Tension builds to fan the kipper
Christmas Eve in Waitrose: people were crawling over the shelves like locusts in one last manic rush. We called at the butcher's for the turkey and a joint of pork and I drove over to Guildford to get some flowers. I like doing the flower arranging at Christmas.
By 10.30am everything was done. The sales had already started in Guildford. It's as if people can't wait to get things over with before they move on to the next thing. Christmas is a time to savour things, to take time out and have some long conversations that shouldn't need to end in a hurry.
Yet, according to some reports, some 3.7m people will be shopping online on Christmas Day. I can understand how some get itchy feet on Boxing Day after 24-hours with the relatives, but there really ought to be a law against shopping on Christmas Day.
Tension is building for our annual "fan the kipper" contest. Will the silver rabbit go to Yorkshire this year, or will it stay in Surrey?
Otherwise, after getting rid of the mother of bad moods that has made life miserable for the rest of the family these past few days, I am beginning to mellow. The dog is clean and white and all is well with the world. That just leaves me time to wish all those in blogging land, wherever you are, whatever your persuasion, my best wishes for Christmas and the New Year. If there is anything you have missed in that last trip to the shops, forget it, it doesn't matter. The best things in life are improvised.
Postscript: The Silver Rabbit resides again in Surrey after various protests of foul play against the eventual winner (me) were rejected by the organising body (also me). There were fears that uncertainty over the outcome could drag on in to the next year, undermining the sport of kipper fanning, but the organiser chose to draw a line under this year's controversies reminiscent of the damaging kipper knobbling scandal that marred contests in the late 1990s. In a brief statement, I said: "The future of the sport is more important than any petty squabbling."
By 10.30am everything was done. The sales had already started in Guildford. It's as if people can't wait to get things over with before they move on to the next thing. Christmas is a time to savour things, to take time out and have some long conversations that shouldn't need to end in a hurry.
Yet, according to some reports, some 3.7m people will be shopping online on Christmas Day. I can understand how some get itchy feet on Boxing Day after 24-hours with the relatives, but there really ought to be a law against shopping on Christmas Day.
Tension is building for our annual "fan the kipper" contest. Will the silver rabbit go to Yorkshire this year, or will it stay in Surrey?
Otherwise, after getting rid of the mother of bad moods that has made life miserable for the rest of the family these past few days, I am beginning to mellow. The dog is clean and white and all is well with the world. That just leaves me time to wish all those in blogging land, wherever you are, whatever your persuasion, my best wishes for Christmas and the New Year. If there is anything you have missed in that last trip to the shops, forget it, it doesn't matter. The best things in life are improvised.
Postscript: The Silver Rabbit resides again in Surrey after various protests of foul play against the eventual winner (me) were rejected by the organising body (also me). There were fears that uncertainty over the outcome could drag on in to the next year, undermining the sport of kipper fanning, but the organiser chose to draw a line under this year's controversies reminiscent of the damaging kipper knobbling scandal that marred contests in the late 1990s. In a brief statement, I said: "The future of the sport is more important than any petty squabbling."
Labels: Christmas Eve, fan the kipper, kipper knobbling, locusts, silver rabbit, Surrey, West Yorkshire Regiment
posted by Richard Donkin at
3:16 PM
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