Jane , 9 stone is an amazing achievement! Well done indeed. Maybe you had better not lose any more now...
I hope that you and your mum manage to enjoy yourselves in spite of the sadness.

Congratulations Jane, any weight loss is an achievement. Enjoy your Christmas.

Wonderful news about the weight, we are proud of you.

Christmas will be strange without your father, but it will be good that you have your sister so close now.

Last week I had a very pleasant and moving exchange of e.mails, concerning a former hiking/climbing friend who passed away, somewhat prematurely, earlier this year.
I have been going through my large collection of photos, slides, etc, and converting them to digital, then posting some of them at various web-sites. One slide I posted at the web-site of a mountaineering club to which I belong, was of the above member with a couple of others, in an obviously pleasant and happy situation in Britain's Lake District.
His sister, who isn't a member but was notified by someone, found and downloaded the image, and contacted me via the club secretary to ask if it was possible to get a copy of the original.
Happily I was able to oblige, and send her a high resolution image. She is meeting the wife and children of my departed friend at Christmas, and I imagine they will be delighted to have this image of their husband/father as apparently they had very few of him in such scenarios.
The thanks I've received have been delightful, and it's been a joy to make someone's day like this!
The image, by the way is at http://www.ceunantmc.co.uk/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=604 and he's the one on the left.
Part of the thanks for this must go to our moderator Sue, who gave me the 'gizmo' which converts slides to digital format!

What a nice Christmas Present for your friends wife. That is realy special.

It just has to be what I spoke of in this thread. Not many things can top that as a high. Another high has to be hearing that my son (bipolar) has got a part time job, the first job in over three years.

Two lows, hearing about our dear bullyb1 and her sad news, and also a friend of mine locally who has just had similar news, a new tumour. My thoughts are with them both.

As my boiler was making funny noises the plumber finally had to arrive after months waiting for leaks to be fixed, and as well as tweaking the boiler, my house is now drip and puddle free (I hope).
A small low is having just been upgraded to IE7 it doesn't work, plus having had my computer checked and it also needs a new floppy drive and ethernet card I can do without more repairs and am lucky I have firefox which appears to work regardless. Considering half the world would have been upgraded this month I would imagine most are generating similar errors, or could it really just be me again?...

I received an early Christmas present in the mail this morning. It contained (among other things) two family packs of TimTams! Certainly made my day!

Awww Leau, someone fancies you like mad, I reckon. Tim Tams eh!!?

I still don't know what a TimTam is for sure - is it like a Penguin?

It is very like a Penguin Sue.

Yes they are a bit smaller, and they come in packets rather than one foil wrapped effort. Very nice.
High is that I am all set for Jersey, also that something came of the letters to the Jersey newspaper thingie. That is a real high. I have seen pictures of that wall and it is not quite in keeping with the standard of life of a Jersey Lady.One must keep up appearances.
Low is that I had a nice lunch yesterday with the old ladies I visit, but I broke my tooth, thank goodness it's a nearly at the back one. I have to go and find a nice dentist who will help at least temporarily. I shall be embarrassed to say I have not been to one for 3 years at least!Ditto applies to the doctors, I remain in rude health in spite of my great age. So wish me luck or I shall frighten all the Jersey natives if I grin too widely.

Just to say I hope you have a safe trip Sara. Been problems with fog, delaying flights in England, so hoping it won't delay you getting to Jersey

Thanks Jane, yes I hope this is not going to be a problem. I am unflappable though and I am also an optimist. So what the heck, I will get there in the end. Found a delightful dentist with a sense of humour(a rarity here I think) He said "Oh good grief ," when I showed him my broken tooth, so I knew I was on a roll!!Actually I had no treatment, he put that off until I return, then it is going to be a long series of appointments. He didn't charge me for just looking and saying" Oh good grief! " either!
I should add that it loks ominous with all the fog and delayed flights. But we have to take it in our stride, I suppose. Sleeping on the floor of the terminal and all that. I could lead the community singing "We'll Meet again..."" White Cliffs of Dover,", It's a long Way to Tipperary " etc, No doubt we will get food parcels from the US again, (they were good), and the true British spirit will be evident as always.

Perhaps we need some kind FT person who lives somewhere in the London are to take you in if you get stranded, I think you will get in from Hong Kong ok, but then you haev the travel to Gatwick and the onward flight. We will keep our fingers crossed.

I hope you aren't delayed too long Sara, at the airport. And I am sure that all the Funtrivia members in the London area, will be queueing up to see you at the airport!
Highlight of my day, is that J. K. Rowling released the title of her final book, in the Harry Potter series (and no Sue, I will not mention the title! ). There is no release date yet though

Lows, DVD burner not only packed up but was the cause of my crashed computer, which will work now it's disconnected. The my kettle blew up (I mean that literally, it went bang and flew about 6 feet) and I suppose the best thing was the cat wasn't in the vicinity at the time as they often tend to be when things fall down.

Highs, besides the already mentioned plumbing. Seen my older female friend tonight again, no romance but still close. Maybe one day she'll thaw out but I'm looking elsewhere now. I got my new signature on here by abbreviating the full version and using the middle bit only. Taken lots of pictures this week even in the shortest days of the year and finally the internet's still working despite every possible attempt by Microsoft and Mozilla to prevent it. If all the people grounded by IE7 sued Bill Gates we'd be almost as rich as he is, releasing a faulty programme (I've been getting similar reports all week) is criminal negligence and many people wouldn't have been able to fix it as I did, which took many attempts as it was. I say fix as in 'get rid of permanently' as the program itself is pants. No, pants are actually useful. Rubbish is better.

Low was that it didn't rain - had the most magnificent lightning but it amounted to nothing in the rain gague. *sigh*

High was that I received a gift this morning which couldn't have come at a better time. So a HUGE thanks to Mada, it is just perfect (and I believe Sue had something to do with that also so THANKS there too!)

I hope little Conor has a wonderful Christmas Jill, it must be Christmas Eve, "Down Under" now. Tell him he's a very lucky boy - he gets Father Christmas before the rest of us

Thanks Jane I think he's going to have a great Christmas. He knows he's getting a motorbike (and hates me that I haven't let him ride it yet! ) from us but has no idea about the Santa pressies. Can't wait to see his face in the morning.

We had the neighbours over for dinner last night, they have a little girl the same age and they get along so well. I expect a sleep in today and he didn't go to bed til midnight. Ooops.

We're off into town today to spend the afternoon with other friends but home for a quiet evening of preperation for the big day.

Oh Jill, i would love to see the look on his face in the morning. My brothers are stiill very excited about what goodies they might get from Santa! Only 9 hours to go till midnight

I'm going to try and catch it on camera, Nic! We'll see how that goes LOL

Santa has just been to my house and there is a mountain of stuff on the lounge room floor. Teehee.

G'night everyone and Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas, Copago.

High: I get to visit with a very good friend on Christmas day; we hadn't seen each other in a year.
Low: I don't get to see my parents this year as planned, BUT - I probably will in the next couple of weeks.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Highlight of the day.... So far! .... waking up on Christmas morning to find that "he's been" Yes, I saw them all under the tree last night, yes, I'm a fully grown adult with no kiddies to get me up in the early hours. But even so, all the presents were opened by half past five
Wishing each and every one of you and your family Merry Christmas (or whatever you may celebrate). And I wouldn't minding betting I am the only Funtrivia member to have their sister and her family right next door to them! Very convienient for Christmas dinner...