How secret is your Santa?

Do you have a Secret Santa (aka Brantub) at your place of work? and if so how does it work? I'm really interested to know! (this is a cheat post really because I need you to comment to make it work!)

Do you all draw names from a hat? Do you keep it a 'cut me throat' secret? or is it more of an 'open secret'? or even no secret at all! Do you tell at the point the person opens the gift? or maybe let them wonder and only let the info slip out over time using clues? Maybe you never ever tell.

I've played in many secret Santas and I'll be doing it again this year. Some times I pick the name of a person I really like and then it's hard to keep it a secret, i can't discuss with them what I plan to buy of course, but also it's hard to pretend on the day, if they love the gift i long to shout 'me me it was from me!!' but what if they hate it? or look confused? I want to explain why I chose it or apologise, or maybe hope they never guess it was from me!

But what when you get a name of someone you barely know? To be jokey? or just fall back on chocolates or bath salts!

When I get a gift I'm nervous, what if it's really 'personal' like underwear! Was it from a guy? or a girl that knows me? was it a secret admirer as well as a secret Santa? or the office perv? or my manager! or someone who just knows I'll sweat over who it was from!?

One year I received a mouse mat (I work in IT) with a moulded 'gentlemans parts' on the front that when pressed uttered groans of pleasure. The gift was very 'me'. Rude, funny, clever. But I never found out for sure who it was from, some suggested that it was a young guy that I rather liked at the time, but others that it wasn't. I guess I'll never know!

I once sent saucy underwear to a woman knowing she would think it was from the guy at work that she fancied (he DID NOT fancy her) and she moped about him for weeks after until I told HIM that it was from me, I'm lucky to have escaped with my life I reckon.

What are your best and worst gifts from secret Santa's, both given and received. And do you like Secret Santa? Do you always join in? or sit out with a humbug......

Animals, friend or foe

I have read some strange stories in the news lately, and maybe it’s just a coincidence that so many wild animals seem to be killing people lately, or maybe (worse) wild animals kill people all the time but we only hear about them some of the time! But whatever there have been some strange tales in the news lately, so for anyone that missed them I’m sharing them here.

First I spotted the headline ‘Crocodile on Plane kills 19’ and I refused to read the story because I felt that the story would only disappoint after such an amazing headline but how wrong I was, for it transpired that a crocodile had been smuggled onto a plane – forgive me while I imagine ways you can smuggle a crocodile, in your luggage? Disguised AS luggage? Down a leg of your trousers? (risky but can be done with ferrets so who knows) Under a jumper “my oh my that guy is fat and has scaly belly skin’? the mind boggles – but however it happened it appears that the poor crocodile was not securely smuggled (always secure your smuggled crocodiles folks!) and it escaped on the plane, running about and generally terrifying the passengers who dashed away from the ravening beast, unbalancing the plane and causing it to crash! And the worst bit was that the poor crocodile was one of only 2 survivors of the crash! but was killed by rescuers at the scene! Now THAT is a news story.

(as an aside – maybe he smuggled the croc into the plane in a bag of toy crocodiles in much the same way this lady smuggled a tiger cub……)

But jeepers creepers if it doesn’t get worse!

Imagine, you go on a safari holiday, you watch animals during the day and camp in cabins at night, eating round the fire, enjoying the sounds of the wild. Protected in your compound you pop out (with your wife) for a late night outdoor shower under the stars, does life get better? Well it can certainly get worse! Just when you thought soap in your eyes was the worst that could happen, 5 lions attack you! Yes not 1, not 2 not even 3 but 5 lions attack you IN THE SHOWER! This is the stuff of nightmares, and in the case of Pete Evershed  the cause of death too.

And of course last week a young boogie boarder was killed by a shark in the waters off of California, a young man that had joked about 'what if we get attacked by a shark'.

 Nature is fighting back people! By careful out there!

(How morbid would you need to be to keep a Top 10 animal attacks list  though, yeah I'm looking you Time Magazine)

Being Haunted

Ok, so like many people I donated to the fund for Haiti - and now I've done it again, the pictures and stories haunt me. So I'm giving what I can when I can. As I have already got a direct debit with World Vision I've been donating to them. But of course there are other charities collecting and coordinating in Haiti.




If you have donated, great; if you can't afford to, pray. If you 'just haven't got round to it yet' please do, Haiti will need help for YEARS to come to cope with this disaster. (Click the picture left to go to the Disasters Emergency Committee website and donate)

You can also Text “GIVE” to 70077 to give £5 to the DEC Haiti Earthquake Appeal. £5 goes to the DEC. You pay £5 plus the standard network SMS rate.


World Vision most concerned for Haiti’s separated children

World Vision continues to reach more families with life-saving aid, despite the logistical challenges still hampering Haiti’s quake-ravaged capital city. The agency’s staff in Haiti are increasingly concerned about the safety of children as they find more and more children separated from their parents. (click here for more from World Vision)