Clearing the decks

Well, thank god that's over. I never want to have to go through that again. The first time in his whole 41 years that we didn't see our son in person at Christmas.

We had a nice Christmas lunch and lots of treats and picky bits but it all seemed a bit hollow and pointless.  

Decorations and tree were taken down yesterday morning. Yep, all cleared away on Boxing Day. I couldn't bear it any longer - it felt as though all the reminders of Christmas were mocking us, saying "Look at what you should have had"; so it's all put back in the boxes and safely stashed away until next year. If we're still in the same situation next December I won't need a new winter coat, I'll be sporting a straitjacket.

The Queen's speech on TV hit exactly the right note; made me cry when she said "All many people want is a hug or the touch of a hand". She may be the Queen but she's also a Mum and a Grandma - it's the first time in many years that she and Prince Philip have spent Christmas alone. She's 94 and he's 99; how many more Christmases do they have left to share with their family? 

Much of the south and east of the country has now gone into Tier 4, but I think this is only a prelude to full lockdown. A little thought... if lockdown works, why didn't the first one or the second one do the trick? Well, because they don't bloody work, that's why!!

Just to rub salt in the wound of 2020, some poor devils were flooded out of their homes over Christmas... and, as if that's not bad enough, we had a hell of a storm last night, a howling wind and driving rain battering the windows. Christ, haven't we suffered enough? Why not bring on the plague of frogs and have done with it?

The best thing about 2020 was the lovely afternoon tea we had with The Troops to celebrate Mr S-V's birthday in January; after that the year went steadily downhill and quickly turned into an unremitting nightmare. I'll be glad to see the back of it.