Two Things

I have this really vivid memory from when I was about 4 or 5. It was 1982 and the occasion of Charles and Dianas wedding, and the whole street came out to have a street party. There were paste tables down the road, streamers strewn between the lamposts, balloons tied to every tree and food as far as the eye can see. I also remember that the colours of the time were much akin to the washed-out hues that you get in cinefilm from 25 years ago. Strange that.

Anyway. I was very young so there's a good chance that my memory is slightly distorted and, allowing for the child perspective inflation, there's also a good chance that it wasn't as exciting as I recall... but what I'm sure of was the atmosphere. The whole street had come out to celebrate, as was the style at the time, and I really felt like part of a community.

I think that's what's missing from Christmas these days... the sense that it's voluntary. There was no law that insisted we have a street party to celebrate a royal wedding, we just did because we wanted to. Nowadays Christmas feels so much like an obligation I find it very hard to believe that any sane adult over 20 would want to continue it. We're bashed so mercilessly over the head with 3 months of crimbo advertising and seasonal enforcement that when the day comes you just want it to be over with so we can go back to feeling normal again.

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I got this email from my Dad the other day in reference to the trouble I was having buying my sister a present:

"Just a thought if you're stuck for a prezzie for Kerry.
Use Tesco cos they're cheapest. How about something for the kitchen as she likes cooking - perhaps a bottle or two of exotic cooking oils or a utensil or cool apron or summat like that?"

The next day I get a phone call from my sister asking me if I'd like some nice cooking oils, or perhaps a nice utensil for the kitchen as I'm "into cooking now."

Oh father, never let it be said you're not practical.