The Simple Christmas that Wasn't

Here's another ghost sign that I pass often, just off Abbey Road in St. John's Wood. Unlike the one in Kilburn that I wrote about not too long ago, I can't find any information online about this one, which also seems to mention several products and is probably a layered melange of ads from over a period of years. I see Army Club cigarettes at the bottom, for sure, and then some kind of "elastic skin dressing" in the middle. (Moles?) I can't figure out the wording at the top -- it looks like something "SHTRIM."

Echoes of the past!

Speaking of which:

Here's a picture of me, from 1982 or so, wishing you a Merry Christmas! That's my grandmother's house in Hyattsville, Md., where we spent every Christmas season from the late '70s through the '80s. Christmas there was a very subtle affair -- just my mom, my brother, my grandmother and me, and we always put up Grandmother's little artificial tree, and we'd get each other one or two gifts, and that was pretty much that! It was minimalist, which was nice.

But I can't pretend to be Laura Ingalls Wilder, satisfied with a shiny penny and an orange. We usually spent Christmas day with my aunt, uncle and cousins in Virginia, and it was always a madhouse of the more traditional American Christmas variety: mountains of presents, lots of commotion, church and a big dinner which my aunt pulled together with probably inadequate acknowledgement or appreciation. And then, after going back to Florida, my brother and I had another Christmas at my dad's house, which also entailed many more gifts and dinner made by my stepmother. So as much as I like to reflect back on our simple family Christmases, the truth is they weren't all that simple.

I was 16 in that picture. That shirt I'm wearing? My mom bought it one year for my birthday, and I hated it. She was always buying me those stupid plaid flannel shirts from J. C. Penney. Granted, they're what a lot of boys wore in my corner of the South, but they were not my thing at all. I don't even remember that gray sweatshirt/jacket.

Here's my latest street find -- not the onion pot, which we've had for years (and never use for onions), but the felt cat on top. At least, I think it's a cat. Dave thinks it's a mouse. I found it on Finchley Road while walking back from school on Tuesday, and it has now taken up residence on the kitchen windowsill.

I didn't do much of note yesterday. I wrapped Dave's presents (both of them -- our Christmas this year really is simple) and read more of "The Pickwick Papers." I took Olga for a walk but she wasn't interested in going far, so we just ambled around the neighborhood.

I did convince Dave to let me help him clean out and organize his closet. I knew he had clothes in there he didn't wear, and he just bought a bunch of new pants and shirts, so the time was right. He ultimately surprised me by wanting to get rid of a big stack of shirts -- so many, in fact, that his zealousness gave me anxiety. I'm thinking of putting a few of them back!

Two Foxes

I actually got some things done yesterday. Woo hoo!

First, when Dave and I are working, we routinely have our packages sent to the school, because it's easier and more secure than having them delivered to an empty house. So when I ordered one of his Christmas presents many weeks ago, that's what I did -- thinking that by the time it arrived, school would still be in session. But of course the present took much longer than expected, and finally, on Monday, I got an e-mail saying it had arrived, so I had to walk to school to get it.

"Why didn't you have it sent here?" said Dave, still in his pajamas, before I left home.

"Because I didn't know it would take so freakin' long!" I replied.

I hope he appreciates the lengths I've gone to in order to provide him with a festive Christmas.

I took some pictures on the way, of delivery men on Finchley Road (top) and a festive house in St. John's Wood. What is that thing in the lower left of the house photo? I think it's a football goal, or some similar piece of sports equipment, but I wouldn't swear to it. It looks like the Japanese flag.

Anyway, I had to scurry all over the school building to find the package, but eventually I collected it. Then I made my way to the post office, where I expected to find a gigantic line like I did Monday. But the post office in St. John's Wood was EMPTY! No waiting at all! I got my mom's Christmas card mailed. I suppose she'll receive it in time for Valentine's Day.

Back home again, I made substantial progress with "The Pickwick Papers" and I'm happy to say that after carrying this book around for almost two months, the end is in sight. I am enjoying it, and I love Dickens' skill with the language and his humorous descriptions, but there are a lot of characters and I have trouble keeping (for example) Mr. Weller and Mr. Winkle and Mr. Wardle straight in my mind.

Here's some more garden-cam footage of the foxes in our garden. There are four brief clips spliced together, and in the second one (about 15 seconds in) we got footage of two foxes together! This is a first for the ol' garden cam. They even talk to each other a bit.

In the third clip, I'd left a pork chop bone in the back of the garden, and you can hear the fox crunching on it. Unfortunately I didn't put it far enough away from the camera so you can't really see the critter eating. Oh well.

The fourth clip, as you will see, is not a fox at all. In fact it's probably what the foxes are hunting. (Lest you think my leaving food out is attracting vermin, I haven't done that in months and months -- so they're living back there quite on their own.)

Plectranthi

We have three large hanging baskets in the garden, filled with the plectranthus plants that Mrs. Kravitz threw away back in the spring. Don't they look nice? It's also called Mexican mint, apparently.

We haven't had a freeze yet, but I don't think they're cold hardy so they probably won't fare well when cold finally comes. I think plectranthus is normally planted as an annual, but I've toyed with the idea of bringing at least one of them inside to tide it over until spring.

I'm thinking I could hang it from the curtain rod in the living room, though that might be a recipe for disaster.

Dave and I had to run some errands yesterday morning, and we took Olga along. It was damp outside but not rainy, and we walked all the way down to the post office to mail my mother's Christmas card, only to find it closed! Apparently there was a case of Covid among the staff so it's shuttered until Jan. 4.

We walked up to the produce market, where people were buying huge bags of fruit and veg. I don't know whether they were preparing for Christmas dinner or stocking up in case there are shortages. We've been told that because some of the European countries have closed their borders to the UK, given our new variant of coronavirus, we may see shortages of things like citrus fruit, broccoli, cauliflower and salad leaves. Of course, these are not things one can easily preserve, either, so I don't see how buying bags of it can help.

Dave moved on to the butcher and I took Olga and the vegetables home. She was ready to get out of the damp. I then decided to schlep down to the next closest post office, on Mill Lane, but when I got there, I was greeted by a line of at least 40 people. I don't need to mail my card that badly. I came home.

(I'm not sure my mom is even aware that it IS Christmas, so if she gets the card late it's not a crisis.)

Dave, meanwhile, popped in to the pharmacy where he wound up having a chat with one of our famous neighbors as they both waited. He said she actually initiated the conversation, and was very friendly. She told him she'd seen me walking Olga, and called her a "fabulous animal," or something like that. (Maybe she was actually talking about me?) He said he'd have asked for a selfie but his phone was dead. I was quite jealous -- although I've seen this neighbor out and about several times I've never spoken to her. (I'm not mentioning her by name to avoid appearing on her Google news feed like a common gossip-monger, but you can click the link above if you're curious about her identity.)

I hope Dave was properly distanced during the exchange. I wouldn't want him catching celebrity coronavirus.

Unprepared

Well, you'd never know from walking around that our coronavirus restrictions have been tightened. I took Olga to the Heath yesterday and tons of people were out, the playground was packed with kids climbing over each other, the park benches full. One woman came up to me and started talking about Olga, asking her age and so forth, and although she stayed a respectable distance, alarm bells went off in the back of my mind. Even six feet seems too close for comfort when it's more than just a momentary passing.

The Heath is a real mud bog after all our recent rain. At least I wore the right shoes. When I took Olga to the cemetery on Saturday I accidentally wore my leather work shoes -- and although the cemetery wasn't as muddy, they need some cosmetic surgery as a result.

Someone had a fantastic time, and required a bath, a can of wet food and a half paracetamol when she got home. She's still flat-out in bed with Dave.

It's 7:10 a.m. and still pitch dark outside on this winter solstice, the darkest day of the year. According to my weather app, sunrise will be at 8:04 a.m. and sunset at 3:53 p.m. I can't believe we're only four days from Christmas. I feel completely ill prepared for even this curtailed holiday. I bought two small things for Dave and sort of intended to get more, but haven't yet. I bought a couple of gift cards for my nieces and wrote a card to my mother that I haven't even mailed. Where has the time gone?

Tier 4

You've probably seen the news that southeastern England, including London, is moving into "Tier 4" coronavirus restrictions. There was no Tier 4 until yesterday, at least not referred to by that designation, but it's basically total lockdown. Non-essential businesses must close, we're told not to travel, and there will be no household mixing over Christmas.

Apparently the new variant of the virus that recently popped up in the UK, while no more lethal or severe in terms of illness, is much more infectious, which is partly why our numbers have been going up so much. The vaccines supposedly still work against it, but we certainly don't want to spread it around. School got out just in time!

For me and Dave, this doesn't mean much, except that any plans I had for short trips over the break are probably kaput. We weren't going to visit with anyone anyway, and we're experts at staying home. I suppose if anything it may call into question whether we'll be back at school in January as planned.

One of my co-workers flew back to the USA on Friday, and it looks like she got out just in time. (Hopefully not taking that new virus strain with her.) I wonder what this means for other families who had intended to travel. Looks like that might not be happening, although I don't know how all this will be enforced. If I had a ticket and showed up at Heathrow, would someone prevent me from boarding my plane?

Apparently there's also going to be "significant policing" during New Year's Eve. Again, Dave and I have no plans, so for us, no big deal. We have a mini-bottle of champagne that came with my most recent craft gin club shipment, so we'll probably celebrate with that.

Yesterday I whipped the house into shape, vacuuming and doing laundry. I also took Olga for a two-hour walk to the cemetery. I don't know how we spent that much time there, but we did.

Olga nearly wore out her barker challenging the squirrels!

Dave and I have started a new TV series called "Halt and Catch Fire," about the early days of personal computer development, and it looks promising. I'm also on Season Five of "Bosch," which Dave doesn't like for some bizarre reason that I can't figure out. He's funny about some cop shows. He didn't like "The Wire" or "Southland" either, and I loved both of those. We've essentially given up on Netflix's "Star Trek Discovery" series -- we're both Trekkies but I just don't understand what the heck is going on half the time!

No More Pencils

When I was down in Westminster on Thursday, it was sort of sad seeing the businesses dressed up for Christmas, and yet closed by Covid. The pubs are only able to offer take-away. You can see the take-away window at the Cavendish, above, between the red ropes next to the Christmas tree. If you're really set on having a pint, I guess take-away is better than nothing, but it's just not the same. Part of what's so wonderful about pubs is the warmth, the conviviality, especially when it's cold and wet and blustery outside.

Oh well. We do what we must. Hopefully we'll all be past this soon enough.

Our last day of school was yesterday, and now we're off until Jan. 11. Our break is slightly longer than usual this year because some people are traveling, and with all the quarantines and whatnot it takes more time. Most people I talked to are staying put, though.

We had another handful of Covid cases in school this week, bringing our grand total of positive tests for the semester to something like 35. From what administrators said, they appeared mostly unrelated to each other, but of course it's hard to tell. With cases ramping up in London, I think we're taking a break just in time – and I believe the government is going to allow a certain degree of household mixing over Christmas itself, so we may have a backlash from that in January. In which case, the rumor is, our school reopening may even be delayed. Who knows what to expect?

The best part of not being at work? I don't have to wear a mask all day! Woo hoo!

My boss and I took down the library Christmas tree yesterday, which is always kind of a sad task, especially before Christmas. I considered bringing it home like we did one year, but it's such an ordeal (and such a needly mess) that I ultimately passed. It looks like Dave and I will remain treeless, which is fine with me.

Remember the glittery hyacinth bulbs given to all the faculty and staff by the school's parent organization? Well, quite a few of them went unclaimed, so I adopted five more. I brought them home and planted them yesterday, next to the three we already received. They're already flowering, making the entire living room smell like spring.

London Christmas Lights

I had to go down into Westminster yesterday afternoon for my doctor's appointment. As long as I was there, I went sightseeing with my camera and took in some of the holiday decorations. I haven't been down in that part of town for months, and it was nice to walk around a bit.

That's Piccadilly above, with Fortnum & Mason acting like 2020 was actually something to celebrate.

The tony shopping district of Bond Street was decorated with peacock-themed holiday lights – appropriate for a strip dedicated to expensive fashion. 

(A shop assistant stopped me and gave me a packet of fancy hand lotion, and tried to convince me to come inside and check out their products. I demurred, being about as likely to routinely use hand lotion as Godzilla. I'll give the sample to Dave.)

Meanwhile, on the Cartier building...

...a giant panther was toying with a bow.

And Tiffany was decorated with neon trees. (You can't quite tell, I'm sure, but the woman on the left is holding up her pug for a photo. I guess her photographer is standing outside the frame.)

Angels are flying over Regent Street and the other streets around Piccadilly Circus.

As you can probably tell in the photos, quite a few people were out and about, and the shops are open. Apparently under Tier 3 you can still go shopping at Louis Vuitton, but you can't go to the pub. Vuitton was the only shop I saw with a line of people waiting to get in (for distancing purposes, I suppose). Maybe they're having a sale.

Debenhams is definitely having a sale. The entire department store chain is in the process of shutting down after talks to save it from bankruptcy recently collapsed. It's been struggling for years, but Covid certainly didn't do it any favors.

And the doctor? Well, it was just a preliminary consultation, but it went fine. I told him about my chronic indigestion and cough and he doesn't think I have much to worry about, but he's going to do an endoscopy just to be sure. I just have to schedule it. Interestingly, although I wore a mask throughout our appointment, he did not!