In the last nine days I’ve been to five countries – six if you count England. A sort of smorgasbord of Christmas. Tinsel, fairy lights, Christmas markets and a surprising number of Santa sightings. I’ve sampled all the obligatory festive fare: Swedish sausages, Danish cinnamon buns, Norwegian gingerbread, Belgian waffles (with chocolate, naturally) and French…

A few decisions have been called for this week. Mainly relating to Christmas presents. And mainly relating to what to get for people I barely know at all (work secret santa) or people who already have everything (everyone else). Other serious decisions have involved selecting clothes to pack for my Christmas holiday (weather calls for…

Today I have learnt many things. Granted, none of them particularly useful, but I’m squeezing a blog post out of them anyway. I’ve just done the Santa Dash. Which, for anyone who hasn’t had the pleasure of coming across it already, is basically a load of people who should know better, all dressed in identical…

This has been a busy week of, on the one hand, mopping up (sometimes literally) various leaks, breakages, accidents and minor catastrophes, and on the other, luxurious pampering, preening, and adorning of self and general environment. Mostly, in both cases, this has involved sticking things on and making everything look as good as possible, despite…