Carols and Cheer

Walsall Council run a market in the town every weekday except Thursday. On Thursday 21st December, however, the market is on and I’ve been invited to help spread some Christmas cheer with carolling at lunchtime.

Urgent Request – Streetly Christmas Market

The wonderful Streetly Christmas Market at Wm. Wheats this Sunday is in dire need of a musician to entertain people arriving at the event. I had a plea today from Gemma for support because another person has been unable to commit.

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Now you see them, but they’re not there.

When you look at this optical illusion, you should see grey-black spots appearing at the places where white lines cross.

Let me tell you now, in case you had any doubt, that those dots aren’t really there. I know this to be true. I can’t show you what it looks like without the dots though, because your eyes will always add the dots in.

Carol Servicing

Like any good garage there are levels of service available from most churches this Christmas.

Vive la difference!

After my recent mini-rant over the poor quality of BHS Christmas shopping I feel it’s time to make it clear I’m not entirely made of humbugs.

Pies, Cakes and Puddings

It’s Christmas! Or rather, the Christmas shop in BHS is open for business.

It’s not just me, I’m certain. Take a look at what they’re offering. As a child I recall the Christmas shop in BHS being a cornucopia of options for wasting hard earned goodwill with my parents as I explored every last shelf for that ideal daft gift for my long-suffering Dad or other unsuspecting family member.

These days it’s plastic wrapped boxed gift sets based on alcoholic and food brands; very little to draw the eye of my impatient six year old.

Could we have a little more cheery tat on the shelves please? Less polish and more cheer? Fewer slightly risqué joke gifts and more that are actually fun?

Or maybe I’m just getting old and grumpy. Do your shopping online and have it shipped by courier to arrive December 23rd. In which case, I’ve found the perfect gift.

Christmas at the Parish church in Aldridge.

I’m a musician on the rota of band leaders at Aldridge Parish Church. This Christmas will be one of the more intense ones for me, because I’m playing at the carol services (two of them, back to back, December 22nd evening) and the morning of December 15th.

Christmas. Carols. Beer. Excellent.

It’s been in my diary for a little while now, but I’d like to take this opportunity to plug Ales Beers and Carols 2013 again. What a fantastic opportunity to drink beer and sing carols. For a concept, this one scores highly for simplicity and ease of execution.

Ales Beers and Carols 2013

Oh Little Town of Bethlehem,

How still we see thee lie.

Above thy deep and dreamless sleep,

The silent stars go by.

Less silent though the clink of glass,

In Walsall pubs this year.

As we sing carols and have fun,

While also drinking beer!

Smarten up, my Dad’s reading this

My blog is connected to my Twitter account, to which I have granted WordPress access. It’s a simple way to announce new posts and garner interest from a wider audience, and it’s a simple matter for my followers to retweet the annoucnement. By this simple method of onward promotion, traffic has been generated for posts about forthcoming Walsall Social Media Surgery dates, and singing carols in pubs at Christmas.