The chicken or the fish?

So xmas survived (just). Thought my beloved was dying at one point but it was either a stomach bug or too much brandy cream on the xmas pudding. He lives.
Now Grandma is ill! This part of winter really has been one long list of bugs and illnesses and I'd worry about my cooking/hygiene/mattresses if it wasn't for the fact that, judging by radio dedications, everyone else seems to having the same sort of run (as it were, oh Frankie Howerd, where are you when we need you). Plus there are other things to worry about (like assassinations, nuclear power stations and babies being eaten by dogs).
But all that taken into account I still wonder - will we make it to the New Year party (on the 2nd in fact)? We had a NYP for the first time last year and it was one of my favourite days of the whole year. I love old-fashioned parties with kids and whoever turns up of every age just messing about and eating and singing and drinking (but not like the nightclub drinking of days and nights gone by...). These parties are more like weddings (without the boring bit) or funerals (without the sad bit). You get the idea.
So fingers crossed we make it to the 2nd without any more problems. And happy new year.

Will you just cheer up?

So..school broke up and of course Xmas is now underway. And it's not so bad. So I'll cheer up. I've got my Radiohead poem out of the way (see MySpace blog) and that got rid of some lingering thoughts on misery too.
I think I find Xmas odd because it's the 'family holiday' and family has always been such an odd subject for me (and I know I'm not alone there). That and the whole religious angle (why do people find those particular stories so appealing? A simple question..a simplistic one...but still a question).
That's why I've always preferred New Year. Dancing, late nights, friends, snogging people you barely know (well, not the last bit anymore but that's certainly what it used to mean)...that's much more my kind of holiday.
Survive Xmas and Happy New Year anybody.

And so this is Xmas...

And so it is. Schools break up in about 20 minutes which leaves me approximately 15 minutes of humbug time left and then I will be dragged, kicking and screaming I assure you, into happy xmas mode by my very excited 7 year old. 'Can you believe it's just 4 days til Xmas?', 'Can you believe it's just 3 days til Xmas?' etc. Yes I can, yes I can. There seems to have been a lot of stuff this year about sensible xmas shopping and all that but no-one's told the under 10s...they still want piles of tat and Santa egg cups and Santa socks and anything and everything with Santa on it. Luckily I have lots of daft friends who buy these things for my daughter so (a) I don't have to and (b) she doesn't have to feel deprived of tat as a result.
It is time to put away other topics like poetry (my life? feels like it sometimes) and get on with bloody chestnut stuffing and bloody mince pies. I'm not usually this humbugified...I think it's probably just the season of flu and colds that seems to have been non-stop since...it started. Could be worse... I could be in hospital like my good friend Forbes (star of the Montrose Review!). Hope you're home for Xmas, Forbes, and sorry to any readers for any unpleasant grumbling. I am cheering up...5 minutes and counting...

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my

I felt I should finish the thought and say how well aforementioned small girl did in her part as the lion. She was just gorgeous and so were the other 100+ kids. Just don't mention the parents...lions and tigers and...well, you get the idea.

Even I managed without the magical transporting footwear and got to Edinburgh by train (and back - without ridiculous incident) for the Poetry Pamphlet Xmas Fair. It was a day when things worked - the trains were on time and not packed, it didn't rain (despite the forecast), I found a possible new place for cards, I picked up 'Northwords Now' and there was a great review of 'Pushing out the boat' with the kind of lovely namecheck that makes a person quite giddy, the pamphlet fair was lively and friendly (well, mostly...you can never get on with all the people all the time), my cards have been selling well in the Poetry Library, I met some really nice interesting people on the train, Edinburgh was looking as beautiful as a city ever can...What a day. The kind of day that makes you think the world isn't that terrifying after all.

And now home. Peace. Quiet. Might even manage to think about something other than errands (messages?) and tea and school and animal costumes.

Put 'em up, put 'em up

My little girl is being the cowardly lion in her class xmas mini-version of the 'Wizard of Oz'. She is nervous and I know this because she keeps telling me 'I'm really nervous now'.
Funny how hard you try to get your offspring to be better than you but most of the time you're wasting your time...they will be what they will be. Some will be nervous, some will be pushy, some will make huge disastrous mistakes, some will find life a breeze (there are people like that..I've read about them). As ever I am doing my best not to be nervous about...so many things it would be tiresome to list them. Cowardly lion indeed...
Could really use the ruby red slippers for getting about and avoiding crowds too.