December 16-22, 2023
SATURDAY 16 The Golden Lane Festive Singalong was a living hell of modern parents and noisy children. Thankfully a good dose of mulled wine dulled the pain. On our way home we found a lost iPhone, which I managed to break into (with the help of Siri) and return to its owner. Earlier, while helping to set up for the show (a community choir and a Year 3 pupils rendition of scenes from Matilda) I got a chance to view a framed stitchwork of Welsh signatures that included Tom Jones, Betty Davies and Evan Evans.
📌 My wife was shocked by Georgia Meloni‘s very open “touchy-feely” flirting with Rishi.
📌 My favourite TV advert at the moment features a herd of hang-gliding mountain goats. But I can never remember afterwards what product they were trying to sell me.
📌 Ellie won Strictly Come Dancing, and she can thank the nine votes I gave her from two of my 10 email accounts.
SUNDAY 17 On Duolingo I learned that in Spanish the word “honeymoon” is a very literal translation of the words honey and moon – luna de miel, or “moon of honey”. In French the equivalent expression la lune de miel is also used, though the expression voyages de noces (voyage of the wedding) is also common.
📌 Desperately trying to eat any remaining perishable food before we leave for Tenerife tomorrow. And I discover that yes, you can freeze tangerine segments.
📌 Marge recommended the superb documentary series Berlin 1933, the year Hitler came to power. The story is told using letter and diary extracts partnered with stills, film and news footage. Marge recommended it in the context of her prediction that Suella will take over the Conservative party once Rishi is out. I was quite dismissive of the idea that a fascist party can ever gain power in Britain. Watching Berlin 1933 made me think again, and specifically which country I would flee the UK for.
MONDAY 18 On the train to Gatwick airport we overheard a young woman pitching her services as a dance teacher to what we presumed was some kind of agency. The pitch was so good – simple, clear, polite and professional – that I really hoped she got a job out of it. Then we heard her doing the same spiel a second time, presumably to a different agency, and my enthusiasm evaporated.
📌 The Gatwick Airport hotel linguine looks and tastes as if someone emptied a can of budget tomato soup on to a heap of overcooked pasta, added 3 prawns and a few slivers of rocket and cheerfully charged £14 for it.
TUESDAY 19 Gatwick Airport departures at 5.30am is an agglomeration of all the reasons I don’t care if I never board an aeroplane again. The “Special Assistance” for people with disabilities is overrun. The adjacent “Family” queue is a knotted snake of chaos with children grabbing every opportunity to break free from their parents and wander freely around the security zone. The looks on the faces of the staff suggest they have long ago given up trying to bring order to this salad of disorder.
📌 Back in the Paloma Beach apartments for the first time since the pandemic. Not much has changed except the local Superdino supermarket now keeps its stock of cigarettes in a chiller cabinet.
WEDNESDAY 20 Estonian foreign minister Margus Tsahkna writes in the Guardian that unless big-politics institutions such as the EU, NATO and the UN start to think big they will be eaten up by predatory new empire builders such as Putin’s Russia. He names Ukraine as the acid test of whether they can reform or die.
📌 In its list of things to be glad(ish) about in 2023, Tortoise names a tortoise called Jonathan, who “celebrated his 190th birthday on St Helena in the South Atlantic.” They didn’t report on what a tortoise celebration looks like.
📌 After my training in anti-oppression at the Barbican I accused the kitchen bin in our Paloma Beach apartment of being ableist because it needed two fully functioning hands to put anything in it. Only later did I discover it had a concealed foot pedal, which sort of made it more ableist, according to my training.
THURSDAY 21 It wouldn’t be Christmas without a volcanic eruption. All eyes are on Iceland but for lava lovers with an appetite for more The Atlantic has a handy picture gallery of “2023: The Year In Volcanic Activity”.
📌 My wife likes to ridicule my habit of photographing “inanimate objects” in close-up.
📌 The nights here in Cristianos draw in fast and quickly settle into a sombre, expectant mood. Back home in the UK storms are causing devastation and travel chaos. Here as soon as the afternoon sun has slipped away an ominous dark quietness arrives and you wait semi- nervously for the next surprise.
FRIDAY 22 On a seafront stroll into Cristianos town we came across an angry artist shouting at his dog for adding a bit more water to one of his freshly created watercolour paintings.
📌 Arrived at the Swedish church in Cristianos to find that this year they have not installed a nativity scene. Elsewhere in the town centre there was no shortage, including one that gave a guest appearance to a goose and its baby gosling, plus one of the Wise Men who appears to be cradling a bottle of cava in front of an empty crib.
📌 Greatly relieved to find that the Overseas Supermarket has individual Christmas puddings, two for €3.50.
Read all of my scrapbook diaries…
PLEASE MESSAGE WITH ANY CORRECTIONS, BIG OR SMALL.
Billy's Scrapbook 
The signatures look good. Who stitched them ? Hope you had a good vacation. Why does your wife not like the close up photos of inanimate objects ? Or are you simply saying that ? 🙂 Wishing you both a healthy and happy New Year.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Happy New Year, Lakshmi. I don’t know who did the stitching, but I think it was someone more skillful than I am. My wife prefers me to take pictures of people, not things, whereas I like detailed photos with lots of tone and pattern.
LikeLiked by 1 person