Well that’s that.

I must confess I much prefer Christmas Eve to the day itself.

On Friday, neighbours called in and all was well there. No sooner had they left when Daughter and her partner arrived and spent the afternoon. It was all very quiet, pleasant and convivial.

The tree looks well as it is in the corner of the round window so it is reflected in a riot of lights off each window pane. When you count all the reflections and the reflections of reflections I ended up with a couple of dozen trees.

That evening we watched a programme on television. It consisted of various people reminiscing about past Christmases and how times have changed. It was actually a good programme [for a change] and brought back great memories of our own past. At one stage they talked about the booze cruises when Duty Free was introduced on all ferries. They showed people grabbing armfuls of booze and cartons of fags. Joe Duffy was presenting that piece and he turns to the camera – “can you imagine that?” says he in a tone of utter amazement. “People actually buying cigarettes as presents [he paused for effect] that would kill them!”. I always disliked Duffy but the sanctimonious, overweight, smug cunt has sunk to a new low.

Yesterday was a fucking fiasco. It wouldn’t have been too bad if the weather had held off but it pissed rain solidly all day without remission. So we pulled the blinds and tried to ignore the rain. But of course the roof leaked. And it leaked in spectacular style. I spent the day emptying pans and pots from various strategic locations in the bathroom, not to mention mopping up all the splashes and puddles from the lesser leaks.

I should mention [if I haven’t before] that this is a complicated leak. Water gets in at the water tank on the roof which has a temporary repair that I set up a while back. The repair works well unless there is a particular weather condition – very heavy rain combined with a southerly wind.

Yesterday we had very heavy rain combined with a southerly wind.

The day was somewhat redeemed by a present I got from Good Family Friend – a bottle of Paddy and a whiskey glass with rocks. I confess that in all my seventy one years of debauchery I had never heard of whiskey rocks. But now I’m the proud possessor of four granite specimens. They had a fine and multiple baptism.

Today I have a glorious task ahead. First I have to empty our indoor recycling bin into the outdoor recycling bin to make room for the pile of paper, cardboard and packaging that’s cluttering up the kitchen. Then I have the washing up to do which frankly amazes me. How the fuck are there so many plates, pots, pans, mugs and cutlery? There’s only the two of us but it looks like I have fed an army. The only thing to be grateful for is that there isn’t a revolting cold turkey carcass to clutter the place up. Neither of us likes turkey so that’s one blessing.

At least now we can get on with the rest of our lives.