One of my lovely readers has left me a comment saying she loves my blog and my book reviews but also 'I love your humorous vignettes of everyday occurrences.' I think this is a very polite and kind way of saying she enjoys my rants as I think vignette is too nice a word to describe me when I get going, but I thank you! I promise that there will be many such in the year ahead.
I shall be reviewing some books as well...
Well, may as well start the year as I mean to go with on with a vignette of my New Year's Eve. I am a miserable old bag when it comes to Christmas, New Year and all the enforced jollity attached to it all. Oh I had a lovely Christmas Day with my family and feel blessed that I have this privilege when there are so many lonely people in the world, but the fuss and sheer hard work attached to it all, the pushing and shoving in the shopping centres (did most of my shopping on line this year) and the mad panic that we might run out of milk, drink, cream, mince pies etc when most shops are open on Boxing Day and we only have to last 24 hours before the Londis on the corner has its shutters up, drives me mad. It seems a collective panic takes over. I used to be just the same so not taking the moral high ground here but my Epiphany came one Christmas when I went to the supermarket with my daughters for the Christmas Shop. My husband, as usual, abnegated all responsibility for Christmas so it fell to me. It was so horrendously crowded that the check out queues were running down the aisles so it was impossible to get at anything. In the end I parked Kathryn and Helen in a queue with the empty trolley while I slithered in an out of the crowds, crawled between legs and climbed over shoulders to get what I wanted, hurled it into the trolley and then went back for more. By the time I had done this we were heading for the top of the queue. Even so it was a slow process and I remember glancing to my left and seeing a lady standing reading Teach Yourself Russian and could only imagine that she would be fluent by the time she got out of the store.
Then and there I decided this was not for me and I planned accordingly in the years that followed. Now that I live on my own, no decorations go up and I don't have a Christmas tree. I put the Christmas cards out which I receive and have a little wooden crib to remind me the proper reason for all this brouhaha, a potted plant festive style and that is that.
So in keeping with this Scrooge like tendency I stay in on New Year's Eve. Now please don't think that this attitude has crept up on me with age, oh no, I have always been like this and now that I can do as I please, well I do. The feeling that as it is 31 December 'We WILL go out and enjoy ourselves' is all too much to bear and so I stayed indoors and after all the rich food of the previous few days, cooked myself egg and chips with a cup of tea. I also rented two highly intellectual films, Aliens and Cowboys and Battle LA and settled down with the remote control and feet up. Aliens and Cowboys did what it said on the tin and I must say was huge fun and I really enjoyed it. Daniel Craig was James Bond with a US accent and a black hat and the curmudgeonly Colonel of the town was played by curmudgeonly Harrison Ford in a performance that I can only imagine he phoned in.
Battle LA - world being invaded by nasty aliens with nasty space machines and again fun. It was all a bit gung ho and I thought it might end up going wildly over the top but it didn't. OK it was full of cliches, the grizzled old Sergeant being put under the command of a young out of training school lieutenant who you just know is going to cock it up and redeem himself by a hero's death etc etc but done with enormous panache and the pace and excitement never let up and I found myself really enjoying it.
So my New Year's eve meant I had good food, enjoyable films, I was in the warm and didn't have to worry about how I was going to get home and I watched Big Ben strike the hour and then the fantastic firework display by the London Eye. Quite spectacular. Off to bed a happy bunny.
However, I am now sitting here with tickle in the throat, sore hot eyes and a general feeling of malaise so perhaps this is the Gods way of getting back at me for being such a pain.
Happy New Year everyone and my thanks for all your support, visits, comments and kind words in 2011. Long may they continue.
