Pages

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

It's just astonishing

Our Christmas tree arrived today. It is 9 feet tall and weighs about two tons. I will need Cate’s help tonite to unbox it – get it upright and stick it into our special handy dandy Christmas tree holder.
Even so –ordering it online  was much easier than when we bought our tree in Vienna. There we had to buy it from the farmer in the park – drag it two blocks to our apartment building – and carry it up four flights of stairs. And it was more expensive than it is here.
I don’t know what I do with it after Christmas. In Vienna I used to burn it but I can’t do that in a gas fire. I will ask the neighbors – there may be a county collection process.
I have finally finished the planning and booking process for Montreal and Newfoundland. My major difficulty was finding a restaurant for New Year’s Eve in St Johns. I eventually – after much pleading and cajoling - got into the restaurant in the Sheraton hotel where we are staying - but then I found out that they close at 11:30 PM. And the hotel overlooks the harbor – but that is not where the fireworks are – they are miles away on another lake.
We might content ourselves with a drink in the bar.
I am astounded to note that Australia has won the Ashes. For those Americans who do not know what the Ashes are – it is bit like the world series in baseball – in that only two teams play – and in this case it is Australia and England  and the game is cricket.
It is the most important sporting clash between these two nations and there is nothing that any citizen of either country wants more than to beat the other team. It is visceral.
Anyway – despite all predictions – and after being crushed  by England in the last series – Australia has beaten (no – demolished) England in the first three tests (out of five) and has regained the Ashes.

It’s just astonishing.

8 comments:

  1. I wiLL have to study cricket now. I have no tree tips as I never have C trees in my house although my wife has a huge tree at our place of business, and we seLL alot of C tree items, from shirts embroidered to C tree ornaments.

    ReplyDelete
  2. My husband - who is a Pom - could not be described as 'astonished'. (He played minor county cricket in England, and professional cricket in Sydney)
    He is disgusted!!! Did you see the pitch in Perth?? CRIMINAL!! UNBELIEVABLE!! .... etc, etc.

    Our Christmas tree is a lot smaller than that which you describe. Americans have this Gigantism syndrome...



    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh, Vienna's not so bad! My corner lot Christmas farmer put my Christmas tree on the tree stand right at his lot, then carries it to my home, puts it up, and all that's left for me is hanging the ornaments. Most of the trees, maybe all, sold in Vienna's public lots are from the region around Vienna, making for short distance transport and decent wages for the farmers.

    ReplyDelete
  4. esb: I would not bother about cricket. It is a very complicated game and you really don't need to know how it works.

    Alexia: Excellent! I only wish I could have been there. Our tree this year is smaller than last year - but is still to big.

    Merisi: Hmmm… I don't think I could persuade anyone here to carry my tree home for me.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The worst part of our Christmas in Montreal was finding acceptable dining, all the good places closed down for the holiday. Hopefully it was just our bad luck. I did get the most beautiful suede and fur hat, much needed, on sale when we were there.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Nothing like a bit of winning cricket to put some cheer into holiday time. There was a bit of a moment wishing there'd be a draw so that the Boxing Day test would be of more interest.

    Re the tree, I saw something on TV the other day where they said your local Zoo may be interested in your tree. A lot of the animals eat pine but they stressed that you should ring the zoo first to make sure they are interested and (idiot alert!) remove the tinsel and fake snow. We have an artificial tree, I don't usually bother at all but my daughter has moved in for a few months and she does love a Christmas tree.

    Have fun.

    ReplyDelete
  7. fmcgmccllc: Oh I did not think of that - perhaps I had better start looking now.

    Sandy: I am perfectly happy to win the Ashes and forgo the interest and tension - particularly as I cannot watch it anyway.

    I will have a look at the zoo thing.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Its seems to be about as complicated as baseball, yes?

    "Speaking" of cricket, I just happened to use a cricket (insect) chirping sound as an alarm on my iPhone to remind me about Cooper's 9 PM cheese. Yesterday was day one of the experiment Pavlov's Cheese Ringtone.

    ReplyDelete