Since I was here last we've lost Boris as PM (thank god!), lost Truss as the subsequent PM (she might have turned out to be ok but her MPs gave her the boot) and laughably, we now have the useless Rishi (why are his clothes too small?) as the third PM since the end of the summer. Don't ask...
Sadly, HM the Queen died at the beginning of September. At the age of 96 it wasn't a surprise but it was still a shock. Most people had never known this country without her as Monarch. It still seems strange.
Meanwhile, Covid has all but been forgotten despite the best efforts of the media and the NHS to keep it relevant; unsurprisingly, the NHS is continuing to use Covid as the best excuse it can find for being relentlessly useless. Nothing new there, then.
The scorching days of summer seem long ago. It's now winter, it's cold, the sun sets at around 4pm and Christmas is approaching at speed. There was even Christmas music on the radio today!
Best of all, given that it's December the 1st, we've made a start on the "treats" drawer in the kitchen which is full of nice little bits and pieces to have with an afternoon cuppa; well, there's no way I'm waiting until Dec 24th before I dive into the goodies!
Today's little treat was a slice of stollen - I've never made one and I'm never likely to; why bother when Waitrose does them so well?
This year Waitrose and M&S will be doing most of the heavy lifting in the kitchen as mobility issues have become a bit of a problem for me. Kitchen chores have to be broken down into small chunks so I shall only be making the things I really want to.
Obviously, that includes a Nut Roast Wellington for when The Troops come for lunch on Christmas Eve, and a tray of Not Sausage Rolls. No Christmas at this house would be complete without them!
I've already made the usual batch of Freeze-ahead Roast Potatoes which really are the best thing since sliced bread; they're snuggled up in the freezer along with red cabbage and desserts from Waitrose.
I saw a nice recipe the other day for sprouts stir-fried with chilli and crème fraiche - I'd post a link if I could remember where I saw the damn thing!
As usual it will all creep up on me and I'll say, as I always do, that next year I'd like to do something different or maybe we could just ignore Christmas altogether. Then next year comes around... and off we go again!