Tuesday’s tactless labelling of my relatives as ‘old’ notwithstanding, Christmas IS a time for visiting. We usually get to Mum and Dad’s on the day itself, but not often bruv’s as well – although I do remember managing ‘the double’ in 2012. Lovely to see everyone obviously, but also rather pleasing to get several rounds of food – a bit like the Vicar of Dibley, but not so unwilling (and no sprouts!).
The knock-on effect of this giddy social whirl was that by the time I got home I was both so drained and so full that I left the Doctor Who Christmas Day Special until Boxing Day. Inevitably there was some suggestion I should hand my anorak back but I got away with it – only to end up doing the very same thing five years later! Meaning I gave Peter Capaldi’s Doctor an extra day and let him breathe his last on the 26th instead.
It was curiously appropriate. He was announced as the new Who live on BBC1 in 2013, the same day I’d agreed to take my daughter and her friend to the cinema. I meticulously checked the film times, made sure I had time to drop them off, drive home to see the announcement, and pick them up again. Not so meticulously, I forgot to check which cinema they were going to…
It turned out to NOT be the one fifteen minutes down the road, but the one an hour or so away. Meaning I didn’t get to watch the live reveal, but the recording some hours later. (Meaning also that I spent the evening in a carpark metaphorically (and later, when my phone started pinging, literally) with my fingers in my ears going lalalalala.)
Sometimes it’s nice to give people a bit of your time.
Andrew Curnow's Ramblings 