Looking back over the Christmas break

I mentioned in my last post that I might have news of an exciting new development. Well, there is something to tell you, but I’m going to keep you in suspense that little bit longer. It concerns a project I’ve been working on for several months, but it’s not quite finished yet. This is despite me making good use of the large amount of spare time that I’ve enjoyed over the Christmas – New Year period.

The holidays, as our friends across the pond would call this period, come to an abrupt end tomorrow, when two members of the Bailey household – myself and son Matthew resume the daily grind of our respective workplaces. I’m looking forward to it, in a perverse sort of way, although by the end of the week, I might be singing a different tune, but with nowhere to go, and no-one that I’m allowed to meet up with, it will be good to see some different faces and chat to people who don’t number amongst my immediate family.

Let’s get Christmas and New Year out of the way first; even though it was a period of considerable over-indulgence. Our rather large, free-range, Norfolk bronze feathered, turkey crown from Waitrose, ended up providing main meals for four days, along with the odd turkey sandwich or three! The meals encompassed a traditional roast turkey dinner on Christmas Day, cold turkey (and ham) with bubble & squeak made from the left-over vegetables on Boxing Day, Thai chicken curry the next day, and finally a rather nice turkey and ham pie that Mrs PBT’s knocked up on the fourth day.

By way of a change, we enjoyed a roast beef dinner on New Year’s Day, and last night I drove down and picked up fish and chips. Our usual excellent chippy, which is run by a friendly and sociable Turkish family, was closed, so I resorted to another Fish & Chip shop this side of the station.

Given its location, I’ve used it a few times, on my way home from a night out (remember them?) just to pick up a bag of chips that I probably didn’t need, so I knew it was OK, but it actually turned out to be excellent, with the cod fillets fried right in front of me. The family were impressed too, even though the length of my absence led them to believe I’d been kidnapped by aliens!

As for the rest of the food mountain, I’ve been quite careful not to consume too many mince-pies, even though I am rather partial to them. I’ve also only had one helping of Christmas pudding, and not too much cheese either. All rather tasty, but not good for the waistline!

On the booze front, I mentioned before, there’s probably enough beer to literally float a battleship, but here again I’ve been quite abstemious. One unexpected, but nevertheless very welcome present, was the gift of a 5 litre mini keg of Larkin’s Porter. It is still sitting out in the cool of the summerhouse as I write, and I estimate I have got through just over half.

One of the really special beer indulgencies I treated myself to was a takeaway container of Harvey’s Christmas Ale. I picked it up, the weekend before Christmas, and decanted what was not needed for immediate consumption, into a couple of those swing-top, re-sealable bottles – like the ones Grolsch used to be packaged in.

I sampled some over Christmas, and it was pure nectar. With a rich deep ruby-red colour, an equally rich malty base topped off by a background of peppery hop bitterness, this was a beer to sip and savour. Harvey’s devote a lot of time and attention in order to bring this beer to perfection, and their efforts certainly paid off with this year’s batch.

On the reading front, as forecast, I finally finished the twelfth and last book in Anthony Powell’s brilliant sequence of novels, “A Dance to the Music of Time.” This captivating account of life amongst the various echelons of English high society, although fictional, covers many key events defining the sixty years from just before WWI, to the mid 1970’s.

With a cast of over 300 different characters, the novels provide a fascinating insight into a way of life that often bordered on Bohemian, whilst at the same time keeping up an appearance of respectability. Narrated in the first person through the eyes of a jobbing would-be author called Nicholas Jenkins, who in many ways is modeled on Powell himself, the book has been my constant bedside companion since the summer of 2019, accompanying me on my first visit to Poland, and a cruise across to Belgium – back when we were able to undertake such ventures.

The ending at first seemed rather strange and almost an anti-climax, but thinking about things further, it was probably the best way of drawing the novels to a close. If you’d been writing a lengthy novel that taken up 25 years of your life, you too might be keen on finishing it. That’s if you could let it go, of course.

This brings me onto a TV series I have been catching up with. The BBC’s production of Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” novels has been first class; being both breathtaking and spellbinding in its scope, landscapes and storytelling. Having missed its showing on TV (I don’t get much of a look-in where television is concerned), I binge-watched several episodes, back-to-back on BBC iPlayer.

There are two installments left and I’ll probably leave now them until next weekend. Having enjoyed the luxury of lying in most mornings over the festive season, Monday morning is going to come as something of a shock. An early night is therefore in order, so I’ll take this opportunity to sign off and wish everyone all the best for 2021.