Sunday 5 December 2010

Pseudo-Intellectual: Simply having a wonderful Sunday afternoon!

I feel that I must apologise for the lax effort that I have spent on the blog over the last couple of days but, as I am sure everybody knows, every blogger  needs his weekend and some time to gather more info!

As I write I am simultaneously washing up, listening to a fantastic collection of Christmas hits and sipping from a lovely glass of twenty year old tawny port! What better way could their be to celebrate a fine winter's day other than with a novelty jumper?

I have just finished a fantastic and rare solo Sunday lunch of slow roasted rolled breast of lamb, leeks in a parmesan mornay, sauteed potato cakes and homemade gravy, and feel - as I'm sure you can imagine - suitably sated! Whilst eating and having that seldom moment to reflect on the week and the weekend, I came to thinking about the magic of a Sunday afternoon and realised that it is a time to be relished rather than spent thinking of the gloomy Monday ahead!

Although I now work for myself, I remember only too well that feeling of dread as the clock tick slowly through four, five, six and before you knew it eleven was upon you and the day was over! Well, in the run up to Christmas, I feel that we should be banishing these pre-work demons to the back of the mind and enjoy as much free time as we can at the most festive, fun and certainly drunken time of the year!

At this time of year, you realise very quickly that you are getting older! I used to scoff at my father for falling asleep in front of a Western with his glass of wine still clutched firmly in his hand around four in the afternoon. Worryingly I find myself doing the same kind of thing but in my case dozing off to the clatter and bang of a rousing war epic such as The Guns of Navarone, Where Eagles Dare or The Wild Geese (all great christmas films and one that I will cover in the 'Best of Christmas Cinema for a Bloody Good Chap' next week).

For the more active of you I suggest something like a bracing walk in the park, across the common, heath or open countryside wherever you are! The bracing chill works up both a great appetite and a general thirst and there is nothing better than returning to the pub after an hour's exertion and knocking back a few pints of ale with the obligatory Scotch or sloe gin chasers before a hearty roast dinner or a few slices of gammon and a fluffy jacket potato!

The luxuriant on their part might like to sink into a nice warm bath a la Sherlock Holmes with a book and a pot of strong coffee and a nip of brandy whilst they ponder on the intricacy of the Christmas season, the choice is entirely up to you!

Whatever you end up doing on Sunday - and I can assure you that a spell at the sink with some dirty dishes will usually feature somewhere - make sure that you are having a good time and not worrying about the next day, life's just too short... Have a good one. H

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