Spontaneous Monotony

Sure, it might be nearly over but I hope you’ve all had a good Christmas. Still the Doctor Who special to look forward to

Well I don’t think that there is any way for me to better the words of Clement Clarke Moore, so here you go. It’s public domain of course (having being written in 1844), but kudos to Wikisource for the copy of it.

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that Saint Nicholas would soon be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
Whiles visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mama in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled down for a long winter’s nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
“Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!”
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my hand, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
His eyes—how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night.”

Forgive me for taking the words of the great Sir Ian with a spadeful of salt, but this is the same man who claimed that Jean Charles de Menezes was a terrorist((BBC News – Met boss ‘not in dark’ on Menezes)), who claimed that the Forest Gate shooting victims were terrorists((BBC News – Police chief defends terror raid)), who has ignored the principle of politically neutral policing in his quest to force through draconian powers for himself. You are still many thousands of times more likely to be killed by being run over by a bus than blown up by a terrorist, but we don’t surrender our human rights or shoot innocent people to stop bus accidents do we?

See also

• BBC News – Met chief’s terror plot warning

The Guild Wars ‘Wintersday’ (PC-ish for Christmas) celebrations are underway, the most significant of which is of course the PvP snowball fight event. Your character’s super-powerful (or not-so-super-powerful) moves are replaced with ‘Snowball’, ‘Mega Snowball’, ‘Snowball with a rock in it’ etc. Brilliant, and it doesn’t have the unfriendly edge that ordinary PvP can sometimes acquire.

Apparently there will be another special weekend in Guild Wars Nightfall – the same sort of ‘double chest drops’ weekend that happened in Factions earlier this year. Although the additional drops are welcome, stand by to be unable to get anyone to actually do missions in areas with high level chests (I was trying to do Nahpui in the last chest weekend, full of Celestial Weapon chestrunners instead).