Christmas 2012

Chris was responsible for wrapping the presents whilst I did nothing in particular. 

There were no visitors or guests on Christmas Day so Chris washed the table cover oilcloth-like sheet thingy, just in case, then ordered a new one.
There were plenty of guests on Boxing Day. We had a lovely afternoon with Christian, Sarah, Sophie-Anna, Ebony, Gaby and Esmé. As the turkey had already been cooked, preparing the dinner was relatively stress-free. Chris will post about the festivities as I was too busy enjoying myself to remember and certainly took no photos. I do remember there was a lot of screaming and hugging of soft toys.

 I've already mentioned the scanner we've bought ourselves as a Christmas present, but Chris is so nice she bought me lingerie; several books which are really nice - about Broadcasting House, Hornby OO (or should it in fact be 00) and London, a social history of the street we live in. So in essence three social or cultural history books.

 I've posted below a photo of a Christmas present that Chris gave me in 2002 (I think). It came from the Gibbet Street antique centre in Halifax, now sadly closed. Along with my Hornby 00 train set in 1957 (perhaps) this canteen of cutlery made by Taylor's Eye Witness (of Sheffield, England) in 1931 (definitely, it's on the box) is very special.














So the extreme gift to myself of 2012 is the Ruarkaudio R4i wireless set below.  It was up against Bose, but for sound quality in its price range and sheer style against anything else I had to have the Ruark. Well, round here it still only manages to receive four BBC stations (using an external aerial on a proper mast), but then that's our 2 watt repeater transmitter for you. I mean you can see the bloody thing from our house and it still doesn't offer DAB or a comprehensive range of 'normal' stations. Ah, life in the upper Calder Valley has many draw-backs and discomforts. Have I mentioned the rainfall? At the moment we seem to be averaging about 18 mm a day. Anyway the R4i has several imput sources: CD player; iPhone dock; auxiliary jack sockets; USB and a neat remote (the thing on the top). Sound output is through the two front drivers and a sub-woofer delivering 80 watts. Dynamic range sounds good to me and when one has non-compressed and non-equalised sound sources it's rather impressive. 

Below is an iconic stereo built in the 1960s. It is in the Pompidou Centre, Paris. 

Christmas has past. Kathy & David are due to arrive today for our New Year party. Other guests may arrive nearer the time.