It’s been a pretty good week, in spite of the best Storm Barra could throw at us. Again, it mostly hammered the north and west of the country but we also had lashings of rain and gusty winds. I wonder if there’s anything in this Climate Change stuff? We’ve had two major storms in just over two weeks – Storm Arwen and now Storm Barra. At this rate they’re going to run out of letters of the alphabet by about next June.
We had a lovely day out last Saturday with Lucy and Annabelle – we went to see the Christmas lights and decorations at Blenheim Palace in Woodstock. It was terrific. The palace interior was decorated out in a Nutcracker theme with some sensational displays. There was also a Christmas market with lots of good eating options as well as a mini-fun fair with carrousel, swinging boats and a helter skelter. All good fun. Then, as it began to get dark, we set off on the light trail around the palace grounds. Oh my goodness! What a show. A dazzling display of lights and colours and sounds. It took us about an hour to wander along the whole trail and it was nothing short of sensational. Thank you!
Adam, Ava and Jessie had their own pre-Christmas outing. Last weekend they travelled up to London to visit with friends and take Jessie to the Hyde Park Winter Wonderland. From the photos we saw they also had a great time!
It’s been Christmas Nativity plays this week. Lucy and Penny were able to go along to Annabelle’s on Thursday night. She had a very large part and a solo and by all reports was terrific. Jessie’s was also this week and she had a very important line about the landlord’s cat remarking that something special was going to happen. As you can see, she delivered it flawlessly apart from the hiccup in the middle.
It’s difficult to hear what went on but she started her line, hiccupped in the middle and then said, “Oops! Pardon me.” which caused much hilarity amongst the audience. She then delivers the line again and sits down to a generous round of applause. Yep, that’s our Jessie.
We got our Christmas tree this week – it’s a beauty. Penny decorated it and once again we found this wonderful Angel to go on the top.
Now all we need is for the Omicron Covid variant to stay away from our household and those we love so that we can actually enjoy Christmas together this year.
Speaking of which, the PM finally announced some enhanced precautions due to the accelerating spread of the Omicron variant. Those who can are encouraged to work from home but still there’s no restrictions on gathering in pubs or other crowded indoor venues and no one should cancel their plans for Christmas gatherings. As John Crace put it in the Guardian:
Is there anything dafter than being encouraged to work from home while also being urged to go out and get trashed with your friends at an office party?
John Crace, The Guardian
Too little, too late once again.
And, speaking as we were of Covid restrictions, I am guessing most of you will have seen or at least heard about this week’s “You Could Not Make It Up” moment. In short, news broke of a Christmas party in Downing Street last year when all such gatherings were forbidden. Of course, the story was denied (and denied, and denied) by the PM and every minister who was trotted out to do the media rounds. A few days later a video emerged of Allegra Stratton delivering a “mock” interview in her role as the PM’s press spokesperson in which she and the “interviewer” laughed and joked about the party they’d had the previous Friday which, according to the PM, never happened. She resigned the following day (but interestingly no one else has) and it’s now emerged that there are a number of additional gatherings (not parties) now under investigation for having broken the Covid rules. But, according to the PM, no rules were broken. One might ask, why then did Allegra Stratton resign if no rules were broken? Who knows?
You want more examples of You Could Not Make It Up? How about the Justice Minister, Dominic Rabb, when he was trotted out to do the media rounds saying that there would be no police investigation into the party which did not happen because the police do not normally investigate crimes which have taken place in the past. Yes, you read that correctly. According to Rabb, the police only investigate crimes which have yet to take place. I guess he’s never watched any of the crime-related programs on television where the police investigate a crime which has already taken place! What will they think of next?
You really, really, could not make this stuff up.
Meanwhile, keep happy, keep smiling, keep isolating as much as you can, wear a f**king facemask when you go out and keep your distance. And keep safe.
Lots of love to you all,
Greg