A few days ago a parcel was left in my porch addressed to somebody I’d never heard of at a house a quarter of a mile down the road. The mistake was difficult to comprehend, but I did my social duty and delivered it to the right address. Today, the man from the big house around the corner walked up my path with another parcel addressed to me at this house. It had been left in his porch and I told him of the previous mis-delivery. ‘They don’t care,’ was all he said, and it seems they probably don’t.
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It’s been another dark, dreary day in the Shire today, replete with growling gusts of wind and spitting showers. Nevertheless, I lit my winter solstice fire as usual – and it went out. I’ve been lighting small fires to mark the solstice for at least twenty years and I’ve never had one go out before. Life is not being at all cooperative at the moment.
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But I did get a rare horse fix today: Cliff, an ex-racehorse of around 16.1. Such a noble, handsome specimen he is, smartly clipped and friendly to boot. That was today’s reason to get out of bed. And Mel sent me the DVD of Bill Murray’s Scrooged, which is my second favourite Christmas Carol film after Alistair Sim’s 1951 version (which I’m currently watching on YouTube late at night in half-hour episodes. It has the curious effect of half convincing me that the Ghost of Christmas Past is following me up the stairs and telling me that I really could generate a little of the spirit of the season if only I tried harder. I suppress the instinct to reply ‘humbug’ and then forget it ever happened.)
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