“Old Blogger’s Almanack,

A Big Book Look, and a 2012 Delve..”


What – ho!







Well, Blogfollowers…Happy New Year, and all that; now, I don’t want to alarm you, but… according to this book about the ancient Mayans, we’re all doomed in 2012…

Here’s the ‘blurb’: “2012: The Year of the Mayan Prophecy is a literary and metaphysical epic that binds together the cosmological phenomena of our time, ranging from crop circles to quantum theory to the worldwide resurgence of shamanism, supporting the Mayan prophecy that the year 2012 will bring an unprecedented global shift. In tracing the meaning of the prophetic Mayan 'end date' of 2012 to our present society, Daniel Pinchbeck draws together alien abductions, psychedelic visions, the current ecological crisis and other peculiar aspects of 21st century life into a new vision for our time. 2012 heralds the end of one way of existence and the return of another, in which the Mesoamerican God Quetzalcoatl returns, bringing with him an ancient - yet to us, wholly new - way of living. There are many hints, both in quantum theory and elsewhere, that humanity is precariously balanced between greater self-potential and environmental disaster. Pinchbeck's journey, which takes us from the endangered rainforests of the Amazon to Stonehenge in England, tells the story of a man in whose trials we recognise our own hopes and anxieties about modern life”.

Gosh!

Our old pal Sting liked the book, too: "'An intriguing and deeply personal odyssey of transformation… robust, and original”

Gosh again!






The end of time?


It seems that the ancient Mayans deemed that 2012 would mark the end of recorded time, and didn’t think it be worth prophesying any further…


Gulp!


Our old friend Nostradamus, too, expressed concerns about the forthcoming year… “A great smell will emanate from Lausanne but its origins will be unknown” he writes (although this isn’t mentioned in any of the current travel guides). “People from far away will be put out; fire is seen in the sky, a foreign people is defeated” he goes on, and “The seven branches will become three…the elder ones will be surprised by death. Two will be attracted towards fratricide, the conspirators will die in their sleep.”


Goodness, that is a worry…


Then “At the turning of the great seventh number, it will appear at the time of the games of great public sacrifice” (the Olympics, perhaps?...) and  finally “The dethroned woman will return to her reign, her enemies found amongst the conspirators. More than ever she will rule triumphantly, at seventy-three she will assuredly die.”



Well, that’s all a bit of a worry too…Happily, though – I`ll be alright – I’ve purchased some earmuffs and have laid down some nice new thick carpet in my garden shed, so that should see me through the worst eventualities…


Anyway, in keeping with this theme of foretelling the future, my Research Team have been busy: they’ve polished up the Bexley Library Service Crystal Ball, read the runes, and divined their entrails (I never knew librarians had such guts!) and here’s what they’ve come up with for 2012…






It’ll be a leap year, and the Chinese Year of the Dragon…



On the sporting front, we’ll have the Olympics, of course…Plus the European Football Championships (alas, my researchers can’t foretell whether Wayne Rooney will start play or – indeed – how luxuriant his new hair will be)…


Looking ahead, we’ll be celebrating a cornucopia of historical events – our own dear Queen will be marking her Jubilee (I`m particularly excited about the Thames Cavalcade)…It’ll be 100 years since the Titanic went down, and 200 years since Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow…



On the literary front, we’ll be celebrating Mr Dickens’s 200th birthday, The Hobbit’s 75th, and Adrian Mole’s 30th. What larks!


So, there’s lots to look forward to in 2012, as long as the Mayans were wrong…Enjoy reading all about it with Bex-L and Bexley Libraries!




...(Oh, breaking news, dear readers – sorry, but the proposed Bexley Librarians’ inaugural psychic fair and soothsaying seminar has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances…Boom boom!)






TTFN, dear readers, and a Happy New Year!

'Twas the Night before Christmas - a seasonal advent catablog, with clicks to open and bits that pop up!

By (and with apologies to) Clement C Moore 1779-1863





'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 St. Nicholas soon would be there;



The children were nestled all snug in their beds,



While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;



And mamma 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 the 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, Donder 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 head, 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."

*****

And, dear readers, on behalf of the Blogbrary Editorial Board, his extensive Research Team, and all the Library Elves, can we wish everyone a very happy, peaceful, and joyous Christmas….

TTFN!