The Lair of the Emerald Serpent

What strange days

I had the grandest plans for today. A summer solstice picnic at the beach to watch the sunset as well as the divorce of Jupiter and Saturn (I managed to miss their 'marriage' last night) watering the weeds, doing a Putz Blitz at the Lair and decorating the Christmas tree among other things

So what did I actually do from all that?
Bugger all.
This year Tuesday is my day off so I had no external motivation to be out and about. But normally I like to make the most of it since it is the one day I can do stuff early in the morning or go further from the Lair

All those grand plans were made BEFORE the weather Gods intervened
Monday was a reasonable 33 celsius but today's forecast was 36 with a ridiculous 39 promised for both Wednesday and Thursday before dropping down to 31 on Christmas Day itself. (which since then has been revised up to 35)


So in the end, I did nothing at all but sleep, listen to the news to hear about the big bad bugs over east and water the weeds because it was just too damned hot to bother doing much else. I did not even have anything to eat all day because in this weather all I want to do is drink water, tea or white wine
Also, I have a bit of an inner Grinch attempting to sabotage any attempt at having a proper Christmas

Any thoughts of writing cards, decorating a tree or even sending emails is met by scheming, sulking, plotting, planning and assorted distractions

Now and then I manage to sneak a card or owl past its evil beady eyes but most of the time the bugger gets the last word. Same with the grand plans to have the Lair all spick and span for an auspicious start to the new year.

It is officially a Grinch free Christmas since the Vernon Dursley 'divorce' last November but that does not stop his wicked spirit attempting to possess this serpent and I have no idea how to shake him off

This year Christmas is on a Friday and it is very hard to avoid the horrid memories of how he ruined the last 2 of them - the first in 2009 and the other 2015. Petunia was still alive then and even her presence was insufficient to overpower the awfulness


So I did get to see the last 40 mins of Jupiter and Saturn while watering the verge garden. At this stage they were very close together but each was distinct. I can see why this would be such a big deal for astrologers. They look so close from our vantage point on earth but in the grand scheme of things they are not even remotely near each other


I missed them last night as I went in to the city to see the city Christmas lights and there were not too many places with a clear view to the western horizon. I did actually see what I thought was a likely suspect - a non twinkling astral object just above the western horizon around 9pm but when I checked the rising and setting times for both planets online, it was clear that it must have been something else.

Tomorrow I will be out and about at my day job and a special Night at the Musuem. This will be my first visit since it reopened in November

I do hope I can shake off the Grinches and Dementors between now and then. A few owls have landed and I need to let their senders know

In exactly three months from now it will be Tuesday 25th December
Baaaaah. Humbug.
We hates it.

Got nothing planned but unlike the old days, there will be no day job to escape to since they are all closed over Christmas
So there'll either be lots of gardening or squiggling, depending on the weather.

Only one thing is certain. It will definitely be a Dursley free day.
Of course it is going to be fun explaining that to the miserable Grinch who made it his mission to trash every Christmas since 2009
It will be a never ending pity party of trumpish proportions
Last Christmas it appeared quite likely that it would be Petunias last. So he made something of an effort to be at least on speaking terms with her. But he just couldn't help himself. He had to try provoke a fight with me over breakfast by launching a lecture along the lines
"Havent I told you countless times to stop bringing food over. But you never listen.blah blah blah

The offending item was a one kilo tub of yogurt which was one of the few things Petunia was still able to eat

I didnt take the bait and simply ignored him but was disgusted by such petty antics.
I will decorate the Lair in the usual green and silver. It's the ultimate Grinch banishing ritual