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FelixAntonius Outsider.
Great Old One Joined: 08 Aug 2001 Total posts: 1097 Gender: Unknown |
 Posted: 24-12-2005 12:27 Post subject: Father Christmas found dead in Essex.... |
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From todays Daily Telegraph:
Father Christmas found dead in Essex churchyard (not really)
Alarming evidence that Father Christmas died in 1564 has turned up in the records of a country church.
While every child knows that this could not possibly be the real Santa Claus, nevertheless someone called Father Christmas was laid to rest in a churchyard in the village of Dedham, Essex, on May 30 that year.
An entry in the parish record for that month states: "The 30[th] Day, Father Christmas was buried." Any headstone marking his grave disappeared many years ago.
Richard Harris, the chief archivist at the Essex records office in Chelmsford, said there was a logical explanation for the entry.
"Christmas was not an uncommon surname in these parts around that time," he said. "In the 16th century old people were often called Old Mother this or Old Father that and this chap obviously took that nickname to his grave."
A spokesman for the records office added: "It is highly unlikely that we will be able to find out anything more about him."
The real Santa Claus was, of course, derived from St Nicholas, whose death in Myra in what is now Turkey on Dec 6, AD342 or AD343, became a festival celebrated throughout Europe.
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/12/24/ndeadsanta24.xml |
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| Mighty_Emperor Divine Wind
Joined: 18 Aug 2002 Total posts: 19943 Location: Mongo Age: 42 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 27-12-2005 00:48 Post subject: |
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After last years fun:
www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=477411#477411
www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=477815#477815
It has been quite on this front but:
| Quote: | Pa. Community Celebrates Festivus
Dec 23, 7:05 PM (ET)
ERIE, Pa. (AP) - The celebration of Festivus is alive and well in northwestern Pennsylvania, nearly a decade after the bizarre "holiday" garnered pop culture notoriety on "Seinfeld."
Residents were preparing to celebrate "the festivus for the rest of us" Friday with a night of airing grievances, feats of strength and, of course, the aluminum Festivus pole.
"It's all in good fun," said Jeff Boam, 36, a math teacher from Millcreek Township and longtime "Seinfeld" fan.
"More than anything else, it's a great excuse to get together with friends and have outrageous fun," said George Klapsinos, 38, a senior technical service specialist for Lord Corp.
Many people learned of Festivus through "Seinfeld," but its roots actually go back several decades, when writer Daniel O'Keefe's father started it. He was looking for something more from the holidays, something that wasn't political or religious.
O'Keefe wrote "The Real Festivus: The True Story Behind America's Favorite Made-Up Holiday" and co-wrote the "Seinfeld" episode.
In the episode, Frank Costanza, played by actor Jerry Stiller, comes up with the idea for a new holiday after struggling in a tug-of-war for a doll at a toy store.
Festivus'"traditions" differ from those of Christmas.
Instead of a tree, Festivus followers celebrate around a metal pole. Boam's Festivus pole is 6 feet tall and rooted in bucket of cement.
"No tinsel, no ornaments. Nothing should go on it. It should be bare," Boam said.
Guests also grab the pole and fume about how others have disappointed them in the past year.
"One year, we had a blizzard on the night of the party," Klapsinos said. "So we grieved about everyone who said they were going to show up but didn't. I mean, we made it, right?"
Finally, the festival features feats of strength.
"This usually means wrestling," said Jack Munch, a real-estate broker. "I've seen parties where it deteriorates into five people wrestling in the snow in the backyard. The whole thing is a blast. You never know what's going to happen on Festivus."
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Information from: Erie Times-News, http://www.goerie.com |
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20051224/D8EM91P08.html |
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| Mighty_Emperor Divine Wind
Joined: 18 Aug 2002 Total posts: 19943 Location: Mongo Age: 42 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 28-12-2005 04:32 Post subject: |
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Miserable get:
| Quote: | Teacher defends Santa remarks
Editor:
Lebanon Daily News
Last week I substituted at a local elementary school in Lebanon County. The lesson plan required me to read the 1882 poem “The Night Before Christmas” by Clement Clarke Moore to two classes of students. While I can appreciate the poem for its literary value, the subject matter is offensive to me, and the reading of this poem to the children imposed values upon me which are against my deeply held religious beliefs. I could not in good conscience present the notion of Santa Claus as a truth to the children, and stated so.
No public-school teacher should be required to teach a belief, custom or religion that he or she believes to be false, or be required to pass those purported falsehoods onto impressionable children, without the right to state a disclaimer. Furthermore, freedom of speech and religion, no matter how unpopular the speech or against cultural norms the religion, are protected rights.
A secular public school should not be propagating any kind of religion. The belief in Santa Claus as a divine, magical, omniscient, powerful, giving, loving father-figure, to whom children are taught to make supplications and requests, is a religion indeed — a distorted substitute for the Judeo-Christian God.
In presenting the poem, I gave the children some historical background about the Santa Claus myth — its evolution from the historic Nickolaus, Bishop of Myrna in Asia Minor, who died in 343 A.D., to its amalgamation with ancient Western pagan traditions of German, Scandinavian and Dutch origins, to the current manifestation in the secular Christmas culture of today. (Dutch children, for example, would put their wooden shoes out at night for “Sante Klaus” to fill with candies.) The current Santa Claus figure was popularized in the late 19th Century by artist Thomas Nast of Harper’s Weekly magazine, who depicted “Saint Nick” not as an elf but as a rotund, pipe-smoking man in a red-and-white suit. This is the deity to which countless public-school children today are taught to make supplications, and about whom they sing their many songs at annual public-school Christmas programs.
If people are upset about the revelation to children that Santa Claus is a myth — which all children who are taught this lie figure out eventually — perhaps it is because Santa is that zealously guarded idol of their own modern religion. Therefore, as a religion, let Santa be kept out of the public-school classroom — or perhaps, in the interest of “diversity,” make his mythical, oversized personage share equal representation in literature and song and Christmas programs with the other Person of the season: the Lord Jesus Christ, God made flesh, God with us. |
www.ldnews.com/fastsearchresults/ci_3334340
Next year I hope Santa sneaks down his chimney and sticks a fork in his eye. |
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| Mighty_Emperor Divine Wind
Joined: 18 Aug 2002 Total posts: 19943 Location: Mongo Age: 42 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 31-12-2005 03:18 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Animal head left on doorstep
'Gift' addressed to vegan teen; police say it's just a prank
Thursday, December 29, 2005
By Daniel Duggan
Three days before Christmas, a Palos Heights woman got quite a shock when she opened a package that arrived for her at home.
She quickly realized it wasn't a gift from Santa Claus, as the tag said.
"I picked it up, it was red and squishy," said Kelly, 18, who asked that her last name not be used. "Then I saw an eyeball looking at me, and I freaked out."
The box contained an animal's bloody head.
Palos Heights police believe it was a prank but are continuing their investigation.
Kelly, a freshman at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is a vegan and does not eat any animal products. Her best friend and boyfriend also are vegans, and many of their friends are vegetarians.
"I've been asking all my friends, and I don't know anybody who would do something like this," she said. "My friends would all know that I take being a vegan seriously and wouldn't find it funny."
The box showed up in front of her house in the 12300 block of 76th Avenue on Dec. 22, sometime between when her mom locked the front door at 11 a.m. and when her sister came home at noon, Kelly said.
Her mother put the neatly wrapped box on the kitchen table and told her a gift had arrived. The box had a tag that read "Merry Christmas Kelly" and was signed "love, Santa Claus."
The box sat on the table for about an hour before Kelly opened it. She unwrapped the box and saw only newspaper.
Then she found the head.
"At first I thought it wasn't real, mostly because it didn't smell," she said.
She got a friend who lives nearby, and the two inspected the head closely while wearing rubber gloves. Then they called the police.
Kelly guessed that the head didn't smell because it had been frozen, "and there were plastic bags at the bottom of the box so the blood wouldn't drip out," she said.
All of the skin had been removed, but the head appeared to be from a goat or a lamb, Palos Heights Detective Adam Nagy said.
"There's no skin on it, so we can't really tell," he said.
It appears to be a prank, but police are running tests on the animal and the box to try to find fingerprints and other chemical evidence, Nagy said. At a minimum, he said, a person could be charged with disorderly conduct.
Finding a lamb's head is fairly easy — just ask at any butcher shop or meat packing house, said Harry Angelson, food safety manager at Chiappetti Lamb and Veal Corp., 3810 S. Halsted St.
"We sell a couple a day," he said. "Most butcher shops could order one for you."
He said people in some ethnic groups, such as Mexicans, use meat from lamb tongue and cheeks in traditional dishes. A good lamb's head will cost between $3.50 and $6, depending on where it's purchased, he said.
She said a fake head, maybe even a hamburger, might have been funny — but not this. And she doesn't have any enemies so serious they would go to such trouble.
"It's just horrible," she said. "I never thought that someone would do something like this in real life. It's like something you'd see in a movie." |
www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/dsindex/29-ds1.htm |
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| Mighty_Emperor Divine Wind
Joined: 18 Aug 2002 Total posts: 19943 Location: Mongo Age: 42 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 08-01-2006 17:35 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Teens allegedly planned to burn baby Jesus statues
Associated Press
Jan. 3, 2006 08:15 AM
SAYREVILLE, N.J. - Four teens stole 27 baby Jesus statues from nativity scenes outside churches and homes and planned to burn them, police said.
Two of the suspects, who ranged from 15 to 19 years old, said they acted out of boredom, authorities said.
"They were looking for things to do," Detective Ken Kelly said. "They told us, 'We were going to have a baby Jesus burning party.' "
One suspect told detectives, "We just wanted to see their heads burning," Kelly said.
The suspects, who were arrested Monday, face charges of theft, criminal mischief, destruction of venerated objects and conspiracy, and could face up to five years in prison if convicted.
Robert Olson, whose 18-year-old son, Christopher, was charged, said he and his family were shocked by the arrest.
"Although Chris is sometimes misguided, this was not something we expected out of him," he said.
Olson said his son is unemployed and working toward resuming his high school education. The teen is on probation for a disorderly persons offense involving a disagreement with a neighbor, his father said.
"I hope my son and the others will come to grips with what they've done and make full restitution and get whatever help they need to get rid of those feelings," Olson said.
Frank Payne, whose 19-year-old son, Michael, also was charged, said bias was not a factor.
"Michael has been hanging around with the wrong people," he said. "He goes to college. He's an outstanding young kid."
Also charged were 18-year-old Nicholas Hess and a 15-year-old who was not identified due to his age, police said. |
www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0103StealingJesus03-ON.html |
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| gncxx King-Size Canary
Great Old One Joined: 25 Aug 2001 Total posts: 13561 Location: Eh? Gender: Male |
| Posted: 03-12-2006 19:55 Post subject: Hitler Santa |
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061201/od_nm/santa_hitler_dc
| Quote: | Shops destroy Santas giving "Hitler salute" Fri Dec 1, 8:43 AM ET
BERLIN (Reuters) - A German chain of shops has removed miniature wooden Santa Claus figures from its shelves and destroyed them after customers complained it looked like they were giving the stiff-armed Hitler salute that is outlawed.
Josef Lange, a spokesman for the Rossmann chain that has 1,200 outlets, told Reuters Friday the figures depicting Father Christmas with his right arm stiffly upright toward the sky and holding a sack in his left hand upset some customers.
"We were astonished by the reaction," Lange said. "It looks like he's just pointing up to the sky and we were surprised that anyone saw the so-called 'Hitler salute' in that. But we responded and had the entire inventory removed and destroyed." |
I can't find a picture to see how accurate this story is, unfortunately. |
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| Guest |
| Posted: 04-12-2006 13:13 Post subject: Re: Hitler Santa |
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| gncxx wrote: | Shops destroy Santas giving "Hitler salute" Fri Dec 1, 8:43 AM ET
...
I can't find a picture to see how accurate this story is, unfortunately. |
Santa picture on this site. |
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| Peripart is only passing through
Great Old One Joined: 01 Aug 2005 Total posts: 3851 Age: 45 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 04-12-2006 13:28 Post subject: Re: Hitler Santa |
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| gncxx wrote: | | Quote: | Shops destroy Santas giving "Hitler salute"
BERLIN (Reuters) - A German chain of shops has removed miniature wooden Santa Claus figures from its shelves and destroyed them after customers complained it looked like they were giving the stiff-armed Hitler salute that is outlawed. |
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Blimey! They're a bit touchy about these things, aren't they? I take it Superman is banned in Germany because of the way he flies? For that matter, anyone pointing to the sky and asking "Is it a bird - is it a plane?" is presumably in trouble, too.
And if I ever have occasion to be riding on a German bus and standing due to lack of seats, I'll be careful not to reach upwards for a strap to hang on to.
Poor old Santa. |
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| MrRING Android Futureman Joined: 07 Aug 2002 Total posts: 4196 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 12-12-2006 21:19 Post subject: |
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LINK
| Quote: | Christmas tree growers resort to fox urine and pink stain in the battle against tree poachers
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- While many Christmas trees sparkle with tinsel and lights during the holiday season, some reek of fox urine or wear a splatter of pink stain.
A surge in Christmas tree poaching has forced growers and property owners to take action. Smelly, discolored trees are less likely to be cut and dragged off by thieves, they say. At the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, for example, evergreens are sprayed with a fox urine mixture and tagged with a warning to discourage tree thieves.
"It is a strong odor, and it smells just like what it is," said Kirby Baird, a landscape manager at the school.
When the tree is out in the cold, the smell isn't noticeable, Baird said. But once the tree is inside and starts to warm up... "It's nasty," he said.
Live Christmas trees have made a resurgence with consumers in the past three years, said Rick Dungey of the National Christmas Tree Association. While no one tracks the number of thefts, some believe the increased demand has fueled pine pilfering.
Tree poaching once was a problem at Washington State University, which has more than 150 evergreen, spruce and fir trees on campus. "We did have a lot of trees cut for Christmas trees, either entire small trees or tops of large trees," said grounds supervisor Kappy Brun.
The poaching all but stopped after groundskeepers began to spray campus trees with the oily, odorous liquid produced by skunks. While Nebraska and Washington fought tree poachers with odor, Cornell University made their trees less appealing as Christmas decorations.
Workers there painted trees with "ugly mix" -- a solution of hydrated lime and red food coloring developed by one of Cornell's veteran gardeners. The result: fluorescent pink trees. The mix stays on trees for about a month before fading, and is credited with saving dozens of evergreens over the years.
"Ugly mix" received widespread publicity and eventually was used by New York's Department of Transportation.
"I have gotten calls from Christmas tree growers and from more homeowners and landscapers, and they want to know what do we do," said Donna Levy, plant health care coordinator at Cornell Plantation, who said the university isn't recommending the mix, just sharing its strategy.
Cornell isn't using the pink goop this year because it sometimes is slow to fade. "We thought we would go a year and see what happens," Levy said.
Dave Velozo, who owns a nursery near Harrisburg, Pa., recently lost a rare blue Sierra redwood to a tree poacher. A jagged three-foot stump is all that remains of a 13-foot tree, which Velozo said he had nurtured for the past 15 years.
"Somebody must have seen it over the years and decided, 'Hey, this will look good in my trailer,"' he said. |
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| Niall114 Great Old One Joined: 07 Mar 2005 Total posts: 131 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 18-12-2006 14:05 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Disney tells Santa clone ho-ho no
When James Worley paid a visit to Disney World in Florida his portly frame and white beard soon had kids asking: "Are you Santa Claus?"
Not wanting to disappoint, Mr Worley, 60, played along with some "ho-ho-hos".
But Disney officials descended, telling him to stop the impersonation or get out of the park. They said they wanted to preserve the magic of Santa.
Mr Worley took off his red hat and red shirt but said: "I look this way 24/7, 365 days a year. This is me."
'Confusing'
Even after bowing to the request to alter his appearance, Mr Worley, from Tampa, said children continued to ask if he was Santa.
"How do you tell a little kid, 'No, go away, little kid'," Mr Worley told local television.
He said Disney had told him "Santa was considered a Disney character".
Officials at Disney World's Epcot park said they had had complaints from "several guests who were very upset".
Disney said it had its own Santa at Epcot and Mr Worley was "confusing" the children.
Mr Worley said he had played a jolly elf at charity events for a number of years, while his wife sometimes dressed up as Mrs Claus.
Mr Worley said he still loved Disney and Christmas.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/americas/6189521.stm
Published: 2006/12/18 11:39:11 GMT
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| MrRING Android Futureman Joined: 07 Aug 2002 Total posts: 4196 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 20-12-2006 21:14 Post subject: |
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This is stupid that it would cause furvor, but I thought it was still worth noting here
| Quote: | Furor in Italy over "gay nativity" in parliament By Philip Pullella
ROME (Reuters) - Two leftists in Italy's ruling coalition on Wednesday outraged fellow lawmakers by placing four dolls representing homosexual couples near the baby Jesus in the official nativity scene in parliament.
The two parliamentarians from the small "Rose in the Fist" party said their gesture was to promote the legalization of gay marriage and granting legal recognition to unmarried couples.
Bruno Mellano and Donatella Poretti placed the Barbie and Ken-type dolls in the parliamentary nativity scene, each couple lying down embraced among the shepherds witnessing the birth of Jesus.
Each of the two doll couples, which parliamentary ushers removed after a few minutes, wore miniature placards with slogans in favor of gay rights.
"This is a vulgar and unacceptable double attack against both a (national) institution as well as a religious symbol," a group of women parliamentarians of the opposition conservative Forza Italia party said in a statement.
Luca Volonte, a member of the small centrist opposition Union of Christian Democrats, called the gesture a "pure attack against the religion practiced by the majority of Italians."
Italy is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic and nativity scenes, featuring figures of the baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, shepherds, animals and three kings bearing gifts, are put but in many homes, squares and shops.
Some members of the opposition demanded the lawmakers be censured by the speaker of the lower house of parliament.
But even the Italian Communist Party, which supports gay rights and is also in the ruling coalition of Prime Minister Romano Prodi, distanced itself from the action.
One communist parliamentarian called it "a grave political error" that would not help homosexuals.
The two leftist politicians carried out their gesture just before Pope Benedict, speaking to pilgrims and tourists at the Vatican, said Christmas creches were part of Christian culture that had to be defended.
In recent weeks, several state schools have decided not to erect the nativity scene. Some shops decided not to sell them, saying they were not popular or did not fit their image.
But even Education Minister Giuseppe Fioroni has criticized such schools, saying they had gone too far in banning nativity scenes which could instead be used as tools for inter-religious dialogue. |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17938 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 23-12-2006 22:51 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Nigerian Christmas without 'evil' Santas
By Senan Murray
BBC News website, Abuja
There are no Christmas decorations, the radio stations are still playing hip-hop and rap and some children recoil at an image of Santa decrying it as evil.
Some children in Nigeria prefer masquerades to Santa
"His costume looks phoney and his face is strange," says eight-year-old Ifunanya Chima when shown a picture of the benign bearded old man in his trademark red cloak with white fur trimmings.
"We prefer masquerades," he told me referring to the traditional colourful dancing which is a big part of the festive season here.
And there is also hope of a white-ish Christmas in this sub-Saharan West African country.
For a dusty harmattan haze hangs over most of the country as the north-east trade wind sweeps in from the Sahara Desert.
Markets across the country are heaving with punters hoping to net late bargains.
Ghost cities
Christmas is a time for new clothes, family reunions and colourful dances in Nigeria
Soon, the major cities will become ghost cities as most people return to their native villages to share the traditional "Christmas rice".
"I can't spend Christmas in Abuja," says Nick Ibechukwu who owns a business in Nigeria's capital city.
"I have to go back to my village in the east to join the rest of my family and relatives because this is the only time in the year that we get to see one another."
Christmas in Nigeria is a time for new clothes, long distance travels for family reunions, and lots of colourful masquerade dances in most villages.
Religious differences
And for now, it does not matter that half of Nigeria's 130 million people are Muslims with a handful of pagans.
At Christmas, most Nigerians forget their religious differences and just share their Christmas rice - a dish of boiled rice eaten with very spicy chicken stew.
"I celebrate Christmas because it's a time for loads of fun," says Ibrahim Idris, a Muslim in Abuja.
Christmas clothes take the place of Christmas gifts as excited children and adults try to outdo one another in showing off their best wear during the festive season.
There are big retreats for Nigeria's fast-growing Pentecostal Christian sects, but these retreats sometimes look like bazaars as they throw up business opportunities for some enterprising people.
Increased highway robberies
Ironically, highway armed robberies are more common during the Christmas season in Nigeria.
Dance groups take over village squares to offer free entertainment
And since most city dwellers travelling to their villages for the holiday season have to drive on pothole-ridden roads due to the absence of a functional rail system, road accidents tend to be more frequent.
In the village, Christmas becomes more colourful, with masquerades and dance groups taking over the village square to offer free entertainment for all.
The incorporation of masquerade into Christmas festivities shows the growing influence of traditional African religious rituals on Christianity in Nigeria.
It also shows that many Nigerians have stopped attaching great religious importance to Christmas and simply see it as a social event.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6197477.stm
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rynner2 What a Cad!
Great Old One Joined: 13 Dec 2008 Total posts: 21369 Location: Under the moon Gender: Male |
| Posted: 27-11-2009 08:35 Post subject: |
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Poole — the town with a Christmas tree that you can wipe your feet on
Simon de Bruxelles
When is a Christmas tree not a Christmas tree? When it is a giant cone covered in what appears to be green doormats.
Shoppers stared in bemusement at the mysterious object that landed in a shopping precinct in Poole, Dorset, this week. Some compared it to a giant traffic cone, a witch’s hat or a cheap special effect from an early episode of Doctor Who.
The 33ft structure turned out to be their Christmas tree, designed according to the principles of health and safety, circa 2009.
Thus it has no trunk so it won’t blow over, no branches to break off and land on someone’s head, no pine needles to poke a passer-by in the eye, no decorations for drunken teenagers to steal and no angel, presumably because it would need a dangerously long ladder to place it at the top.
Last year Poole boasted a Norwegian fir draped with strings of coloured lights. It cost £500 and continued a decades-old tradition. The replacement, which is constructed on a metal frame overlaid with what appears to be artificial grass, cost £14,000 and comes with built-in fairy lights and hidden speakers to play Christmas tunes that will put shoppers in the festive mood. But the only mood apparent among shoppers who saw the tree yesterday was a bad one.
etc...
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/article6934109.ece |
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| Pietro_Mercurios Heuristically Challenged
Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 27-11-2009 09:46 Post subject: |
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| rynner2 wrote: | Poole — the town with a Christmas tree that you can wipe your feet on
Simon de Bruxelles
When is a Christmas tree not a Christmas tree? When it is a giant cone covered in what appears to be green doormats.
...
The 33ft structure turned out to be their Christmas tree, designed according to the principles of health and safety, circa 2009.
Thus it has no trunk so it won’t blow over, no branches to break off and land on someone’s head, no pine needles to poke a passer-by in the eye, no decorations for drunken teenagers to steal and no angel, presumably because it would need a dangerously long ladder to place it at the top.
...
etc...
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/article6934109.ece |
You may laugh, but as this old Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents press release makes clear, Christmas trees could kill, or maim.
| Quote: | http://www.rospa.com/news/releases/2000/pr083_12_12_00_home.htm
LOOK OUT! THAT CHRISTMAS TREE IS DANGEROUS
RoSPA Press Office : Press Release. December 12, 2000
Rocking around the Christmas tree could be one of the quickest ways to land in hospital as the party season gets into full swing, The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents warned today.
Of about 80,000 accidents expected in the home over the Christmas and New Year break - around 1,000 are likely to be caused by Christmas trees.
Most will result from branches poking into people’s eyes, others will cut themselves trimming the tree to shape and some will fall off ladders while adding the decorations.
David Jenkins, RoSPA Product Safety Adviser, said: "As well as trees, our other big worry is the growing popularity of candles and the increasing number of fires resulting from their use. Definitely do not put lighted candles on Christmas trees and keep them well away from other trimmings or combustible materials like curtains.
"Naked flames should never be left unattended and candles should always be in a stable holder. Make sure you have put them out before going to bed."
Christmas tree lights are expected to lead to more than 300 accidents and RoSPA’s advice is to buy new ones which will either be transformed down to a lower voltage or double insulated. The ones that people repeatedly bring out of the loft each year could well be unsafe.
Gift wrappings, cards, glue and adhesive tape are likely to claim hundreds of victims. Look out for small parts falling off decorations or presents as these can choke children.
Thousands will have slips and falls over presents or on fat spilled on the kitchen floor. Too much alcohol is also likely to lead to falls or is sometimes drunk by children polishing off the remains of drinks from the previous night’s party. If guests are staying, keep stairs well lit and free from obstacles such as toys.
Even camp-beds put up to accommodate friends and relations lead to accidents - often when people forget they are there and stub their toe or fall over them.
"With a little more care and planning people can have an accident-free Christmas," David Jenkins said. |
And, if you have a real Christmas tree, remember to keep it watered.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNjO3wZDVlA
So, have a safe Christmas and mind how you go. |
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| linesmachine Great Old One Joined: 23 Aug 2003 Total posts: 1003 Location: Oxfordia UK Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 27-11-2009 19:11 Post subject: |
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| i love the comment "Chestnuts roasting...in an open fire" |
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