Swings & Roundabouts

…. said in a high, squeaky and panic-filled tone. I haven’t done ANY shopping, save for one online foray. Haven’t got any of the ingredients for the Christmas lunch and we have friends joining us for grub. HJaven’t got no flippn’ crackers either.

To top it all, our tree has gone missing!!! Where’s the panic button?

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P’s school had the Nativity plays performances this week. Last year he was a narrator and had lines to say. This year, he was cast as a shepherd and didn’t have much to do other than walk about and sleep (or so he claimed). I was convinced he was going to be draped in old curtains with a pot holder on his head and the reality wasn’t too far off!

Having no lines to say, the ‘actors’ kept fidgeting away but none more so than my child. Everytime I tried to zoom in without the Headteacher finding out, he was either yawning or picking his nose! Also I was late going in so couldn’t get a nice spot from where I could hide the camera and film the proceedings. S had to be satisfied with just a few pix and couple of dodgy videos. Here’s one for your viewing pleasure.

What do you do when you are bored and are randomly surfing the net? Search for your favourite TV shows, play some games, Stumble upon something? Well, why don't you log on to Free Rice, exercise your brain and donate some desperately needed Third World rice in the bargain?

All you need to do is test your vocabulary skills. Simple! For every question you get right, the organisation behind this effort donates 20 grains of rice. It used to be 10 but just a few days back, the count was doubled to 20 grains per correct answer. As you answer the questions correctly, the level becomes tougher. Every time you chose a wrong answer, you go down a level and get a question in that level. You can play as long as you want. But a piece of warning: it's addictive!

This site was begun on October 7, 2007 with 830 grains won on the first day. Yesterday a whopping 235,092,740 grains were won, bringing the total upto a mind boggling 5,541,225,910 – and counting!

So how does this work?

The grains you win are donated to the United Nations World Food Programme, the world's largest food aid agency, who work with thousands of organisations to reach this staple to the starving masses. You could also take it a step further and donate desperately needed cash. other vital items. Won't these make a better Christmas gift that a party gag?

While on the subject of alternate, humanitarian Christmas gifts, visit the Good Gifts site to learn how you can donate a cycle to poor children in India, donate books and things to open a library in Africa, modernize a hut in Rwanda – or you could even give someone the incomparable gift of sight. Other organisations like Oxfam have a special section named Oxfam Unwrapped, that gives one suggestions like building a bog, donating tools for farming, condoms and even the ultimate Christmas 'takeaway' – school dinners for 100 children at a paltry sum of just 6 pounds.

How cool is that? To be able to make a difference in someone's life at the touch of a button. There's no bigger high than knowing you have just made some nameless, faceless stranger happy by feeding them; knowing that one hundred poor children will have a full tummy this Christmas because you spared some change. My little boy just gave me the 6 quid from his money box. If he can, you sure can.

Go on, make a difference.