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Sound the Trumpets - A New Blog for the Older Brigade has Arrived!

Tis The Season of Goodwill!

The season of goodwill is upon us!  The shops online and in the High Streets are buzzing with Christmas fare.  There are 3 for 2 and 50% off, etc, enticing us to spend our hard-earned cash.  But I have become more savvy over the years.  I now make a list and stick to it with self-inflicted discipline to keep myself from going overboard.  I learned my lesson the hard way years ago, and now I am one step ahead of the crafty retailers’ advertising. Seriously, write a list. I do mine around the beginning of August (yes, as early as that).  And, bit by bit, I find out what the grandkids have their little hearts set on, except George, who is 7 and will chop and change from one week to the next and start putting money aside when I price things up.  The older grandkids all want money, so that is easy, and I begin to put money away for them from the beginning of the year; believe me, you don't notice it so much. Around October, I look at my Christmas decoration...
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Mum, the Wordsmith - & Accidental Diagnoses"




My Mum - Just Love Her!

My mum had a real talent for pronouncing words in her own delightfully unique way. Take the word "torrential"—most people say it in one quick swoop, but not Mum. Nope! She gave it the full dramatic treatment: “torr-i-en-tial”—as if it were three separate words going on a journey of their own. Honestly, in her version, it sounded like a weather report and a Shakespearean tragedy!

And conversations? Oh, she didn’t just have them—she took them on a scenic route. There was the unforgettable time she went to the doctor and, mid-appointment, kindly informed him, “Well, considering you’re a doctor, you don’t look very well!”

To be fair, he did thank her for the diagnosis—probably out of pure admiration for her confidence.

Mum had this way of starting a story in one place and finishing it in another timezone. By the time she’d finally reached her point, my poor dad had usually lost the will to stay awake and nodded off somewhere around Chapter 3.

If she’s watching me now from above, sharing all these tales, I know exactly what she’d be doing—laughing her socks off. She had the best sense of humour, and honestly, I think she’d be proud her “torr-i-en-tial” charm lives on!

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