A Merry Xmas to our readers.
It is grey, cold and wet here in London. I was in the centre the other day, and it was full of foreign tourists desperately looking for something to do, the usual drunks and beggars, and most people being impatient, rude or aggresive.
Ah, peace on Earth etc…
If I wrote a blog every day, I could fill it with stuff about Trump and about Brexit. But I don’t, and I try to avoid these two subjects for a variety of reasons.
It is more than a year since Mr Trump was elected President of the USA. No surprise to me, actually. I said at the time that the wall (remember that?) would be his downfall, because it was never going to be built, and it is a real, physical, tangible thing that even the stupidest people in the USA can understand. Trump was going to start on the building of the beautiful wall immediately, but here we are nearly a year since he was inaugurated and, nothing.
But, it has constantly gone from bad to worse for Mr T. There have been so many things that have been truly shocking about Trump, his staff and his family, too many to list, and why go over the old ground? But he is still there, and I, for one, do not want him to go. He is just too entertaining.
Brexit, Britain leaving the EU, is just a shambles. Mrs May is incompetent at best, and her Brexit minister David Davis is a smarmy man who just lies through his teeth. Here is a most recent example.
Has any progress been made? Very little, as far as we can tell, except the UK politicians like going over to the continent, presumably because the food is so nice.
Given all this incompetence, what do we have on the news here? Prince Harry (his real name is Henry but maybe that’s too hard) is getting married to an American actress (never heard of her). Mr Trump is not to be invited to the wedding, I guess. For several days the other week, all the wars, famine, destruction and nastiness of life stopped because the happy couple were walking in a garden.
It’s the Princess Diana legacy, except she was never ever ‘Princess Diana’. She was Lady Diana Spencer, married and became Princess of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall, Duchess of Rothesay, and Countess of Chester. Then she divorced and became Diana, Princess of Wales as a courtesy title.
Not that any of it matters…
Members of my close family go out for their Xmas dinner, either to a pub or a hotel. In fact, a lot of people do. I am sure they have good reasons, and it’s always nice to get someone else to cook food for you so you can drink and socialise. As a single person, I stay at home.
I often ask my family, did you have a nice dinner. The answer is always some variation of:
in other words, not great.
I am sure the places they go to produce a decent meal, though the prices can be high. I am sure some actually roast turkey, but I can believe that many others simply buy in ready prepared food. After all, it’s cheaper, easier and more likely to give consistent results.
Unless the place you are visiting is local, someone has to drive, and therefore not drink, or you need to book a taxi at a high price.
And of course they want you out promptly. Yes, they are taking in plenty of money, but if you’re sitting round chatting and not spending, they will want you out, either to let their staff go or for their own family dinner.
After a lot of years, you would think that people who like to eat out at Xmas would know what to expect.
