Categories: uncategorized
Date: 05 December 2004 23:02:09
This weekend I spent time at my parents' place, to make up for the fact that I'm not going there for Christmas. It was kind of weird - I love them to bits, but have so little in common with them it gets a bit frustrating sometimes, and leaves me feeling really guilty that I'm not being very dutiful and that I get a bit sarky with them at times and am generally a not very good advert for Christianity. Still, we had a nice time watching the "Strictly Come Dancing" semi-final (I'd never seen it before, can't believe I missed it, but after listening to Jonathan Ross on the radio interviewing Brucie while I was driving up, I wasn't going to miss it this time. Absolutely classic family viewing. But WHY aren't the public voting for Denise and Ian? - they were fantastic!). Still, mum washed my car (for which I was very grateful), and dad has a friend who runs a removal and storage business, so when I come to move I will hopefully be able to bypass all the extortionate London furniture storage costs. I had to be really firm with my dad though, who reckoned he could bring a van down and move all my stuff himself. Quite apart from the fact that last time I moved, paying professional removal men turned out to be the best £150 I've ever spent and I always said that I'd do it again regardless of the cost so that people who are trained and insured to lift and carry do it rather than well-meaning family and friends, a year or so back he and mum got a van and brought my piano down to London, and it was pretty much the most stressful experience of the year, in an air-turned-blue kind of way. Fortunately mum was on hand to agree with me that dad wasn't 21 any more and that yes moving the piano was an awful experience so what made him think moving an entire house full of furniture would be any different? Dad and I are very alike in a lot of ways, including being stubborn as mules sometimes (usually about different things, which often used to cause friction!), but at least that meant that when I told him if he turned up in a van with a mate from the pub I'd lie across the door and not let them in he knew I really meant it.
I'm still feeling a bit "bah humbug" about Christmas, though this afternoon once I got back I went to church to rehearse for our Carol Service in a couple of weeks. Lots of sopranos and altos, virtually no tenors and basses, but despite that it didn't sound too bad, and I did start to feel vaguely Christmassy for a bit. I still want to shut the door though and not open it till it's all over. I love the festival, the meaning, it's just the crap that goes with it that hacks me off - I don't need crackers, or 8 foot tall snowmen attached to my house, or any of that - a gentle reminder of God's amazing love, a couple of good sings, and a few days off work, that will do me just fine thank you.
Then this evening I went out for a drink with my very good friend with the equally bewildering love life. She was in the States for virtually all of last month so we had lots of catching up to do. Somehow it was a lot easier over a bottle of Crianza - I've missed her a lot and it was good to let it all splurge out to someone who really understands where I'm coming from. She is one of the people I'll miss the most when I move next year.