Day 353: Stumped

Today was full of traditional (for us) Boxing Day activities (although it was only Boxing Day in the sense that yesterday was Christmas Day again). These were: 1) catching my uncle leaving and forcing him to the goodbyes he was trying to avoid; 2) 'Christmas tree' presents; 3) cold turkey with mash, bread sauce and pickle, 4) excavating huge stump in back garden.

OK, so the last one isn't really a family tradition, it was ground- (and nearly back-)breaking work for a greenhouse as a birthday present for my Mum for next year. Satisfyingly it included wielding an axe at six-inch think roots, a heavy hammer at some concrete foundations and pulling 10-foot long pieces of metal out of the ground. Less satisfyingly we didn't even get close to moving the stump. Later we measured the plot with an old tape measure that reported the plot as 1 pole by 2o links. Fortunately, the other side of the tape had feet and inches, so we're only 15 years out of date now. It also means that we don't have to get the stump out.

Before the party started breaking up (a process that will be virtually completed tomorrow morning), I summoned everyone for the traditional group shot.


This evening we played a famous-name-guessing game. In the third and final round (with the same names used for the previous rounds) the describer is permitted to say just one word. At one point my Dad picked up 'Popeye' and chose to say 'spaghetti'. There were some blank faces followed by falling about laughing. Nobody guessed it. He meant to say 'spinach' of course.