Walking Backwards for Christmas.

It was my turn to walk Chess and Molly this morning while herself was helping at The Drum Riding for the Disabled. I was short of time, something to do with a trivial photographic competition - but I do take these things seriously, so it was throwing a ball for the dogs to frantically chase. Chess is now a lady of a certain age and gets a little puffed trying to keep up with the lively Molly, so I held the ball out of reach and walked round the park to let her get her breath back. While I walked forward, she walked backward watching the ball intently in case it did something exciting. It’s strange really, when I show intent to throw the thing they both immediately take their eyes off it and have no idea where it is going. If I throw the ball vertically upwards, they are hopelessly confused and stand there, looking puzzled, until they hear the bounce. Anyway, as you may have guessed, the blip is of Chess walking backwards.

The afternoon was devoted to the U3A party - life is one long whirl. It involved a rather curious quiz; questions such as “What is the most eaten fruit world-wide?” (It is the tomato.) Our team which included an ex-councillor, about the only good one Midlothian has ever had, who’s a very useful ally in these circumstances; she was the only one of us who knew even one of the twelve answers but we still managed to get six of them right, by using our native cunning, to tie for first place. The tie-breaker was, “What is the Sunday before Advent called?” It seems that only two people in the room knew that it is “Stir-up Sunday,” one of them being myself. Stir-up Sunday is the day, according to tradition, when the family gathers to help make the Christmas pudding, each member takes a turn at stirring it while making a wish and the silver thruppenny bits are mixed in (that’s me showing my age; as far as I can tell, the last one was minted in 1945 and, subsequently, melted down).
The collect (prayer) for the day begins “Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people,” thus adding to the tradition. The general excuse for not knowing this vital piece of information was that “it must be an English thing.”

Note: “I’m Walking Backwards for Christmas” is a nonsense song made popular in the 50s by Spike Milligan, et al, in “The Goon Show,” an anarchic UK radio programme of the time. I have recordings of 108 of the episodes which are very useful on the long drive to Bristle.

Note: I've just posted yesterday's blip, "Traprain Law."