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| Cezar, responsible for my wonderful Christmas dinner! |
Jan van Eyckplein nearby, early
on Christmas morning.
Still rather tired on
Christmas Day from too many tasks [all small scale] to be done on
Christmas Eve, Surprisingly perhaps, I enjoyed my first solo
Christmas very much, buoyed up no doubt by the HOURS I spent chatting
on Facetime. Without that electronic wizardry, the day would have
been different. My Christmas dinner from Cezar was even better than
expected! Lobster soup with rouille and croutons first followed by hare
with truffles and tasty mash and completed with a wonderful
Mascarpone Pavlova with cherry liqueur. Accompanied by a miniature champagne, a gift from
Lieven, my personal trainer. Nothing much like the huge family
traditional Christmas blow-out with turkey or goose, compulsory
Brussel sprouts plus roast potatoes and other veg followed by
Christmas pudding, The trad. British festive fare is much loved with
a huge pull on the collective British imagination and will
undoubtedly have been greatly enjoyed by all my family yesterday. SO
my own Christmas was far from my normal for me but it was cordon bleu and immensely satisfying. Although I
did have an occasional pang for an M&S Luxury mince pie, warmed,
and my son’s family’s mention of pigs in blankets caused
momentary longing!
Oliver Cromwell,
Protector of Britain
on Christmas morning.
Protector of Britain
In spite of all, Covid did not cause the cancellation of Christmas which has survived intact since the Protectorate in the mid seventeenth century when Oliver Cromwell tried to banish the ceremony which leaned too much towards paganism. The Puritanical approach to life thankfully lasted only twenty long years! Since when strong men, aka Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, have studiously avoided the possibility of being labelled as “the first man since Cromwell to cancel Christmas….” Hence, or at least, one reason for Boris’s dithering about Tier restrictions leading up to The Main Event.
This
morning, as I plugged in the Christmas tree, put on carols by Harry
Christophers and The Sixteen and added water to my lovely red and
green bouquets, I mused on enjoying life physically alone. How
difficult many seem to find it and how pleasant it has chiefly been
for me. This happy state seems govern
ed
by having occasional
contacts
on phone or Ipad; beautiful
space in which to live;
projects to enjoy; food
and drink to imbibe though the latter is currently altered as I manage
a three day pre-colonoscopy diet, which is not difficult. Also, I
suspect, resilience and stoicism, perhaps easier to attain when old.
Boris
Plus,
of course, emails with titles like that from HuffPost UK, The
Brightside: “This email contains only uplifting news.” And again,
extras like my new book
by
Andy McSweeney, photographer par excellence, entitled, Brugge Landscapes: Unlocked for Light. Andy,
a Canadian married to a Brugge girl, has
transformed the Brugge Covid disaster into
a book of photographs which are all little works of art full
of light, space and the beauties of the landscape, both brick and
water. Then
I was delighted to find, on Christmas morning a Quentin Blake card
from my sister. She and I have long been Quentin fans!!
Could be my fav. Christmas card!
I
have given myself the luxury this morning of an opt-out from the
usual early walk; excuses include stormy, rainy weather; self-treat
for Christmas; lots of typing to do [and
that is currently slow and clumsy.]
Nails, professionally gelled, are loooong and my girl may not open
till February!
Obama
Post-morning
chores, personal and spatial, I gave myself the luxury of an early
and prolonged viewing online of Michael Cohen being interviewed about
Trump’s Mafia
boss, pardons
[interesting]
and
then an interview of Obama by
Trevor Noah on
The Daily Show.
Obama is doing numerous talk show interviews to publicise his current
700
page autobiography,
A
Promised Land.
I am reminded of Barack O’s eloquence, honesty, fluency, humour,
intellectual range, political savvy, essential goodness and fitness
for the office of Presidency. Also ponder on the fact that, during
his initial campaign to win the Democratic nomination for the
Presidential race in 2007/8 he had to have the highest level of
police protection [President level] because the number of threats to
his life were the largest ever recorded. The
interview also left me with considerable admiration for the skill of
Trevor Noah, the online journalist-presenter.
Trevor Noah
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| Andy McSweeney |
