Padma has gone to join the Christmas Carollers at Nelligen Hall. She wanted me to come along but I did a credible impersonation of old Ebenezer Scrooge and retorted with a "bah humbug!"
It's been a long day for me already what with our early-morning pool visit, then another breakfast with our pool friends, followed by lunch with another bunch of friends at our Thai restaurant, and then, just after we'd got home in the early afternoon, a couple who had sold out from Nelligen six months ago and moved to Forbes, dropped in on us.
That's enough socialising for this cranky old bastard! And so I've settled down to a quiet evening at home to continue my "Travels with Epicurus". But before I do so, let me tell you about the invention of Christmas according to Griff Rhys Jones who in the following documentary reveals how Charles Dickens created the idea of a traditional family Christmas through one of his best-known books, "A Christmas Carol".
From the moment it was published in 1843, the story of miserly Ebeneezer Scrooge captured the imagination of Victorian Britain. Santa Claus, Christmas cards and crackers were invented around the same time, but it was Dickens's book that boosted the craze for Christmas.
Call me Scrooge because, as far as I'm concerned, it's still "bah humbug!"
