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Monday 27th December 2004

My pal really needs an expensive gift .. a new "dog door". She was barking on Christmas morning and I noticed her old door keeps falling off its hinges. It's only a piece of wood and must be draughty for her. I stuck the screws back into the hinges and put some nail varnish over the nuts to stop them coming undone. I wonder why nuts like to work their way undone .. must be Murphy at work! It's bad enough having to keep her under the heat lamps in the garage. She seems warm and comfortable, but I think she must get lonely.

It's so nice to have a garage now. It was very bad for the cars to have to keep them outside. The weight of snow broke all the main springs on one of my cars.

My movie on Sunday was "After The Sunset". This was about a professional diamond thief. It took place in the most beautiful Caribbean setting. I really enjoyed it very much. It had a surprise ending, which I always like. I suppose it wasn't very Christmassy, so they put it on at the Woodlawn cinema. That's good for me, because it's only $3 on Sunday afternoons. I was the only one in the No.4 cinema - such luxury! However, they couldn't afford to have the parking lot cleared, so it had about 2ft of snow. Of course I became stuck - having slewed my way round to the back, in the tracks of other people. The helpful manager pushed my car out - hope it didn't damage the transmission... That only takes seconds, if you're revving in the ice, so I tried not to do much of that. It doesn't serve any purpose anyway, just polishes the ice!

Guess I'll go get supper now.

Sunday 12th December 2004

Absolutely tipping down with snow. Can't even safely go for a walk. Oh well I can't sit around doing nothing. Wish me luck!

Here are some pictures ... First Snow:

I am glad that the pneumonia shot is over with. It hurt my arm for days. But I am grateful that it was available. Perhaps now I will not become quite so ill every time I get a cold.

Last week my movie was "The Motorcycle Diaries". The true story of a journey made by Che Guevara, the man who began the Cuban Revolution.

(The language of the movie is Spanish, so there are subtitles).

When Guevara was young, he was studying to become a doctor. With his friend, who was also a pharmacist (I think), he decided to travel South America on an old Norton motorcycle. Guevara had asthma and was prone to pneumonia, so the Andes Mountains area was not the place to visit on a broken down old bike in the winter months!

They saw terrible injustice and poverty among the local people of South America. This changed Guevara from a happy-go-lucky student into a fighter for the people.

Eventually Guevara and his friend reached their destination: a leprosy compound. Here they volunteered and helped the nuns and doctors. After a time they both received recommendations to continue their studies.

After the movie there were a few paragraphs about what happened to the two friends: They met again years later. Guevara's friend supported him in the revolution. He was shot. Guevara also was killed.

Saturday 11th December 2004

Usual dull drizzle for December. Some days below zero. Presently it is very light snow. The problem for most of us is that we do not receive enough sunlight. This means that we are vitamin D deficient. Of course, true northern people would be consuming oily fish, which contains a lot of vitamin D. Even light skinned people have thinning bones and have continual fatigue, due to the lack of sunlight. Perhaps we should go into semi-hibernation in the winter. Perhaps we are evolving to do just that. It would save a lot of fuel.

Last week my movie was "The Incredibles". The animation is amazing. The story is similar to James Bond adventures. The sound track is so loud that it shakes the seats. For most movies I recommend using ear-plugs.
Oh, I forgot to say: As usual I enjoyed this movie very much. I did notice two separate families with small children left part-way through. I think their leaving would be either due to the excessive noise of the movie, or the children became restless because the story was too complicated for them.

Visit a site for many photographs of North American Birds and animals.

Rhona Raskin Home Page at http://www.rhona.com.