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The Grinch stole Christmas. Ah well. At least he kept it as a last minute surprise so that we have ordered in food for 6 adults and 2 kids. I am sure the 2 adults and 2 kids that are left will be able to get through it. My 3 year old is just going to have to get used to stinky French cheese and wine.
As always, we will be fine, but fucking Hell, what a balls-up with serious consequences for some.
If Boris can just announce that every family member has to isolate in their bedroom all Christmas Day then it will be perfect for me. But even though he doesn’t have to look after his own kids, the rest of us will have to.
I am actually looking forward to a Christmas with just the four of us - it would just have been nice if there had been a realistic assessment slightly earlier. But I feel pretty sure that the economy was the main consideration and Boris wanted us to spend for a medium family Christmas, even though he knew we wouldn’t be getting it. And if he didn’t know, then I guess he’s just incompetent.
It’s essentially the start of lockdown 3, so I was lucky to get one more chance to take my daughter to her gym lesson. We listened to the Muppet Christmas Carol soundtrack in the car. I am SO familiar with these songs and the film that it’s crazy that anything new can grab me, but this year’s favourite song for both kids is Marley and Marley and somehow a bit of it that I don’t think I’ve really noticed before is really making me laugh. Although Marley and Marley are bemoaning their fate, when they talk about evicting the kids from the orphanage they can’t help but laugh at the memory, which is fine, but then they shudder as they realise that this is what has caused their misery. They have learned nothing. It’s great.
I am also a big fan of the brass section throughout the album, but especially in this song and find myself wondering about them and what they’re up to now and if they’re still alive. And how they were feeling on the day of recording. Was this just another job for them (if so, well done, cos you fucking nailed it) or if they thought, maybe people will be listening to this in 30 years time.
Ah man, it’s a great film and you get some extra songs on the album and I am very upset that Honeydew and Beaker’s catchy little number about the possibility of change didn’t make the film. Was it ever filmed even? Is there an extra somewhere? (Ah Film Stories get to the bottom of it -
of course they do)
In other news because we are now getting vegetables delivered weekly by one of those companies that give you whatever there have in stock we’ve been having to deal with beetroot. It was, for a long time, the one food that I refused to eat. I had hated it in a fussy childhood, when I hated anything but a few staples, but couldn’t bring myself to eat it as an adult, except when it turned up hidden in meals in posh restaurants. I am not sure I’d ever eaten it as a kid, but was put off by the slimy stuff in jars.
But rather than waste it I have started to roast it in chunks with paprika and chilli flakes and I have to say, it’s not bad. You have the fun of looking like a murderer when you’re preparing it (with blood-stained knife and fingers) and a next day consequence much worse than you get with asparagus, which is particularly alarming if you don’t immediately recall having eaten it. So it makes you know how it feels to be killed and to be on the road to death from some awful stomach tumour, all in one meal. I recommend it. It tastes OK and will give you an existential crisis. You can’t ask more of a food.
