As the gradual spread of the spirit of Christmas permeates amongst our friends and neighbours and a new decade approaches I reminisce on my time spent in London as a young novitiate, far too preoccupied with labour, ingenuously surveying the wickedness all around us: the threnody of the human condition. However to overcome this in the season of Advent we reflect on the optimism of the human experience of childbirth in the Gospel narrative, something which is within the understanding of us all.
To stand amongst the throng for a moment, to feel the Christmas cheer as I head down to the bowels of Trafalgar Square to the Crypt to partake of coffee and cake, then working up an appetite stopping off at one of the irradiated market stalls for a glass of mulled wine and a sandwich, and not forgetting my almsgiving I move to the Rekorderlig, where I spot ilovebooze with a bottle of Jack High at the table, or is that under the table..
Moving on to Covent Garden I meet lookout sniffing a pot of poinsettias and offer her a kiss under the mistletoe, then enter St. Paul's Church to hear the Paul Leddington recital. I drop David off at the Odeon Leicester Square in time for his film, Knives Out, then buy a cup of chocolate behind Somerset House and attempt to discover a new John Curry or Robin Cousins from the tiny tots gliding along the ice sheet, for now holding the security of mummy's hand.
Next I pass the Natural History Museum and ponder a moment on the dinosaurs' fate and wonder are we really all descended from apes, I spot Caroline and Jane giggling excitedly outside Selfridges shopping for Chanel perfumes, then return in time for the Norwegian Christmas tree ceremony, one ray of hope encased in a topsy-turvy world as the unknown beckons for another ten years.
https://youtu.be/gH-ewpTN7DI