Families unite and give each other gifts,
but who’s around to fill the holiday shifts?

I’ll give you a clue; he’s handsome as can be,
he’s bold, he’s bright, he’s got a clicky knee.

Sadly he’s at work, slaving away,
but on a rate double his normal pay.

So don’t feel bad as you eat your turkey meal,

I am back! And I am sorry for being gone. I have written a poem to explain my absence as well I can. (Enjoy the poem!).

It is all true but now I am “back on the net” as footballers often say. Something like that anyway. I will update with what I’ve been up to and reply to all your e-mails and messages soon (within the next five months… lol I’m kidding)… (“just kidding” in that it will be sooner than that – not that I will never update!). : )

Chad B adds cool little drawings inbetween the clues but refuses to draw the bonus picture :(	Chere P gives me a big bow tie and even bigger gums. I love it. Very handsome.	Dan C did this one of me with a moustache. I can't really grow a moustache so I was very happy to see this rendition of what I would look like with one!
Garrett M will surely win the Christmas themed crossword with this entry!	Headless Chicken definitely makes me look the coolest I have ever been. Except maybe in Garretts because it's snowing (hoho)!	Jacqui R get bonus accuracy points for guessing correctly that I like ice cream however minus accuracy points for the hair!
ARRRRRRGGGGHHHH Kelsy D!!!	Mr Paul makes me look like Pierce Bronhon.	Scott B draws and does a poem for bonus points :) (hope you enjoyed your food).

But the winner was (after much deliberation and checking, double checking and triple checking of answers) because of the lovely use of colour and because I unquestionably look very handsome (even more so than Tom Cruise!)… another drumroll please…

Danae! (imagine that e has two dots above it – I don’t know how to do it with my keyboard!)

Danae (with two dots) didn’t specify what she wanted her prize to be so I haven’t done it yet! Let me know. Here are two more entries that didn’t fit in the convenient 3×3 grid up there!

Ray wins the award for creativity in his answers :)

Cierra N did this one which I think is a close up of me in a lime green pinstripe suit!

Thank you again to everyone who entered and I’m sorry there is only one winner! There’ll be a new competition soon though I’m sure.

On with the update!

I was lying in bed last night thinking about what to have for breakfast in the morning. The choice was toast, a banana, yoghurt or cereal. Needless to say, I couldn’t sleep! In the end I had to go on my Facebook page and ask people to tell me boring stories to send me to sleep. I got as far as Francesca who said,

I didn’t go to school today because I had laundry done.

(thanks Francesca!) but it was almost 3am by then so I was still very tired in the morning. If you are still awake here is what happened!

I will sleep well tonight :) Also, in case you were wondering, I had a banana and a cup of tea!

You’re probably thinking, “it’s a pigeon, Peter!” and you’re right – in fact that’s exactly what I thought when I saw him – but have a closer look…

It was a one toed pigeon. It had a stump, and then another stump with a toe sticking out of it. I immediately felt sad because he probably couldn’t understand why he couldn’t perch as well other pigeons so I wrote him this poem:

The picture at the end is him with one of my miniature cheese biscuits I gave him in case the poem didn’t cheer him up enough.

I decided to make it a little fairer this time too by taking into account timezones – people might be asleep when this post goes up, but some people might be having breakfast or about to have a bath or in bed (the perfect times to do a crossword). I thought about asking people to time themselves and send in their time along with solutions but obviously some people might not have a stopwatch. So instead, because Beatriz set the standard last time, there’s an added task to complete! Follow the instructions in green (read from 1 across, clockwise round the square). This time it’s not the first person to send it in but a combination of speed, skill and craft. Bonus points will be awarded the more ’6 down’ you make it!

The prize is yours for the picking this time! Here are the options:

• A portrait of yourself or someone else based on a photo or description you supply.
• A poem about you or someone else based on a description you supply.

or…

• THE MYSTERY PRIZE!

Here’s the address to send answers to: peter.peel@hotmail.com

Good luck! :)

I checked my e-mails and I had over 10! One of favourites was this one from someone called Cherylin – thank you Cherylin! (At this point you should look to the right before reading the paragraph below).

No-one has ever written me a poem before! While it is not explicitly romantic I cannot help but feel it rates very highly on the scale of the most romantic things that have ever happened to me in my life so far :) To find out about THE most romantic thing that has ever happened to me, read the comic below!

Also, if you wouldn’t mind, please share what your most romantic moment is and we can compare them all; it will be really interesting.

(If you’d rather not say your most romantic moment I understand as it could be quite personal).

Please share your similar stories in the comments! :)

Then I point to the storeroom.

One day I’d like to do this though…

That would be eggsellent :o) but usually in reality the comic would end about halfway through :(

No-one has asked me this before which makes it an exciting question after a bit of a boring day. Sooo I have drawn a picture of a ghost and put it next to a picture of me by way of a comparison.

I can see what Andrew means with regards to my arms and possibly my eyes but I think that if I were to walk in your room at night you would probably not shout, “ARRRGGH! GHOOOOOooooST!”  but instead say, “Ahhhhhhh, Peter, is that some tooooooast?!” (or call the police because I am in your room – sorry).

I have, however, spent a little time coming up with a picture of me which I think is the closest I will ever look to being a real ghost – I can’t imagine how this would come about… perhaps through the madness that will surely grip my mind as I while away my days making sure grocery products are at the very front of shelves with their labels facing the front; this is called ‘facing up’ o__o I think it has double meaning because it comprises of ‘facing up’ a shelf while having plenty of brain time to face up to how little you like ‘facing up’! Anyway here is the picture!

Her basket total was £6.66 and she paid with the EXACT CHANGE.

It was a bit like that bit in Harry Potter where Professor Trelawney goes all weird and predicts the future. I don’t think she was predicting the future though, she was just mistaken most likely. I find it strange that she was once a normal girl who boys probably used to fancy in school at one point. Unless she went to an all girls school in which case maybe one of the girls did. That kind of thing was frowned upon back then though I think. I hope I never end up scary like her. From now on I will add my basket total up as I go along and buy a Freddo Frog or a Curly Wurly or something if it comes to £6.66.