Received this this morning from an old friend of mine who has lived in Cyprus for many years and now has (I think) dual nationality.

I was supposed to have been in the UK now spending Christmas with my family, staying with R* and E* alternately returning home on 29th. A long story but I stayed with J* and his family in Yorkshire returning home on 1st December. I was stopped at passport control and security in the UK on my return journey home. I was told I can no longer use my passport and if I travelled back for Christmas I would be detained and sent back to Cyprus. My passport expires on 11th October 2022, ie late next year but the problem is, my passport is valid for 10 years 10 months and since Brexit, UK travel rules changed 1st January this year which now means my passport has effectively expired. I can only travel on a passport valid for exactly 10 years. I applied for a new passport as soon as I returned paying for “fast track” but as yet, no passport which means I have had to change my flights.

Life is definitely too complicated for me now.

Tonight's Monday Night Football. Get your predictions in by 7pm.
Good luck

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/17141395/cruise-ship-mexico-covid-outbreak/?rec_article=true

If you've pulled a few crackers over Xmas, please share those corny, witty and awful jokes in your Christmas crackers this year.

One at a time please, and give a thumbs up feed back if you like it...

Here's a start!

Q. How does Good King Wencelas like his pizzas?

A. DEEP PAN CRISP AND EVEN.

A quickie 😉

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZM8w8YXRk/

Happy Boxing 🥊 day

We had a power cut at about 9.00 pm on Christmas Day.
It only lasted about a minute, but it turned off all my lights and electrical equipment.

I had to reset my living room clock, electric oven clock, microwave clock and restart my cable TV.
The refrigerator and freezer came back on OK, but the freezer setting was -18C, I had to set it back at -20C.

But it had switched my boiler/heating/hot water off which I did not notice. On getting up on the 26th the house was cold - no heating. I had to switch the boiler/heating/hot water on at the control panel - all OK now.

Has anybody else had a power cut ?

This is tonight's later Boxing Day match. Get your predictions in by 7.30pm.
Good luck

Being adopted, my Granddaughter found my birth Father on an ancestry web site and for the first time I saw him as he had past away in his early years.

So my best gift was being given a framed photograph of him from my Daughter.... plus some dangling earrings with pictures of Ed Shearan on!!!

News just in the great Desmond Tutu passes away aged 90

https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/26/archbishop-desmond-tutu-giant-in-fight-against-apartheid-south-africa-dies-at-90

Yes it’s been confirmed it’s officially a White Christmas and there’s more to come

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-59789417

https://www.space.com/james-webb-space-telescope-launch-nasa-reaction

Whether you love or loathe them LadBaby have again gone to no 1 in the Christmas charts with their 4th charity single raising money for the Trussel Trust Food banks
Well done them

https://youtu.be/YRT5yQrs4bo

Grandaughters hamster this morning

Most people on the tv news are saying "Omeecron" but one of the presenters on GB News say that because it is Greek, the correct pronounciation is "Oh-My-Cron"

SELSEY it’s not much fun having to double up on birthday and Christmas presents is it, especially when you’re a youngster.😖 But then you reach the age when presents don’t really matter and you’re just glad to be up and about and walking Sadie.😊
Anyway thinking of you today. Enjoy yourself. 🥳🍷🍰🍾

Does anyone else here use gluten-free recipes? I just came across this useful blog https://www.glutenfreealchemist.com

.

Just dropped on my doorstep in pouring rain.
My fav sweets from daughter as can’t see her tomorrow,
AND top notch Waitrose chocs from my ex osteopath boss.
Now where to begin, especially as I’ve just lost weight.

Special offer

My friend has Covid and a chest infection [ is on antibiotics for this]
Just spoken to her on the phone and she is having trouble with her breathing but she refuses to tell her daughter or son because she doesn't want a fuss or them rushing round and calling an ambulance.
She made me promise i wouldn't tell anyone but ....

A word that seems to be used too often simply because one person's view on life is different, or they say something that not everyone agrees with.
The latest example of disrespectful being used out of proportion is a news article my phone downloaded yesterday.
A single mother with a young daughter said she didn't like the traditional Christmas turkey dinner, so they would be having a McDonalds meal on Christmas Day.
Some people have been telling her she's disrespectful.
Disrespectful of who or what?

https://www.mylondon.news/news/east-london-news/nhs-employees-arrested-making-fake-22550133?utm_source=mylondon_newsletter&utm_campaign=myeastlondon_newsletter2&utm_medium=email

Putin is a real life Darth Varder.

"The hammer and sickle was lowered for the last time on the night of Dec. 25, 1991, spinning the 15 Soviet republics overnight into independent countries.

What Putin laments about the Soviet collapse is the loss of Russian dominance over the vast Communist-ruled empire, a “sphere of influence” already shrunk by then after pro-democracy revolutions in Eastern Europe and independence proclamations within the USSR.

The 30th anniversary of the Soviet demise has inspired Putin’s provocative buildup of troops and tanks on Ukraine’s border as he threatens once again to retake parts of Russia’s lost empire by armed force."
[Quote from article by Carol J. Williams.]

Will Putin make his move over Christmas, so he can breathe more easily...

I often see a car with a triangle that clips into the door when it's shut to prevent people from driving too close and scratching it. I found one on the internet a few weeks ago but now I can't find it. Has anyone else seen them and, if so, where can I get one?

.....USA,India UAE, Canada,Australia,Philipines, Germany,Poland,Turkey, Switzerland & Netherlands!! 😮
First time I ever looked at the members list!!🙄
Welcome guys!! 😊
Join in. Tell us your impressions (Ooo-I`m asking for it there!).What made you join this random group full of Limeys/Poms/Brits?🤨
Will I get any replies?🤔

Another Carabao cup quarter final tonight. Could go to extra time and penalties, but the predictions are for the full time score at 90 minutes. Get them in by 7pm.
Good luck

https://www.field-studies-council.org/2021/12/17/join-the-new-year-plant-hunt/

Has Ron opted out of this group? If NOT we should be worried-no one that vocal suddenly shuts up!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9jbdgZidu8&ab_channel=kahaya77

Hope you all have a lovely Christmas and a happy and healthy new year xx

I wish the SL Team and all our members a Very Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year

Tonight's match is a Carabao cup quarter final. Sunderland are the only League One side left in the competition. Get your predictions in by 7pm.Good luck

I think not, if one looks at the events of the last few weeks and link them together there could be an underlying pattern. Consider the following:-
1) Boris, for all his faults, is a winner. (Proven)
2) There is a substantial number of tory backbenchers who either dislike him and/or owe him their seats.
3) Boris makes a number of stupid errors, while feathering his nest, which puts his credibility at risk.
4) There was a by-election coming up which the predictions suggested would be a close run thing.
5)There is a restrictions legislation debate coming up for which the result is already known, therefore the outcome would not damage the country. Prefect for a rebellion.
What better opportunity for disaffected back-benchers to give Boris a kicking and tell him to get his house, and the Cabinet, in order?.
The by-election surpassed expectations in adding strength to their cause despite the fact that pro rata Labour did worse than the Tories, their vote being down by 71% against the Tory 66%, when you do the arithmetic.
Summing up I do not think that the Tory Party want a leadership contest, only as a last resort, what they want is for Boris to stop being an idiot and get his act together.
I would welcome members opinions on my ideas, accompanied by your reasons for agreeing or otherwise. Opinions unsupported with the thinking behind them, have little value.

Cuteness overload

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZM83qgm2R/

Learn the moves 😁

A teacher was explaining to her class that French nouns unlike English are grammatically designated as masculine or feminine.
Puzzled one student asked: What gender is a computer.
The teacher divided the class in into 2 groups.
The women decided the computer should be masculine because
1. In order to get their attention you have to turn them on.
2. They have a lot of data but still clueless.
3.They supposed to help solve your problems, but half the time they are the problem.
4. As soon as you commit to one , you realise that if you had waited a little longer you might have had a newer model.

The men decided that computers should definitely be referred to as feminine.

1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic.
2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everybody else.
3. Even your smallest mistakes are stored in long-term memory for later retrieval. 4. As soon as you make a commitment to one you find yourself spending half of your pay on accessories for it.

The album you want

December 21st - tomorrow.

https://uk.yahoo.com/style/il-divo-star-carlos-marin-200000271.html

Shame about the spelling mistake

Posted on Nextdoor today.

COVID Vaccinations. Thank you all for your messages of support as the Vaccination Clinics get busier and busier and more and more pressure is piled on us to vaccinate as many people as possible. Yesterday, however, we were at the Clinic at 7.15 am to open up for an 8.00 am start to find all the padlocks had been glued with superglue. The anti-vacc campaigners had also climbed over the fence and superglued the locks on all the access doors. After calling out a locksmith, who was wonderful, and seeing queues build up for the next 1.5 hours, we worked out socks off to get the queue reduced and people back on track with their appointment times. People on the whole were very understanding and that makes a huge difference. However, what these anti-vacc campaigners don't understand is that by denying people their freedom of choice to be vaccinated they are putting undue pressure on an already overworked NHS who then have to divert care from those who need major operations or ongoing treatment for a life threatening condition. The only way to get back to as near a normal life as possible is to allow people their own freedom of choice. To deliberately vandalise property to make a point is unacceptable. Needless to say we are all now concerned about our personal safety as we wonder what the anti-vacc campaigners will try next.

Clearly a copy cat action. See example.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-59493747

which is your favourite Christmas card? This one made me smile.

We got lucky yesterday with the only match not postponed. Today's later match is currently still going ahead. Get your predictions in by 4pm.
Good luck