A plastic bag that has been lying around the third-floor slum that I call my study turned out to have the midget Christmas Tree in it.
Midget it may well be, but it fits almost comically perfectly on the shelf that Toni constructed to take the fan to blow away the noxious ciggie smoke from the “departed” neighbour who used to sit in her open window and waft her filth towards us.
Now the little shelf looks purpose built to take the tree. And with its raising we have Christmasified ourselves completely. With the single Christmas card from Andrew and the plugging in of the annual (well, we don’t ever take it down) Christmas star in the kitchen window, there is little more that we can do to become completed festivified. And we have spent virtually no time whatsoever in getting to this stage of entering into the spirt of the season! A win-win situation.
My mother had a habit (that I have enthusiastically adopted) of declaring certain of her purchases (especially those of questionable value) as officially “Best Buys”.
This designation sought to imbue the purchase with the sort of cachet which made it “good value for money” and therefore justifiable, and (further therefore) well beyond the carping criticism of a confirmed anti-shopper like my father. She was also well aware that she could always call on my unbiased, enthusiastic support for the mere act of purchasing, let alone giving her approbation for the actual object itself.
My mother was the inventor of the clothing doctrine: “If it fits and is comfortable, buy it in all available colours.”
I remember being with her once when she put this into operation. My mother and I share what may be described as “fussy” feet, where the cheap, cheerful, and totally acceptable ordinary shoe does nothing for our feet. Indeed, mere expense is no guide to comfort and finding the right shoe for us made Prince Charming’s quest look slipshod!
My mother found a court shoe that fitted, was comfortable and utilitarian. She bought a single pair to try and pronounced them fine and, with me in toe, she went back to the shop and did as she believed, and literally bought a pair in every colour they made. My mother, being my mother, explained what she was doing to a completely indifferent salesperson, and we both returned home triumphant and slightly hysterical.
As the numerous pairs of shoes were laid out for inspection, my father merely sighed a little and lit his pipe.
A similar process obtains with cutlery and crockery. As a boy who was made aware of the differences between different grades of china at an early age and was taught to weigh and balance cutlery in hand to evaluation its worth, plates, spoons, glasses, and suchlike have an important place in my life.
I like things to match and so the purchase of a ‘life’ canteen of china is something not lightly entered into.
I had no way of knowing that life, the universe, and everything would bring about the downfall of a potter like Wedgewood. For goodness’ sake, William Blake did drawings for the early publicity of the firm!
It was a business founded in righteousness and destined to see us all out. The choosing of a pattern in Wedgewood was therefore something that would last, if not forever, at least for a reasonable lifetime.
The transience of things thought to be permanent, would have been more of a problem if I had not followed my mother’s other dictum related to china, “Buy at least 12 of everything” so even with inevitable breakages, I am still able to set a decent table.
When I bought the Wedgewood Aztec patterned service from Debenhams
(a store also gone the way of all flesh) I bought so much (see my mother’s advice above) that it came with a “free breakages replacement” guarantee for a year! During the first year only one plate was broken (by Helen who stood on it) and the pieces were carefully kept because, if you did not claim on the insurance, you were given a whole single place setting free at the end of the year. At the end of the year, my not having claimed, I was sent not one, but two place settings free. And that insurance offer was terminated soon after they arrived! What sensible advice my mother gave!
On the basis of direct descendance, I now claim the right to designate things “Best Buys” and the few years old tree and the more than a few years old star qualify for that title. And their reuse gives green credentials to the activity and the carbon footprint is low because the lights on the tree and the star are low power led.
Christmas done and dusted!
