A fog descends over the holiday season and I am in the grip of a Christmas stupor – a yuletide fug. Since my works do on December 18th, I have drunk alcohol in the form of wine, Guinness or lager every day. My time zone has been realigned. I am waking each morning with a slightly groggy head, getting up by nine and going to bed at midnight – and it is all good. When we take a summer holiday, we have a complete break from the norm and this end of year fortnight is the same for me. Break the routine but also keep things moving. It has been a busy time. A Swedish Glöggparty got things underway, with plenty of good people, food and drink, which was followed the next day by my U11 football team’s final game of 2015 – resulting in a 3-2 defeat. Plenty to work on in our next training session!!
Hanging out in Tate Modern is always a pleasure and the Alexander Calder exhibition was a stand out display. I like to be able to follow an artist’s progression at an exhibition and his cosmic mobiles were a true rounding off of his life’s work. End of year time off is a good moment to get things done, like trading in your rickety old motor for a newer version, meaning you will be able to safely travel for more than two hours in the knowledge you will get from A to B without breaking down. This mission has been accomplished.
Our traditional Christmas Eve Movie, this year at the RichMix in Shoreditch, was preceded by a last visit of 2015 to the 24-hour Beigel Bake, which has featured in these hallowed pages on several occasions. My word, it was rammed, with the queue stretching out on to the street. There was a big call for Holiday Beigels!! After waiting for ten minutes, the announcement came that they had run out and to come back in one hour. One hour later, after a patient wait, I left with a bag of a dozen steaming beigels. That shop does a roaring trade.
This year’s Christmas film was naturallyStar Wars:The Force Awakens and what a fantastic film it was too. There was not the awful CGI of Episode 1, nor the sleep inducing Trade Federation nonsense of episode two and whilst Revenge of The Sithwas better, it never really felt like a Star Wars Movie. Anyway, we can forget all that, as The Force Awakens takes it back to being an action adventure movie set in a Galaxy Far Far Away. It was A New Hope for a new generation. With original characters and nods to story threads from the first three movies, The Force Awakens is future nostalgia at its best and I can’t wait to see Luke Skywalker in Episode 8 – Mark Hamill was looking good - as he takes on theObi Wan Kenobe role of guru and mentor to his daughter.
Christmas Day is always a good time. Presents are opened to the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack and calls made to family, before the kitchen action begins and the wine starts flowing. This year we had goose for the first time, rather than turkey. The bag that the goose came in said it would feed 8-10 people, which may be the case if half of those people are vegan. There was hardly any meat on the bird, meaning a serious lack of leftovers, which are an essential element of Christmas meals. The goose tasted fine but we are back on the turkey next year. After dinner, a fire was lit for the first time this winter, the wine kept coming and like a cotton headed ninny muggins, I fell asleep during Elf – another essential Christmas movie. My Christmas record this year was Gilles Peterson Presents Sun Ra And His Arkestra: To Those Of Earth... And Other Worlds - a selection of damn fine cosmic jazz – which is currently in my earphones as I write these words.
As is tradition, Boxing Day is for football and we went to watch our local non-league team, Dulwich Hamlet, magnificently beat Kingstonian by five goals to one. Hamlet are a regular past time for me and my boys and with our Premier League team, Aston Villa, being run into the ground by a clueless owner and board and relegation to the Championship virtually guaranteed, Dulwich will become a more regular event, until Villa sort themselves out, or at least until the 2016/17 Championship season gets underway. Going to Dulwich Hamlet is about watching good football and feeling connected to a club and community – another thing Villa have lost in recent years.
Sunday was the short journey to Canary Wharf in Docklands and ice skating for my boys. They love it. With the tropical winter we have been having, it did occur to me that they might be skating on slush but all was good. The thrill of going round and round on the ice holds a great pleasure for many - but not me. I have no sense of balance, perhaps due to being tall and lean and therefore my contribution is to sit with a beer and provide moral support. A visit to the ice rink never fails to go down well.
To avoid any hint of cabin fever, a trip to Herne Bay to see the in laws was Monday’s order of the day. Getting away to the coast is one of life's guaranteed good shouts, whatever the time of year and the Bay was busy – packed with people getting out, having a stroll and taking in the fresh sea air. I love the old and new of the British seaside. A crumbling pier stranded at sea, stands decrepit against the back drop of a legion of wind turbines, sails turning to provide local electricity – the new taking over from the old.
Right, that brings us up to date. As always, photographic evidence accompanies this post. Today has been a day of recharging and looking ahead to New Year. A gathering of neighbours is taking place tomorrow. As for now, some more episodes of Modern Family are calling and no alcohol has yet passed my lips, although the evening is still young. . .
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