Watching my children attempt to write their Christmas wish lists to Father Christmas this week I couldn’t help but wonder why kids actually bother these days. Malachy has already announced that he knows it’s us that put the Christmas presents under the tree and therefore his letter to the North Pole was more of a Final Demand, while Jacob decided it was too hard to write a letter and just pushed the paper to one side and went back to watching Spongebob Squarepants.
Well, I still believe in Father Christmas – indeed, he visited the pub yesterday – so I thought I’d give it a go for
myself, just in case he’s got the North Pole hooked up to the ‘net finally.
Here goes:
Dear Father Christmas,
I really have been a very good boy this year – in fact, I’ve kept myself out of so much trouble that I’m actually hoping for two oranges in my stocking this year rather than the measly none I got last year. But let’s not linger on that.
It’s been quite a good year, actually. Business has been a bit tight but Ali and I’ve worked pretty hard to keep everything together so I hope you’ll see to it that when you unload your sack down my chimney on Christmas Eve something here can be in it. (And if, as my nine year old son seems to think, you’re not really real, then maybe somebody else reading this can be generous enough to think one or two things here might make good gifts.)
It has also been a while since I’ve written you a letter, but I thought I’d get this one in to you quickly as, according to Gordon Brown, global warming means you might not make it to next year…
Ta muchly,
Mark
Wish list: (mostly found in this month’s Stuff magazine, admittedly)
Aspiral Clock – www.aspiralclocks.com
I quite like unusual time pieces – you should see some of the watches I have, one even tells the time in binary – so this one would fit my collection perfectly. Admittedly, at £350 it’s a touch expensive, but they do say that for that price they guarantee to have it delivered to the North Pole before you get out delivering. And who wouldn’t want a clock that tells time by twisting on the wall while a ball-bearing maintains its position to tell the time? Pure, costly genius.
North Face E-Tip Gloves - http://fwd.five.tv/gadgets/sports/mountain/north-face-e-tip-gloves
At some point in the coming year, I’m going to change my mobile phone and, despite my liking for normal 
telephones which have buttons on them to press to get it to do things, the chances are that the industry’s hellbent approach to technology means that whatever I do get next will have a touch screen. The problem with touch screens is that when it’s cold, the new technology can’t recognise your touches. So to send a text message or make a call you’ll have to take your gloves off. Annoying when it’s freezing outside. Now, admittedly, I won’t be changing my phone until summer so I don’t actually need these gloves until next winter, but I’ll have forgotten about them by then so I’d like them now. And, at twenty quid, they’re not actually that expensive! Cool.
Sony Ericsson Satio - http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/products/mobilephones/overview/satio?cc=gb&lc=en
Now, I know my mobile isn’t due for renewal until summer next year, but I’ve already thought long and hard about what to replace my existing W980 phone with. You see, I think the iPhone’s great, but do I really need one? No – because I live and work in a pub and rarely see the outside world. I am also never more than five feet away from a desktop or laptop computer that’s connected directly to the Internet, which is infinitely better than anything the iPhone can chuck at me. But what I do want from a mobile is a good camera – I had a Sony with a great camera on it a couple of phones back and I really miss it. Their new Satio has a mind-boggling 12.1 megapixel camera built in and, whilst a bit chunky, will surely use less space in my pocket than carrying both my current phone and my ageing Pentax Optio S50 digital camera. So I’ve either got to wait ‘til summer, or some generous benefactor can spend £450 on a contract free one for me for Christmas…
PowerMat - http://www.powermateu.com/pm_uk
In this modern world of so many rechargeable devices, I really do get fed up with having to search around for somewhere to plug my mobile or my MP3 player in to charge them up. Or the camera. Or Ali’s personal marital aids. Living in a building built in 1704, there really aren’t enough electric sockets to keep up with all the personal paraphernalia our modern lives desire. But help is at hand – I want a PowerMat. It uses one socket and you literally just put whatever needs charging on to the top of it and it’ll charge it up by the power of osmosis. Or witchcraft. I haven’t actually worked out how it works, but it’s the sort of magic that even my uncle wouldn’t understand.
Pure Sensia - http://www.touchmyradio.com/
All our bedside clocks are broken at the moment. All of them. Even my wonderful Ferrari alarm clock – which wakes me up to the sound of a Ferrari Formula One engine no longer works properly thanks to the troublesome thumbs of my youngest child – and Ali’s appears to not be able to do anything other than play AlphaBeat tracks any more. But the Pure Sensia would wake you to digital radio, music wirelessly streamed from the Internet, and the first thing I could see when I wake up would be my Twitter feed… Ah, geeky bliss.
YuuWaa – www.yuuwaa.com
My file storage is utterly unreliable. I have files stored all over the place. Blogs and pieces written for The 
Publican magazine are stored on Google Documents somewhere in The Cloud, pictures are stored on an external hard drive, accounts spreadsheets are kept on a USB memory stick that I keep losing and I lost my whole family tree a couple of months when the backup file was the only file I didn’t actually put on a separate drive just before I wiped my laptop to install Windows 7. With YuuWaa, however, I would have none of these troubles as it provides online storage and local storage via the USB stick, and means I can share files seamlessly with the other machines on my network. Or even you, my loving friends and family… Might as well go for the top of the range Plus version. It’s only £29.99
Buzz for the PS3 - http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0017USAPE/?tag=googhydr-21&hvadid=4923246069&ref=pd_sl_3g17qakb64_b
I love my PlayStation 3 – it’s pretty much a media portal these days for everything ever that I want to do. Did
you know, with its web browser, you can actually get Internet porn on the telly? Oh, and iPlayer. And now I can download movies to it, too. But I never, ever, let any of the rest of the family play on it. It’s mine mine mine. To be fair, I only wanted the PS3 for Gran Turismo 5, but as that is never going to come out – it would seem – I have to start looking at other uses for it. And that might mean sharing it with the family. The Buzz quiz games seem like a good place to start. There are different types and, with the controllers, means all four of us can play. Until I win, of course, and then Jacob will throw a strop…
I could probably make this list much longer, but it would only get more expensive…! Anyhoo, Santa, I hope you can help out.
Ta
Mark.
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Incidentally, you can read my blog on getting the kids to turn the pub’s lights off on The Publican at: http://www.thepublican.com/story.asp?sectioncode=16&storycode=65967
programs, thus ensuring that compatibility will be a thing of the past. M$ isn't the only company doing this. Be prepared for some big announcements from some of the major players in 2010. 
more devices. So not only will we see an increase in Android based Phones, but Netbooks, Tablet Devices and Desktop PC's will start to become bundled with their lightweight operating system. 
before major players such as Creative Labs throw their lot in. Bearing in mind, these guys have some sway with the education establishments, it may not be long before we start to see these devices creep into our schools. 
form of energy provision come along in terms of its viability. I would also like to think that electric/hybrid vehicles will become much more useful in 2010. Battery technology has improved to no end, so longer distances and better performance are no longer a dream. 
movies, games, even your usual television shows ( although I cant imagine Countryfile 3D being that much more exciting than normally ), its fair to say that it is undergoing a revolution. 3D LCD TVs, 3d Cameras, Peripherals for your Computers/Consoles and hopefully less headaches mean that its coming to a living room near you soon !! 
