So, for the day that’s in it.
Firstly apologies to my readers in the southern hemisphere as this piece will seem awfully parochial.
Anyway, I hope that ye are enjoying the summer there.
In the northern half of this fragile planet, the days have been getting incrementally shorter.
I can certainly attest that Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a thing.
The date itself for the Solstice is a bit of a movable feast.
Here it is explained well in this piece in the Irish Times.
The Midwinter festivities were appropriated by Christians a long time ago.
Three days from now the birthday of the Baby Jesus will take precedence over the tilting of the earth.
A week later the calendar year will end and that is another cue for celebrations.
For most of my adult life, today has been a time for quiet rejoicing.
The lack of daylight in winter subverts my energy and amplifies negative emotions.
As the literal darkness grows through November I can become a glass quarter empty person.
This is especially difficult for a writer as we’re introspective types to start with.
Last Christmas the bean chéile bought me a lightbox for Crimbo.
It has been put to good use this winter!
The Web Summit in November is now in Lisbon and it has become an integral part of my SAD annual pilgrimage.
The Portuguese capital is always a fair bit warmer than Donegal, but at that time of year, the extra hour or so of daylight has me wandering around Cais do Sodre grinning.
My ancestors in Ireland would have revered the solar significance of this day.
We know this because they built monuments to honour that reality.
Newgrange is older than the pyramids of Egypt.
The seasons and the turning of the year was a matter of survival to those who built that passage tomb in the Boyne valley 5000 years ago.
The technology that allows you to read this piece on your device anywhere you are is a technological world that they could not have imagined.
However, they were aware of the centrality of the planet to their continued existence.
That is something we seem to have forgotten about until very recently.
Moreover, it took a solitary child to awaken many to what we are hurtling towards.
Unlike most of the tenants on this planet, your humble correspondent and his family are incredibly rich.
Every day we have adequate supplies of food and we have a place to sleep that is ours.
This house on the western seaboard of Ireland is warm and well-stocked.
Of course, it is the people that make a home.
Baby Doctor is already home and has her Irish face in medical case studies for the final round of exams.
In a few short months, she will have to have a new call sign.
Number One Daughter will drive home on Christmas Eve and yes I fret about her on that wintery journey.
The last time she was home a couple of weeks ago her oul da made sure that she left Donegal with two new front tyres on her Cailínmobile.
We will not be complete this Christmas as the Cornerback is still on the other side of the world.
According to his gal on Instagram, they had a mighty night at the Gah awards ceremony.
The folk at Seoul Gaels clearly know talent when it arrives on their door from Ireland.
Himself will be home just before Patrick’s Day next year and we will have him for a while as he plans his next move.
Dear reader, where ever you are, I hope that you are where you need to be and that you’re surrounded by the people you care about.
This is a time of year for hunkering down, looking back and taking stock, but most of all it is about being with those who mean the most to you.
In every sense, it is about renewal.
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MERRY CHRISTMAS Phil to you and your family god Bless. You are our superman for TRUST and truth HH
Merry Christmas one and all x
Speaking of fish, you guys need to wake up! It is all “woke” now. I am in the midst of writing a screen play of “Moby Dick” where the main protagonist is a halibut, a much overlooked and maligned species. The fact that I can’t accurately tie the events to it’s character matters not a whit, much like the historically inaccurate nonsense coming out of Hollywood and the BBC at the moment.
i think I’ll get in first, “its”
Pished Hun dreaming by an open fire
Empties scattered round his toes
Of the Sash being sung by a choir
And debts paid off with nothing owed
Everybody knows that bevvy and deludemol
Help to make the season bright
Tiny Huns with their eyes all aglow
Will get their orange taps tonight
They know that Dave King’s on his way
He’s loaded lots of world class signings on his sleigh
And every gullible stays up to try
To see those pigs Dave told them would fly
And so I’m offering this simple phrase
For Huns from 9 to 92
Although it’s been said many times, many ways
Merry thickness to you.
Mr.Parsley,
You grace us with these offerings,Many thanks
And Happy Holidays Phil & Family,All The Best For Everyone in 2020💚☮️🍀✅🤣😂🍻🌿
That was a touching read Phil. My youngest is over from New York and the couple of hours we spent with her two brothers around a meal after Aberdeen game were pure magic.
Just the uplift I needed after a rather dark two weeks.
Things will only get better.
See you on the other side buddy
Really enjoyed this wee read. Thank you Phil, for your ever engaging articles throughout the year and have a lovely Christmas and New Year. Merry Christmas to all those regular posters; who likewise entertain, – the good, the bad, the ugly and even the “oh dears”!!
HH 🍀
Cheers Steven.
The very best to you and yours at this time of year.
Merry Christmas Phil and to your family as well
Phil,
I wish you and yours a peaceful and blessed festive season and a prosperous new year.I shall be spending this time alone for the first time in my life since my partner passed and to be quite honest I am really looking forward to doing so.
Don’t get me wrong,I have had a few invites to stay with others and be waited on hand and foot but I just feel the need for some peace and quiet in my life at this moment in time.
No need to have to travel,which is a nightmare at this time of year,but then again when is it any different,simply to suffer the petty bickering and snarling of people once they have had too much of the liquid Christmas spirit.
I can sleep in my own bed and come and go as I please and at least I can look forward to watching the Hoops hopefully demolishing the bigots in Blue.
All things considered,sometimes it’s better to be on your own,what’s not to like.
Hail Hail.
This can be a very lonely time of year for many, and I will of course shed a wee tear for you because you are only HOPEFUL of demolishing the Huns this coming Sunday. It is my Christmas gift to you that we ABSOLUTELY SMASH THEM on the 29th. Boxing Day is 26th of December. PUTTING THEM BACK IN THEIR BOX DAY is the 29th of December. Keep that date in your diary! Have a good one, and all the best in the coming New Year. 😊
Thank you Steven,
however with all things Celtic,I tend to err on the side of hope rather than being adamant there can be no possibility of defeat as I have been left disappointed more than once down the years but I hope upon hope you are right.
Last new year was a pretty abysmal time considering we had events at the Bigotdome to mull over till after the winter break.All the best to you and your loved once and I hope it’s the best it can be for you.
Hail Hail.
Thank you for letting us know that boxing day is the 26th of December. My family and I were at odds all week regarding this.
I claimed boxing day was March 4th and my good lady said no, it’s the middle of June.
Thank you once again for clearing that up and don’t forget to donate for a feelgood story about the huns dying. Nearly 8 years they’ve been dying now yet sit second in the league.
And Auldheid, keep up the good work on Res 12, you were told it was dead in the water years ago but you still insisted that the original rangers would pay.
Delusion beats persistence, or something like that.
Res12 was I initially about the licence granted to rangers in 2011, but it’s now snowballed to include a corrupt SFA too. It may have taken 8 years (so far) without seeing anything tangible as a result. However, PERS12TENCE BEATS RESISTANCE.
In the future, your grandchildren, and their grandchildren, will all be asking Santa for a celtic top for christmas, and you’ll be sitting by the fireside in your pish-stained pyjamas, regaling them of tales of being “ra peepul”, whilst trying to explain the significance of several red lines scored through the list of titles that you obtained illegally, and telling them wee fibs, such as the asterisks beside the trophies and titles “won” during the EBT Years being “stars”, just like the ones the teacher sticks in their jotters, for being good.
Even sad and pathetic tossers such as you deserve some compassion at this time of year, so I hope you suffer from a severe bout of diarrhoea, and it keeps your legs warm for a wee bit in these cold winter months.
MERRY CHRISTMAS, HUN. 🎄
Sorry for your loss.
I hope you have a peaceful Christmas
Thank you Phil,for your kind words.
As previously stated,I intend to……..Apart from a few hours on the 26th and 29th of December when there are a couple of football matches taking place.
Again,best seasons wishes to you and yours.
Hail Hail.
Lovely to read about your family Phil. You’re love for them comes shining through.
Health and happiness to all.
Many thanks.
The very same back to you and yours.
SAD is a dark, dark affliction and the light can’t come quickly enough but season’s greetings to you and your family, Phil and may 2020 be a happy and healthy one for you. HH
Many thanks and the same to you and yours
All the best Phil to you and yours. It was a pleasure to have your attention even for those few moments in your previous post. Will do the recommended reading!
Best wishes for Christmas and N’erday to you and your dearest Phil,like you I am always glad to get to the 22nd of December , the sun’s on the way back great stuff. How sad it is that some people still don’t believe the scientific evidence of global warming tell that to the people burnt out of their homes or suffering from floods it looks like more of the world’s population will suffer all because of the greed and selfishness of their fellow humans.
The very best to you and yours.
Many thanks
Well said sir !
And Very Well made and timely point on global warming!
Frightening and disgraceful lack of response from our leaders .
How this earth can support close to 10 million and growing numbers of humans and all their needs for decades into the future is ‘beyond my Ken ‘ as they say .
That it takes an at times ridiculed 16 year old to galvanise the world on this is frightening .
John Kennedy changed the world forever by standing up to the omnipotent Russians .. where is the John Kennedy of climate change ?
In the Celtic dugout, as Lenny’s assistant. 😉
He Certainly has a Big name !
Only time will tell if he too is a true leader of men!
👍👍👍👍
Phil you have fallen into the old claptrap about Christians hijacking the Solstice celebrations. Have a wee watch at this and it might enlighten you just as the light shines through the door at Newgrange. I was there in the Autumn, amazing place.
Honestly have a swatch https://youtu.be/6ZKidBymj3A
It is NOT claptrap. Jesus was created by the Romans in 70AD after they put down the Jews in the Roman/Jewish war back then. This was a fight between two different MAFIA gangs to control the masses and the elites always created a new “saviour” for each new Age of the ZODIAC. So the Romans wrote the New testament then and created Jesus which means FISH to represent the new Age of Pisces – the FISH – that had already started by then and that is why there is all of the references to Fish, Fishing, Fishermen, two Fish (PISCES) around him in the Bible and why his “birth” date is EXACTLY the start of that Age and why the Romans restarted the calendar from then. All of the religions are ripped off from ASTROTHEOLOGY and the ZODIAC and that is why there is a ZODIAC under the pulpit in the Vatican. The bible is a book of ASTROTHEOLOGY. Jesus is the SUN of God and why you go to church on a SUNday, the Virgin Mary is the MOON, Satan is SATURN, the 12 Disciples are the 12 Signs of the ZODIAC, Angels are the ANGLES of the ZODIAC etc etc and do not forget that in Luke 22:10 When Jesus was asked when his last passover would be he said “behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a MAN MEET YOU BEARING A PITCHER OF WATER…follow him into the HOUSE where he entereth in” which means that the elites are going to create a new “saviour” for the soon to be Age of Aquarius – the Water Bearer – and that saviour is going to be called Lucifer which is the planet VENUS.
Jesus is the EXACT same story as the thousands of years older stories of Mithra, Krishna, Buddha, Osiris/Horus etc etc etc and up ,until they created Jesus the Vatican was worshiping Mithra and all they had to do was change the name to the new “saviour”. If you believe that a man can be born from a virgin, walk on water, raise people from the dead, be crucified and come back to life etc etc then you will believe anything and these MAFIAS will continue to con and rip off the people of this planet. Excellent Part 1 of the documentary Zeitgeist that totally explains the Religious rip off of ASTROTHEOLOGY here :
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjHk9nKUNNs&w=640&h=360]
James Houston
If Jesus had been created by the Romans I’m quite sure the Jews would have let us all know about it before now: probably around an excess of 2,000 years ago. Herod certainly seemed to think he was real enough. You would have thought that he, as the Roman Governor, would have been wise to what was going on around him. He must have felt a right fool when he found out the “truth”, eh? 😂😡
Maybe Rabbie Burns was a figment of the imagination born in the Bachelors Club in Tarbolton after a few jars of the local ale.
That’s all fine and dandy, but tell me this…
IF JESUS WAS A CREATION OF THE ROMANS, WHY ARE THERE SO MANY GUYS CALLED JESUS LIVING IN SPANISH-SPEAKING COUNTRIES, AND NOT ITALIAN-SPEAKING COUNTRIES?!!
Flat-Earthers and conspiracy theorists – can’t stand ’em!
You sure when you say ‘Fish’ ..you don’t mean ‘Pish’ ?
Must be ‘The missing ‘Gospel According To Google’…
Complete balderdash!
There is no zodiac under the pulpit in the Vatican. If there was it would be a quirk of history as the church has always looked to the heavens for signs of the second coming.
There is no elite that lasts 2,000 year periods and changes world religions every 2,000 years moving on to the next Zodiac sign!
How come there’s billions of Muslims, Buddhists and Jews today who don’t accept Jesus as the Son of God?
Jesus was a Carpenter up until about 31. His father Joseph was a carpenter and he was crucified on a wooden cross. Is there a Wood zodiac sign?
Jesus conquered brutal Rome with love. His words and the testaments of his disciples who were all happily martyred in his name demonstrate divine influence. The lives of the Saints, the martyrs and the proven miracles are testament to the truth of Christianity. The fact it continues strong after 2,000 years is proof of its divine truth.
Go to Church this Christmas, tune in, save your eternal soul.
SAD: Go to pharmacy choose folic acid & vitamin d combo vitamin pills. Take one per day, try hard to resist doing a half marathon each day thereafter.
Porto Bhoy – I gave you the link to Zeitgeits The Movie where part 1 of that totally explains the Jesus and all of the other EXACT same much older SUN God myths – of course the thickos on here who believe the DRIVEL that a man can be born of a virgin or can walk on water or raise people from the dead or can be crucified and then come back to life will believe the Vaticans excuse for all of these other much older EXACT same SUN God Myths that Satan created them before Jesus to test your faith.
Go and watch Jordan Maxwell videos exposing the religions and ASTROTHEOLOGY and also about language, law and money because they are all linked and not what you think that they are and mean and understand. The Justinian Deception channel on Youtube also exposes how the Roman/Vatican system is still conning and robbing you from the day you were born to the day you die via your birth certicates and language etc.
Effarr – They are all MAFIAS every religion and royals working together to shaft the masses who are so easily suckered and conned – As Mark Twain said ” It is easier to fool the masses than to convince them that they have been fooled” and he was right because most of them do NOT like using their brains to do such simple things such as think for themselves or educate themselves and have allowed these MAFIAS to brainwash them with THEIR education system. The Romans had a saying – Bread and Circuses – keep the masses fed and amused and they will be happy to wallow in a world of drivel and crap.
The DEEP STATE behind all of this will soon be coming out when all of the arrests start in the US soon including the Obamas, Clintons, Biden, Bushes and many others and many others all over the world are going to be linked to all of this and Epstein etc including the Royals and this Pope is going to be the second one to be resigning in a row because of the massive child trafficking, abuse and massive corruption, money laundering and funding of “terrorism” etc etc.
It was the age of Aquarius in the 1960s:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kjxSCAalsBE
I guess they might have got the arithmetic wrong and were 60 years out. They were kinda ‘spaced’ out back then.
Your theories are cute n retro.
Astrotheology Debunked:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GqFbfTuie4s
Touting the Climate Scam now gasúr.
Is there any bandwagon that you will not hoist yourself upon.
#Snigger
Seasonal Affective Disorder has absolutely nothing to do with climate change. Basically, less sunshine means that the body does not produce the same levels of vitamin D, and it is this deficiency that makes some suffer more than others. It’s easy to say that sufferers should take a winter holiday to somewhere closer to Equatorial climes, but I dare you to find a cheap flight to the tropics at this time of year. Mocking SAD sufferers does not become you.
Take your sorry arse to somewhere that actually cares about what you’ve got to say.
Climate scam – climate change recognised as a real factor by >95% of scientists and the number increasing.
Rejected by unscrupulous politicians. Fossil fuel companies and flat earth earth era🔥🔥🔥🔥
Aye! The evening’s are fair stretching. A month from now we’ll already have another hour of daylight at each end of the day.
Global Warming – changed to Climate Change because the planet is actually COOLING was proven to be a HOAX in a court in Canada some months ago now when the “scientist” Michael Mann who FAKED the Hockey Stick graph took Dr Tim Ball, a scientist who was going round proving that Mann was FAKING his graph etc, to court for slander. Mann lost his case because he refused to present the data he used to the court to come up with his Hockey Stick Graph and Dr Tim Ball presented all of his EVIDENCE for why Manns Graph was a total FAKE. This has been reported on independent media online but of course the corrupt controlled mainstream media and political parties are silent about this court case details of which reported here :
https://www.naturalnews.com/2019-08-26-climate-change-hoax-collapses-as-michael-mann-bogus-hockey-stick-graph.html
Michael Mann may soon be going to be getting done for using public money etc to come out with this FRAUD but he is not the only one that is involved in the SCAM that is going to make these crooks TRILLIONS with Carbon Taxes etc on the rest of us as is being exposed by Dr Shiva Ayyadurai the guy who invented the email here :
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0Rtystv7dc&w=640&h=360]
I wouldn’t be using natural news as a source. Have u looked at the other rubbish they write
No longer a debatable point to scientific community.
Flat earthier – who funds you to continuing with this dangerous pish?
Who mentioned Flat Earth stupid people. The Earth is ROUND just like every other planet and NIALL that was just one of many INDEPENDENT online news sites that reported this COURT case that PROVED that Michael Mann FAKED his Hockey Stick Graph and Dr Shiva above is also exposing the FACT that it is a massive SCAM to steal TRILLIONS from us all. Typical dumb idiots that never check out what you are being told and that is why these elites have been shafting you from the day you were born to the day you will die.
Let us all know what you find at the end of the earth ! An ever re-circulating waterfall maybe? It Brigadoon! And most importantly … what’s on the other side.
To paraphrase a famous quote
Housto you have a problem
(several problems by the sound of your ravings😜😜