Kentish Express Ashford & District
Don’t miss the post for Christmas lists
Santa’s little helpers will be delivering thousands of letters to Father Christmas before December 25, with children getting their replies if they send them off before he gets too busy before Christmas.
With only six weeks to go until he starts the mammoth journey, his team in Lapland are beginning to prepare to deliver presents all around the world.
His elves at the Royal Mail will help by sending off letters to the North Pole from children throughout the country.
But to make sure they get a reply from Father Christmas, children need to send their letters by no later than Friday, December 9.
They should include their name and address so he can write back.
The correct address on a stamped address envelope is: Santa/Father Christmas, Santa’s Grotto, Reindeerland, XM4 5HQ.
Alex McConnell, Santa’s chief elf at the Royal Mail, ensures children’s letters reach Reindeerland at the North Pole.
He said: “Royal Mail plays a special part at Christmas. We are proud that for over 50 years, Santa has allowed us to help manage the hundreds of thousands of special letters he receives from boys and girls across the country.”
Full details about Christmas mailing is available at www. royalmail.com/greetings
Do you ever have those moments when you wonder why nobody else has ever come up with the idea that’s just run through your head?
A member of the Nuts and Bolts Team woke up with a cold head one night last week and wondered why duvet manufacturers don’t make them just that little bit longer. Extensive research by our Duvet Investigations Team (DUT) has discovered that the average size of a UK duvet is 53 inches x 78 inches.
But for someone who is 6ft tall that means there’s only six inches to play with, so to speak!
Now if want to tuck your little tootsies in at the bottom of the bed the duvet will only probably reach to your chin so if duvet makers would make then a foot longer not only could we keep our toe piggies snug and warm but our bonces too.
Last month we mentioned how our Ashford correspondent Dennis Garland came to the rescue of one of the new town centre litter wardens who had accidentally dropped a screwed up piece of paper from her pocket.
He pointed out what had happened and she thanked him for telling her, as otherwise she might have had to give herself a ticket.
Dennis contacted us again to say: “Following my recent encounter with the Kingdom litter enforcement officer, I was amused to observe a poster in a side window of Ward & Partners estate agents saying ‘Leaflet dropper urgently required’. I hope whoever gets the job doesn’t drop the leaflets in the High Street!”
The villages around Ashford, generally, are fairly quiet, so much so that when anything untoward occurs it wouldn’t be unusual for one of our reporters out on patch on the trail of a potential scoop to be told by a resident: “It’s not the sort of thing you expect around here.”
But perhaps on second thoughts the ‘little happens’ tag is a bit misplaced. Last week there was a double shooting in High Halden and in the past couple of years there have also been various serious crimes committed and several cannabis growing ‘factories’ located on remote farms have been discovered.
So when this was discussed at Nuts and Bolts Towers last week one wag amongst us suggested the outlying areas heading towards Tenterden ought to be renamed the ‘Weald West’.
‘Another Ashford trait is parents who are massively aggressive when telling their children off’
Have you ever noticed how many parents in Ashford swear in front of their children? The ‘f’ word is commonplace in our shops and along the High Street.
Do these parents not realise that by using such language it will encourage their offspring to also use such words in common parlance when they are old enough to start talking properly.
And another Ashford trait is parents who are massively aggressive when telling their children off.
Again, do they not realise that shouting at their offspring probably only encourages them to shout at their friends, teachers etc.
A favourite memory of one of the N&B team was hearing a very angry mum losing her temper with her son in a crowded shopping centre and yelling at him: “I’ve told you a million f***ing times not to exaggerate!”