Old crotchety man winter

There was a puppet program on TV in the waiting room of the clinic last week. I watched it while I waited for my name to be called. The sound on the TV was off, though. That is no good. Lip-reading a puppet.

Try it. It looks like they're just going "arp arp aarp ARP arparp". (Then turn the sound back on, because this is pretty funny.)

I went back to Cow Pie for Christmas and three of my four blog readers asked why I don't write in my blog anymore. This is for you!

It's that time of year when it feels as though it's dark all the time and I'm never quite warm enough, I don't feel like I get enough sleep and staying motivated at work is a slog. But it's also all white and sparkly and muffled outside and people still have their 'seasonal lighting' up. I'm OK with that. Obvious Christmas decorations in mid January, no. But lights can stay as they really brighten things up (as lights do). Especially the multi-coloured LEDs.

Walking around One Great City!, and our neighbourhood in particular, I realise how little this city invests in beautification. I like it here, I even like the downtrodden vibe to a certain extent, but on the tenth grey day in a row, one starts to think that it would be really nice to see a commemorative bench. A boulevard of planters. A park. So those lights really do make a difference.

I love winter, but it really makes me work for it. It's nicer Cow Pie, not so relentlessly itself. It wavers. It turns the mountains white.