I was out wandering around Head Rambles Manor on Christmas Eve.

I saw something that surprised me.  In fact it surprised me so much that I photographed it..

Now that may not look like much.  It looks like a bit of scrubland, which in fact it is.  It is an area that is normally shaded by a weeping birch and during the summer, it is completely hidden.  In the winter, however, it is exposed to full view, but as the photograph shows, there isn’t that much to be seen usually.

So what did I see there?

Here is a closer shot..

Those green spikes sticking up in clusters are snowdrops.

Normally I wouldn’t see them until into the new year, yet there they are.

Having seen them, I poked around in another part of the estate and found that the daffodils are up also.

I suppose some of you may say that there is nothing unusual in this, but Head Rambles Manor is at quite an altitude, and growth here is a little behind the rest of the country, with the lower temperatures that we experience.

The first sign of daffodils and snowdrops is always a cheering thing.

Spring is on the way.

The wren, the wren, the king of all birds,
On St. Stephen’s Day was caught in the furze,
Although he is little, his family is great,
I pray you, good landlord, give us a treat.

My box would speak, if it had but a tongue,
And two or three shillings, would do it not wrong,
Sing holly, sing ivy–sing ivy, sing holly,
A drop just to drink, it would drown melancholy.

And if you draw it of the best,
I hope in heaven your soul will rest;
But if you draw it of the small,
It won’t agree with these wren boys at all.

So goes the song of the Wran [Wren] Boys.

The Wran Boys tour the neighbourhood on St Stephen’s Day in Ireland, bearing the body of a wren and bringing luck. It is a tradition as old as the mountains themselves.

The wren represents the old year and must be killed to make way for the new.  Nowadays, of course the sacrifice is symbolic but the music, the costume and the singing remain the same.

They called around today.

The house is quiet now.

Grandad caused general mayhem for the entire day, dragging holly trees through the house and shedding bits of ivy everywhere.  Of course he got drunk and started fighting with Herself.  I get the impression that they enjoy a good scrap.

After a day of chaos I went to see how well he had decorated the house.

The bastard had decorated his own den and, for some obscure reason, the toilet.  I would advise visitors to mind the holly.  The rest of the house is as bare as ever.  The working of that man’s mind remain, as ever, a mystery to me.

He has locked himself in his den now, along with another couple of bottles of Jameson, hence the peace and quiet.

I don’t know what kind of Christmas we shall have. 

It is unlikely to be quiet.

It will doubtless be interesting.

As long as the law doesn’t become involved, it should be enjoyable.

In the meantime, I hope you all have a peaceful and Grandad free Christmas. 

There are times when words nearly fail me.

There are scum out there who will sink to the lowest depths.

Last night, alarm bells started ringing all over the place.  Two of my websites had been hacked.

One was a community site, which they took over and started using as a distribution point for illegal software.  That I could live with though it was damned irritating.  It was a matter of removing all their stuff and cleansing the site.

The other attack was the one that sickened me though.  They attacked the Jack and Jill website.

To those of you who are not familiar with Jack and Jill, they are a charity that provide respite care for parents of children with disabilities.  I first came across them years ago when I saw their founder, Jonathan Irwin on television.  One thing led to another, and they took Laughingboy under their wing.

They were fantastic.  They provided support where the state wasn’t interested.  They provided advice as well as vital practical support.  I felt I had to do something in return, and I now sponsor their website and hosting.  I am very proud to do that, and wish I could do more.

It incenses me therefore when some low life thinks he is smart and attacks a site like this.  Because of that little bastard, I had to spend half the night stripping the server (because it was crawling with viruses and malicious code), reinstalling all the software, restoring databases and of course changing all the passwords.

By coincidence, Damien Mulley is running a campaign on behalf of Jack and Jill.   I was delighted to see this, and would urge you to head on over, where he will explain it all.  You never know – you might win yourself a nice little prize?

Say that you came from Head Rambles.  I don’t want the glory, so I might as well try to do something for him.

You never know.  He might win something.

It would make up, in part for last night.