Post by Catrin on Dec 21, 2009 22:40:00 GMT 1
Today, if you look out at the starry night sky, the new moon indicates the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and therefore the traditional time of Yule, celebration begins. Now I wanted to mark the occasion by offering an appropriate seasonal greeting to those I meet in the coming days. I realise that such a greeting might not be acceptable to everyone I encounter, for a variety of reasons, which they are entitled to require me to respect.
First among these has to be those of an Antipodean connection. Only in the Northern Hemisphere does the sun hug the horizon and rise and set in the same place today and tomorrow, before rising higher in the sky for the next six months, therefore the cold dark winter days of the Yule celebration may not be appreciated by those currently residing or having an affinity with what, without prejudice is known as our 'Southern Hemisphere.'
However, whilst acknowledging this fact, I reserve the right to pass on the greeting and ask those people not to infer any offence due to geographical prejudice, as none is intended.
Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non addictive, gender neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practised within the most enjoyable traditions of religious persuasion or secular observances of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practise religious or secular traditions at all.
I would also like to take this opportunity to wish you all a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2010, whilst giving due recognition to the right of those mathematically ill informed who wish to celebrate a new decade, though prefering to adhere to accepted mathematical practice of counting in units from 1 and therefore personally recognising that the decade ends in 2010, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make our country great (this is not intended and should not be taken to imply that Wales is necessarily greater than any other country) and without regard to the race, creed, colour, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.
By accepting this greeting, you are agreeing to the following terms:
This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.
Disclaimer: No carbon offset is attributed to this message delivery as the considered amount of increased emission by its transit is insignificant in consideration of the 1200 limousines used to ferry our (including all UN countries present and not meaning to infer mine and yours alone) political representatives to their recent Copenhagen meeting, only eight of which were electric and charged by electricity generated by incineration of none recyclable danish refuse.
The expectations expressed in this greeting are not restricted to those recipients of the species homo sapiens and may be considered to be equally relevant to any species associated with the recipient, particularly equine, canine or feline, not excluding other species encountered frequently in the domestic, professional or social environment of the recipient.
If I've missed anyone out, just have a Happy Christmas and all the best for next year.
modified to add that the author holds a current CRB enhanced disclosure, but no assumption can be made that the same applies to any animated characters used in this message - it is therefore recommended that any children reading the message are accompanied by a CRB checked adult
further modified to add that there is no overt or implied intention that candy canes are an appropriate confection for consumption at this or any other season as they may contribute to childhood obesity or dental caries; nor that a finite resource such as fossil fuels should be used as any form of embellishment without due consideration to post–melt recycling; no movement in the animation should be construed as striking an avian or any species as violence is not acceptable from, to or between any species, any movement should be construed as waving.
First among these has to be those of an Antipodean connection. Only in the Northern Hemisphere does the sun hug the horizon and rise and set in the same place today and tomorrow, before rising higher in the sky for the next six months, therefore the cold dark winter days of the Yule celebration may not be appreciated by those currently residing or having an affinity with what, without prejudice is known as our 'Southern Hemisphere.'
However, whilst acknowledging this fact, I reserve the right to pass on the greeting and ask those people not to infer any offence due to geographical prejudice, as none is intended.
Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non addictive, gender neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practised within the most enjoyable traditions of religious persuasion or secular observances of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practise religious or secular traditions at all.
I would also like to take this opportunity to wish you all a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2010, whilst giving due recognition to the right of those mathematically ill informed who wish to celebrate a new decade, though prefering to adhere to accepted mathematical practice of counting in units from 1 and therefore personally recognising that the decade ends in 2010, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make our country great (this is not intended and should not be taken to imply that Wales is necessarily greater than any other country) and without regard to the race, creed, colour, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.
By accepting this greeting, you are agreeing to the following terms:
This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.
Disclaimer: No carbon offset is attributed to this message delivery as the considered amount of increased emission by its transit is insignificant in consideration of the 1200 limousines used to ferry our (including all UN countries present and not meaning to infer mine and yours alone) political representatives to their recent Copenhagen meeting, only eight of which were electric and charged by electricity generated by incineration of none recyclable danish refuse.
The expectations expressed in this greeting are not restricted to those recipients of the species homo sapiens and may be considered to be equally relevant to any species associated with the recipient, particularly equine, canine or feline, not excluding other species encountered frequently in the domestic, professional or social environment of the recipient.
If I've missed anyone out, just have a Happy Christmas and all the best for next year.
modified to add that the author holds a current CRB enhanced disclosure, but no assumption can be made that the same applies to any animated characters used in this message - it is therefore recommended that any children reading the message are accompanied by a CRB checked adult
further modified to add that there is no overt or implied intention that candy canes are an appropriate confection for consumption at this or any other season as they may contribute to childhood obesity or dental caries; nor that a finite resource such as fossil fuels should be used as any form of embellishment without due consideration to post–melt recycling; no movement in the animation should be construed as striking an avian or any species as violence is not acceptable from, to or between any species, any movement should be construed as waving.