Clair asked for HEAT and HEAT she will get. Today the bar is extremely warm; in fact in places it is definitely on fire. Actual flames, people, please take care. The fireworks include a row of flaming B52s roaring across the bar for Clair and Lyle like the Red Arrows. There’s some rocket fuel for when those run out. Continue reading
Hello, Uborkunians. We find ourselves here again, in December, and I’m convinced I can’t be the only one looking back at the past 11 months with a resounding “EHH? How did they slip past me again?!”. An overly contrived feeling, I’m aware, but my life in general can currently be summed up with an huge WOOOOOOSH. Continue reading
The bar is open. The theme is, erm, cocktails. And, erm, something else. Okay, first person to order a drink can set the theme.
Are you living in the same place as in 2004/05?No! Lord, no. I now live in Melbourne, Australia, and have since I left London in ’07.
A Canadian Christmas is directly tied to our geography. Come December we are the frozen north of our clichéd reputation. The ultimate American holiday is Thanksgiving, but for us it Christmas. We are keenly aware of Solstice and by mid-month we are living in what seems like almost round-the-clock gloom, either iced-over or buried in snow or both and we need to do something extreme to break up the darkness. Continue reading
Let’s set the tone… turn the speakers up, pop your headphones in, and give this album a listen: Thea Gilmore – Strange Communion. If you’ve not heard it before, this is one of my favourite Christmas albums. Continue reading
Hello, I will be your local unabashed Christmas elf for today, the second day of Yulevent. I love these holidays. I’m as enthusiastic as you can get without running afoul of the Christmas Sweater Mafia for not paying dues. I mean, I will kvetch with the grinches over the manic commercialism, the competing obligations, the gluttonous expanding waistline, the duochromatic obsession with red and green, but let’s be honest. Anyone who knows me well knows that my two favorite things are good food and great friends and for those two blessings, ’tis indeed the season. Continue reading
Ever since my teens, christmas has felt like a time when I have to divide myself into equal parts in order to give a fair share to each bit of family who has a claim on me. Feeling wrung out by January seems to be part of the christmas tradition, and I’m sure I’m not alone in this. In October this year, my mother tried to book me for christmas 2014, which means I know we’ll be with Pete’s mum for christmas 2015 and can see these milestones looming ahead for pretty much the rest of my life. Basically, I claim that Yule is all about the family, but grumble if it isn’t done my way. I’m just hard work, me. Continue reading