Hope you all enjoyed
- Thread starter maltrab
- Start date
captain clutterbuck
LOTSW Fanatic
Nice day but TV this year over the festive period has been a poor as its ever been at a time that most people like to sit down with a drink and nibbles and watch something of quality . If you look at the top programmes the Gavin and Stacey , a show that's been off air for sometime which they brought back as a special hitting 11.6 million viewers with the Queen's speech next but at staggeringly low 6.4 million . The rest of the top 10 reflect how poor the schedule really is . I have to say the only terrestrial shows I really want to see is the Repair Shop at Christmas and the New Years day concert from Vienna.
Had a quiet day mostly, spent the morning visiting the kids and we had my dad's friend over for dinner, he lives alone and dad was his only friend and even though I found it stressful and knew dad wouldn't want to see him having dinner on his own. The tv was utter pants, lucky I'd recorded a few program's and bought some dvds so I didn't bother with the pants.
My youngest grandson wanted an echo dot for xmas so I bought him one, he quickly worked out how to drop in on people and as mine is right next to the tv he's been dropping in on me and listening to my tv! At 9 years old we find it cute but at 29 he'll either be in prison or working for the Russians.
My youngest grandson wanted an echo dot for xmas so I bought him one, he quickly worked out how to drop in on people and as mine is right next to the tv he's been dropping in on me and listening to my tv! At 9 years old we find it cute but at 29 he'll either be in prison or working for the Russians.
Peripheral
Dedicated Member
Take a look in the 'Gentle Comedies' forum and you will see a host of repeats they could have run. Lots of humour in the GC's which is what we need at Christmas. We are both very disabled and do not want to hinder anyone's parties so we decline any invites. We did watch 'Bing Crosby's Merrie Olde England', twice, and other recorded oldies. Had I been able to stand I would have covered myself in cotton wool, stuck a carrot and two pieces of coal on my face, stood in the front garden and shouted 'Merry Christmas' at everyone who passed by. Well, with a bit of luck, maybe next year.
....In the meantime, KEEP SMILING. 
Peripheral
Dedicated Member
Hey Pearl, what is an echo dot?
Peripheral
Dedicated Member
Hi Terry, did Santa call on you and if so what did you get? Did everyone get what they wanted? I got my usual quota of deodorant and shower gel. I think people are trying to tell me something. I blame my carol singing days for that. My voice was so bad that the rest of the group told me to hum. I have done ever since.
captain clutterbuck
LOTSW Fanatic
Hey Pearl, what is an echo dot?
Its an Amazon product an intelligent speaker which plays all sorts of things . Its voice controlled with a key word " Alexa" and you just shout out a command such as " Alexa play Radio2" or Alexa read me a short story etc . Its value very much depends on what you have access to. I have Amazon Prime and Spotify Premium so I can pretty much play any song/album you can think of through it . You can also control it through the Amazon Alexa app which you can download to your phone or tablet . In the app there is a menu item that allows you to enable what they call Skills which are in essence mini applications that offer you specific access to items available on Alexa played through your Echo dot.
There are hundreds of things you can do but there have been security issues raised like that Pearl alluded to . Its great for a party because you just say Alexa play some party music and off you go, the heady days of your best vinyl album being caked in lager are long gone . IF you buy and install it [think they are now down as low as £22 for the generation 3 dot] there is plenty of skills you can enable and use plus you can play any radio station you can think of but the free music catalogue is quite limited and if you ask to play a specific song frequently you can't and it offers up an alternative. If , like me, you have prime/spotify then the depth of the music available is limitless its not the same with the free stuff .
I bought it to link to my Spotify account as its so easy to play any album I want . I often recall albums from my years at school and beyond which I no longer have so I just say Alexa play ...... and off it goes but there are other skills like you can join quizzes , there are free books . I have not really delved greatly into the skills but with the Alexa app it is really easy to explore and access them .
You can also use it with add ons to control your heating , lights etc but that has no interest for me so I haven't even looked into it.
Peripheral
Dedicated Member
We have something that you can talk into and it will talk back. It's called a telephone but WOW, can an echo dot do all that? Whatever will they think of next? Have I got this right, just one word from me and it will talk back for hours? I have something similar to that. It is called a wife. Depending on what you say you can either have 'wife high or wife low'. SECURITY, SECURITY. 
AHH, she still loves me.
AHH, she still loves me.
We use it for many reason, one of my daughter's has hooked it up to her lights so all she as to say is, Alexa turn the lights on. She can also do it via her phone so if she's out and it's getting dark she can have the lights go on in the house. My other daughter uses her differently, our autistic grandsons have one in their bedroom which they use to play meditation music if they're having a bad day, it soothes meltdowns and aids sleep, she can also use it as a baby monitor without it looking like s baby monitor and is able to head off any discord or secret plots to raid the fridge. I lost my phone a few weeks ago and was able to drop in on my daughter and get her to ring it, I found it in a draw! God knows why! I know there are security issues but at the moment the good points out weight the risks.
This was probably the first Christmas the whole family weren't together. My brother and his wife spent Christmas with their son and his wife in London. Our mam is in a nursing home and really isn't fit to travel anymore. It was sad not having her with us, but we had a nice day at my sisters place.
Keep the faith John.
Peripheral
Dedicated Member
Please give our Best Wishes for 2020 to your mam John.
captain clutterbuck
LOTSW Fanatic
Like you John my Mum is also in a Care Home got to see her Christmas day in there which was nice but its not the Christmas day of a few years back . I guess you could say the same for lots of people , you just make it as good as possible and enjoy it while you can .
imitation700mb
Dedicated Member
We had a quiet day, just Mum, Dad and me. Mum went to visit a friend in a care home in the morning. Usual chicken dinner, then opened our presents in the afternoon. Watched Michael McIntryre's Christmas big show and Call the Midwife, followed by Emmerdale and Coronation Street we had recorded. All normal everyday of the year programs for us. And judging by the last few New Years, we shall probably ignore it and go to bed early on New Year's eve.
Marianna
Dedicated Member
We had our celebration yesterday, when the Massachusetts branch of the family was in our region of New York State. I spent Christmas day relaxing with my favorite mystery author. I don't know what my sister, her spouse and their elderly dog did, but it was probably something similar, whatever the canine equivalent to reading for pleasure might be.
The extended family consists of the children of our foster brother and his late wife, their spouses and their children, as well as the two older girls' boyfriends. The family structure is so complicated that it was best to initiate the boyfriends by tossing them in headfirst and then doing the equivalent of teaching them how to swim. After several years, they've nearly got us figured out, so they're doing well. Yesterday, the second generation in that crowd were talking about their fond memories of Christmas dinners at my apartment in town. That goes back to the mid-70s when they were very young, and I wasn't certain that they remembered it at all.
The daughter and her husband own her late maternal grandfather's house, and in the process of gradually clearing the attic she found his diaries going back to when he was quite young. He had written about some family history of his generation that she hadn't known and that was generally interesting because we all knew him when he was getting on for elderly. In exchange for her family history, my sister and I talked about a family of our first cousins once removed who grew up in California, so our foster brother never met them and his children hadn't heard about them before.
The highlight of my holiday celebration was a couple of hours of good conversation.
The extended family consists of the children of our foster brother and his late wife, their spouses and their children, as well as the two older girls' boyfriends. The family structure is so complicated that it was best to initiate the boyfriends by tossing them in headfirst and then doing the equivalent of teaching them how to swim. After several years, they've nearly got us figured out, so they're doing well. Yesterday, the second generation in that crowd were talking about their fond memories of Christmas dinners at my apartment in town. That goes back to the mid-70s when they were very young, and I wasn't certain that they remembered it at all.
The daughter and her husband own her late maternal grandfather's house, and in the process of gradually clearing the attic she found his diaries going back to when he was quite young. He had written about some family history of his generation that she hadn't known and that was generally interesting because we all knew him when he was getting on for elderly. In exchange for her family history, my sister and I talked about a family of our first cousins once removed who grew up in California, so our foster brother never met them and his children hadn't heard about them before.
The highlight of my holiday celebration was a couple of hours of good conversation.
Peripheral
Dedicated Member
We will be in bed early New Years Eve, about 10 pm.
Peripheral
Dedicated Member
WOW Marianna, your email reminds me of the song, 'I'm my own Grandpa'.
Who is your favourite mystery writer, Agatha Christie?
Who is your favourite mystery writer, Agatha Christie?
Marianna
Dedicated Member
The generations aren't any more mixed than if you go back far enough in most families. It's just that there are two families with no common ancestry who are as close as the closest of genetically related families.
I've read all of Christie so many times that I could nearly recite most of the books. The author I repeatedly return to, just as I do with LOTSW, is Dorothy Sayers. For variety, my current favorite is Anne Perry, especially the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series, the two Daniel Pitt books and the one, so far, Elena Standish. That author is 81 years old, so there might not be many more after the one that was published this year.
The best Christmas meal I ever had as a 3 course meal at my local curry house for £25 a couple of years ago!!!