So that's it, then - for another year!

So, how was it for you - as I never asked the 'Memsahib'?  Christmas, I mean!  Another one bites the dust and here I slump, like you, I guess, surrounded by the tinsel, staring glumly at the 92% of the turkey we failed to eat, to say nothing of the ham, and with a culinary vision of constant turkey and ham, or ham and turkey, variations stretching endlessly into the future.  But still, my eyes lighten up at the sight of my Christmas gift from the 'Memsahib' - a tree trunk!  Bet you didn't get one of those.  Actually, it is the product of one of those craftsmen/artists who pick up drift wood or bits of timber detritus from damaged trees and shape them and polish them into objects of considerable beauty.  In this case, he hollowed out the trunk or branch of a stricken tree making space for a vase of flowers to stand inside.  The outside has been polished and shows the variations in colour and patina - and I just want to sit next to it all day - stroking it!  Well done, the 'Memsahib', I think I'll keep her on for another year!

There were only the two of us at home this year because 'SoD' was off to Wenceslas Square 'looking out' for the "Good King", or to be precise, he was in the depths of Moravia gazing at the snow whilst trying to pick the bones out of a giant carp which is the Christmas dish of choice for most of eastern Europe - no, me, neither!  Anyway, left to our own devices I indulged in a rare (for me) habit - I 'telly-trogged'.  Somewhat to my own surprise, I rather enjoyed it.  I more or less, and with rare exceptions, gave up on telly years ago and it's only Christmas when the rest of the world shuts down that I indulge. I watched that old film of "The Day of the Jackal" which was really badly made but it did remind me what a cracking yarn it was to read and so I will be on the look-out for a copy in my favourite charity shops - the supply source for many of my books.  I then got lucky and watched the film version Of Michael Connolly's "The Lincoln Lawyer".  It was a corking book and the film caught it exactly.  If you haven't read it and assuming that you like good legal thrillers which twist and turn, then buy it! 

It is a tradition, set in re-enforced concrete, that on Christmas Day evening I am tasked with producing bap roles loaded with cold turkey and ham (merely the first of the variations I mentioned above!) plus onion, tomato and lettuce, all of which being liberally smothered in mayonnaise (Helmans, natch!) and accompanied by champagne - equally natch!  Normally, this is a monumental task but as 'SoD' and his belly were absent it only took about a quarter of the time.  Anyway, it gave me the opportunity to watch the kitchen telly where I saw two cracking good oldies, one from the "Blackadder" series and one classic episode from "Dad's Army".  My laughter ensured that much of the filling for my bap rolls ended up on the floor - and also, most of the champagne was drunk before the 'Memsahib' had a sniff - well, chef's privilege, I call it!  Finally we both slumped down together and watched the long, special edition of Downton Abbey.

So there you have it, folks, the inside story of Christmas at Chateaux Duff - soooooo exciting!

ADDITIONAL:  And, how could I have forgotten - mea culpa, of course, I watched one of the greatest movies ever made - Singing in the Rain.  Witty, stylish, tremendously skilful, great artistry - a film for all seasons.  And by coincidence, on Christmas Eve, they were showing highlights of the incomparable Morecombe and Wise shows in which they did a skit on the famous 'singing in the rain' sequence with Ernie doing the dancing and Eric playing the cop.  Needless to say, the street was as dry as a bone but Eric ends up standing beneath a down pipe which pours water on him.  What a class act those two were!  Do you know, I might get hooked on this new-fangled Telly-thingie!

Comments

[dearieme]

"bap roles": heh, ever the luvvie, eh Duffers?

[dearieme]

I don't know if you need a tip for future Christmas presents for oldsters, but I've found that bottles (e.g. 50 cl bottles) of Madeira go down a treat. It's just a bit expensive for everyday drinking and therefore welcome as a present. It offers a whole range of loveliness - sweet to dry - and it keeps much better in an open bottle than sherry does. Yum, yum. It would also mean that you could spend much of the year assiduously attending Madeira tastings (if such there be), the better to inform your decisions. Or, here's a hot tip, nip off to Madeira for a week of winter sun, and taste there. The hotel prices collapse to provide very decent value as soon as the Christmas-New Year holiday ends and the schools go back.

[David Duff]

Thanks for the tips, DM. I really can't remember ever tasting Madeira, m'dear, I must give it a try. And, yes, various people I know seem to shoot off to the Canaries during the winter - hmmmn!, the 'bionic Memsahib' is due a new hip next month and I have been wondering where to take her for some R&R.

[dearieme]

Madeira is stunningly beautiful, but perhaps you shouldn't wander too far from your surgeon for the first few months. Especially if you want to walk some of the lavadas when you get there (highly recommended).

The Madeirans boast that their climate is suitable for all the year round, whereas I assume that the Canaries get disagreeably hot in summer. We've been to Madeira only in January and would love to go in April some year.

[dearieme]

Oh dear, its spelt "levada".

[dearieme]

Oh dear, it's spelled "it's".

[David Duff]

Too much, Madeira, yesterday, DM?

[David Duff]

DM, any recommendations for hotels and/or locations?

[dearieme]

We've always stayed within an easy walk of the centre of Funchal, specifically at the Classic Savoy - but that's being rebuilt. It was lovely: we could stroll down to the city centre and then if we didn't fancy walking back up the slope take one of the many buses that ran along that main road or one of the many taxis, which are cheap. We saved a few bob by having a room that looked inland rather than out to sea, and we always found the hotel comfortable, attractive, well-run and staffed with competent, polite, helpful people, and the food good (breakfasts especially). There was also a little road behind it with a few good restaurants so we could take a break from hotel food when we wanted to. Its sister establishment, The Royal Savoy, is presumably also good (friends swear by it) but we haven't stayed there ourselves: on the other hand, we know it quite well since guests at one are free to use the facilities of the other, the two being linked by a little bridge over the aforesaid narrow road. Everything we saw of it was good, too.

We were pleasantly surprised that we could afford a de luxe hotel without breaking the bank. We'd love to return when we're both fit to fly. You should note that our visits were all in early January when the prices were at their lowest - but also probably when the difference in weather between us and them is at its maximum: a happy coincidence, eh?

[dearieme]

Oh yes, one more thing. When we took our daughter she was given a double room to herself with no single occupant surcharge. Not bad, eh?

One further further thing about Madeira: I wouldn't drive there. The mountain roads are precipitous and if you concentrated on the driving you'd miss the beauty. Use minibus tours from the hotel, or taxis.

[David Duff]

Thanks for all of that, DM, very useful. Patsy will find out on the 7th Jan when her op is likely to take place - usually quite quickly after the assessment, I am told - so I am reckoning that allowing for recuperation, perhaps the end of Feb/beginning of March.

I have absolutely no inclination to drive anywhere! From my initial recce via the net, Funchal or close by , seems to be the best place to be, at least, for a first visit. No doubt it is full of little (or not so little) boutiques in which she can, er, exercise her new hip - all in the interests of physiotherapy, of course!

Again, much thanks for your tips.

[dearieme]

Dearieshe tells me that after her rehipping she wouldn't have wanted to go anywhere for at least a month. She still had some pain, couldn't yet move freely and was injecting anticoagulant daily. (But the whole thing led to a wonderful improvement in our lives, long term.)

[David Duff]

Right, thanks, point taken - timing is everything!

[Andra]

Well, what a lovely little chat among the blokes.
So absorbing.
Howsomever, I didn't know what a bap role was in the first instance and nor do I know what a bap roll is in any other instance.
It sounds quite nasty though and I'm not sure it's anything elderly Orstralian sheilas should know about so, please, do not enlighten me.
I wish the memsahib all the best with the hip. Liza Minelli has had several, I believe, and can still wave one, or possibly both, (legs, that is) above her head with gay abandon (and I use the term wisely).

[David Duff]

Andra, until you have tasted my turkey, ham, lettuce, cucumber, tomato, onion, radish and mayonnaise bap rolls, you have not lived!