Early Hours 23rd January

Is it ever going to stop raining?

All this global warming stuff - well you can stop now if you like. I hate it all, I hate the cold, I hate the damp, I hate the winter. i have a bad case of SAD I think.

It has rained non stop for ages here and no sign of drying up yet. Yesterday the road above us and the road below us was flooded. out village had flooding and I pity those poor people who don't live up the hill. I don't know the extent of it all yet as I haven't been brave enough to stick my nose out the door for a day or so.



I did speak to civilisation (if you could call them that), AOL that is - my modem router decided to stop working. I don't know what is going on there, if it was the bad weather or a power surge or what but it just died. So I rang my current supplier of Internet hoping they could get me going again ... they did better than that, they are only sending me out new equipment and a PS3 for free. HAPPY DAYS, no 1 son has not yet come back down to earth, now we just got to get some games for it ...hhhmmmm weren't they a second mortgage last time I looked? Forty squid a game - well it looks like I am going to be working for another few years to pay for all this. Joking aside I am happy about it.

We had this big debate at Christmas ... Mag's friend got a Wii for Christmas, which we were absolutely delighted for him. But us having four children has explained to Mag that we could not justify a present of that value, a Wii and a hand full of games was running close to £500. That's all fine and dandy then you got to be fair to the other children too, and before you know it you could go over board and in debt just to keep up with the trends. So feeling guilty because a friend suggested we should 'save up' and Mag's other friends got Wiis and Xbox 360s and wot not from the man in the red suit. we wondered if we were being bad parents, after all how do you explain to a child you cant justify it when its not you who brings the Christmas presents anyway, surely the elves could knock something together in a few minutes?
BUT we have the Internet in virtually every room, 3 computers and 3 laptops in our house, millions of games including many up to date ones ... we also have an extensive book library, a wealth of knowledge at our finger tips in the written form and electronically - so why should we feel guilty for not providing what is deemed to be a compulsory toy?

So after all that has been said we get one for free - now that is a smug grin which is coming across my face ... our children got their Christmas gifts and an up tp date games console, and that is our reward for being patient.