(no subject)

Went to Katherine's last night for a Christmas drink. We polished off two bottles of Cava - one white and one rosé - as we watched TOTP2 Christmas Special, The Grumpy Guide To Christmas and Never Mind The Buzzcocks. When Petula Clark appeared on TOTP2 singing her version of Twelve Days Of Christmas about all the odd jobs she had to do for the festive season, Mike observed "How naff! This wasn't the Christmas number one of 1974, was it?" I was able to confirm that no, Mud took that honour with Lonely This Christmas. Yet again TOTP2 opted for the 1993 live performance of Fairytale. Yes, it is good to hear Shane and Kirsty sing the song live, but I can't get over "you're cheap and you're haggard", and I'd love to see Auntie Beeb sling on the original 1987 appearance, or the video complete with Matt Dillon as a New York City cop, one year, both for a change and for nostalgia.

Katherine observed that her two stepchildren, both in their late teens, weren't going out partying tonight, and we reflected how different it was in our young days when Christmas Eve was the biggest night out of the year and we'd all cram into the Village Home, having had to buy tickets in advance to get in, and you'd spend most of the time queuing five deep at the bar.

Driving lesson this afternoon. Went OK apart from the parallel park, where after having to stop midway through the manoeuvre and wait for a car to pass by, I confused a long grey line blemishing the pavement with the kerb, and ended up mounting the kerb.

Merry Christmas!