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Christmas time, in some ways for me an actually slightly more-ascetic-than-usual time.
(I didn’t see any screenshots posted on X of the seasonally empty bustimes.org map this year, which is an indictment of the decline of one of those websites. Maybe on NYD.)
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The emptying of the parental attic and the childhood bedroom (a is bigger and still-fuller than b) reinforces that not having too much stuff is a good idea. I think I do OK at keeping my stuff under control, apart from currently having two kettles. But does having lots of stuff mean less empty space to heat up so it’s more energy-efficient?
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I pretend to set no store by the calendar year, it’s just a number, but 2023 will go down as the year I started using biological laundry detergent occasionally. (Apparently it cleans better, and its reputation for irritating sensitive skin is undeserved, and if you only ever use non-bio at 30° your washing machine might start to stink.)
I hope 2024 isn’t too shit.
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As you know, I strongly disapprove of e.g. Spotify Wrapped coming out in November, ignoring all the new music I enjoyed in December. So fair play to Premier Inn for waiting till NYE to email “You stayed with us 3 times throughout 2023”, but I only stayed twice (I think they counted a cancelled booking).
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(Yes I used the initials for New Year’s Day and Eve in a lapse of confidence over if there’s an apostrophe.)
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Instead of the Roman empire, I think surprisingly often about how there’s Declan Curry and Declan Rice and Tim Curry and Tim Rice (the Declan/Tim/Curry/Rice matrix). But Declan Curry is too obscure an ex-BBC journalist for many people to recognise the name – most interestingly he went on Pointless Celebrities with Michelle Mone – and off the top of my head I couldn’t tell you who either Tim is. (I only mention it now because the only thing like it is the Christmas/New Year’s/Eve/Day matrix.)
Also, listing increasingly obscure continental things: continental breakfast, continental drift, continental quilt (a dated term for a duvet), continental door (a door on the right-hand side of right-hand drive coaches and motorhomes for visiting right-hand traffic countries). I don’t know what is the point.
