaurus is a children’s book that combines two of my favourite things: dinosaurs and Christmas.

In this review, I am reviewing The Musical Edition which includes the fully illustrated (illustrations by Shane Devries) hardback book and The Soundtrack that Fletcher wrote and recorded to accompany the story.

The Soundtrack includes 14 tracks, that currently are only available by buying The Christmasaurus – Musical Edition.

Singers on the soundtrack include: Fletcher, his wife, his sister and even Santa! What’s great about the CD is that the book prompts you when to play each track.

The unique combination of written story and music, really does add to the experience.

You’ll also enjoy playing the CD on its own. Here’s the track list:

  1. It Must Be Christmas Time

2. Dig, Diggedy Dig (The Digging Song)
3. The Christmasaurus
4. Thin Ice
5. Someone More Than Me
6. The Nice List
7. I’ve Been a Good Girl
8. I Believe It Could
9. I Ho, Ho, Hope It’s Santa
10. I Love Creatures
11. Christmas Makes Me Sick
12. Afraid of Heights (my absolute favourite song on the soundtrack!)
13. Don’t Know What It Is
14. If You Believe

Now, back to the book. The characters include: William Trundle (the main character who is wheelchair enabled), Bob Trundle (William’s dad), Santa, Lots of Elves (who speak always in rhyme), Brenda Payne (I nicknamed her Brenda The Bully at the beginning of the book), Brenda’s mum, Hunter and his dog Growler, Stuffy (a toy made by Santa) and of course the one of a kind Christmasaurus.

The plot is imaginative, brilliantly described and magical. It’s a bit predictable for an adult, but young children will be captivated and plead/beg/demand another chapter is read after the last. The illustrations are superb, detailed and provide support to children’s imaginations.

The Christmasaurus is the ideal bedtime story for young children in the run up to Christmas. It is available to buy on Amazon and at all good book shops.

Review soon,

Antony

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Saturday 30 December 2017

My November

By Amazon, Friends & Family, Health, Life, Pets, TV, Online Streaming & FilmsNo Comments

A lot happened in November. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. Here were the key events:

4th November 17 – I went Smoke-Free, Day 1.

Smoke-free-logo

Smoke-Free Logo

 5th November 17 – I was given the cold shoulder by Dylan. He just walked away from attention to sit with his back towards me. I called him by his name and was ignored.

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Blanked by Dylan.
6th November 17 – My week made with the arrival of my pre-orders from Amazon.

 11th November 17 – I tried on silly Christmas hats!

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Silly Christmas Hats!
12th November 17 – My lovely Grandma passed away. I am sure she is missed dearly by all who knew her. I am also very lucky to have some wonderful memories with her.

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My Lovely Grandma.

 14th November 17 – I went to the GP about an abscess in my groin. I was given oral antibiotics and told if it gets any bigger I must go to A&E to see a Surgeon.
15th November 17 – The abscess had doubled in size. So went to A&E, was given a dose of IV antibiotics and eventually saw a Surgeon. They decided to operate first thing the following morning.

I had been Nil By Mouth since arriving in A&E at around 1PM and had not eaten since breakfast. They let me go home well after 9pm to eat, rest and with instructions to fast from 3am and be back at the hospital for 8am.

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Oh pink…just my colour.

 16th November 17 – The day of the surgery. All of the NHS staff were kind, compassionate and understanding. But communication could have been better.

I arrived on the ward at 07:50am and was instructed by a Nurse on the night shift to wait in the waiting room, while the early staff had handover. The night shift Nurse didn’t tell the day staff that I had arrived and meant I ended up waiting over an hour. Apparently staff had been looking for me everywhere.

After the surgery, I didn’t know whether my open wound had been packed or not, because it wasn’t documented in my notes.

It has been uncomfortable, a bit tender and at times painful. I have thanked my family and Steve who have been amazing in supporting me pre and post surgery.

The surgery and waiting for the open to heal has been very frustrating for me.

Everything has had to be put on hold. I’ve had to rest and haven’t been able to do very much apart from watching Netflix, reading and napping. A huge positive is that I have remained Smoke-Free throughout.

17th November 17 – I became super excited after watching a video clip that revealed the title of the new Fantastic Beasts (Harry Potter) film: The Crimes of Grindelwald on Twitter @BeastsMovieUK. The film will be released on 16.11.18. 22nd November 17 – The day of Grandma’s funeral, which was really a celebration of her life. The service was touching and well attended. Grandma’s family and friends came together afterwards to share memories and the many things they will miss about her.
25th November 17 – Day 21 of being Smoke-Free.

Smoke-free-logo

Smoke-Free Logo

 29th November 17 – Last day working at my old job. I will miss the people and liked the work, but am excited to start my new job.

Write soon,

Antony

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Thursday 30 November 2017
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