I hope you’re impressed with my Christmas cake, baked far ahead of the due date because I certainly am! I have owned up to being dilatory in most things (see previous blog) or perhaps I was shamed by that admission or perhaps I have taken myself in hand? At any rate I seem to have turned over a new leaf, or at least started a new paragraph, and have been on a roll doing housewifely things like dusting and vacuuming and planting 100 bulbs; I have almost exhausted the washing machine and there is nothing left to launder in the house.
I don’t really recognise this new me so I may have to go back to my usual mode of pootling, faffing, and loafing about, inspired by a visit we made yesterday to Moochin’ About, a jazz cafe in Arnside. The day was perfect, a gift of a day, so before normal conditions of damp, rain and mist resumed we decided to venture further afield. We got as far Arnside where the sun shone and the tide was obliging and lots of photographers stood ready by the viaduct, cameras in hand. We tried a cafe that was new to us, Moochin’ About, where we drank excellent coffee and enjoyed a delicious Italian almond paste cake.
I was particularly taken with the name; mooching, I liked the sound of that; it appealed to my lower nature, ie my laziness, and seemed to give a stamp of approval to the idea that little effort in life was actually perfectly fine.
After I made my Christmas cake I started to make a list of ingredients needed to make mincemeat ready for mince pies. At this point I stopped; I was being ridiculous. I was doing that thing again – making Christmas preparations in the hope that I could fool myself into believing that I actually like Christmas. The fact is, I do not. I am – to be blunt – a modern day Mrs Scrooge. Never mind ‘bah humbug’, it’s bah Everton mints, bah Pontefract cakes, bah the whole pic’n’mix sweet shop! And don’t get me started on New Year!
It’s so much easier to retreat to a world of my own making where all I have to do is rescue Cris and Minty from the clutches of an evil gang. Mince pies optional.
