Such a busy day. Woke up in time to do battle with the Odeon about the mis-booked tickets before Sal and Dan arrived. They were very nice about it (the Odeon, that is). After 8 minutes of bad Christmas music a woman at the other end checked the booking and confirmed I was in for the wrong film. She cancelled it for me, and tried to amend the booking, but by then the only seats left in Lord of the Rings were at one end of the very front row, so I said I wouldn’t bother. I ended up booking the UCI in Basildon, which was much easier, if a little less convenient to get to.

Sal and Dan arrived when I was in the middle of steaming the veg for my meat-free lasagne, and so by the time I’d done that, set the table and settled everyone down with drinks there wasn’t any time to do presents before lunch.

I stupidly didn’t think to get the stuff to make the cheesy sauce that goes into a lasagne so just filled it with cheese and hoped it would be OK. In the end, it was, and we were soon unwrapping, feeling very full. Oscar was singularly uninterested in the paper - unlike Jess who loves it all. Oscar seemed more interested in the ribbon, which struck me as a far better choice, anyway.

We were all feeling pretty groggy by then, so went out to Battlesbridge to look at the antiques market. It was shut, so instead we jumped on the ice of the frozen puddles in the pot holes in the car park and then drove on to the reservoir in Hanningfield. It was also shut. At this time of the year, the sign said, it’s only open Monday to Friday, and as that’s when everyone works I guess there’s very little chance of anyone going there for a walk in winter.

We ended up back in Galleywood for a cold stroll across the common to a pub.

It was shut.

We came back home and ate cake, flopping in front of the telly until it was time to eat again, then spending the evening in front of Graham Norton and Frank Skinner.

I never normally watch TV. Well, not much, anyway. Half an hour a week, most weeks. This week has been a real eye-opener. The ads come around again and again so quickly. It drives you insane. There’s only one decent one on, apparently, where a reindeer twiddles its antlers to get a better picture on the telly. Carlsberg, I think. The rest are for furniture sales or indegestion tablets, neither of which I need.

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