Christmas Presents

Without wanting to cast gloom over the proceedings, it makes me think that Christmas is very much about other people, and how bad news always seems worse at this time of year.

Yesterday three of my friends had bad news.

One has been told she has osteoarthritis and is terrified that she is going to lose all mobility and end up in a wheelchair. I think this highly unlikely, because she’s very active, but she has been in pain for a long time and is to have a thorough examination at the beginning of January. But as you can imagine, it’s not done much to uplift her spirits.

The second came in a phone call from someone who hasn’t been happy with her husband for a while. Well, years. She has always worked her butt off, cleaning and cooking and doing all the shopping as well as working seven days a week (she’s self employed) while her husband does – well, nothing would cover it.

Their marriage is over which should make her feel better, but she feels it’s all her fault, and for some reason she’s the one leaving the family home and the cat. (She is going to work in America in January for 2 months which has some bearing on who looks after the cat.)

How sad though. To have tried so very hard at a marriage that obviously wasn’t working, and to feel that she’s failed. I do feel for her so much.

The third is from a dear mate who’s just discovered her father is very ill.

Happy Christmas, eh?

But on a brighter note, I doubt I will get any work done today. As my Christmas preparations are zilch, I’d better get a move on.

And I’m meeting another writer, Liz Fenwick, this morning for coffee. She’s a member of the RNA and of the Novel Racers, and spends part of her time in Dubai and nips back to Cornwall when she can. It’s always great to meet other writers and will be a good chance to indulge in writerly chat/gossip for an hour or so. Called networking, you know?

I also have to buy presents, decorate the house, walk the dog, have my hair cut, and meet friends in the pub.

Yesterday was the most beautiful afternoon and a friend and I took Mollie out on the Woodland Walk at Trelissick (see picture above - not mine but that's what it looks like). It was the first sunny day for what felt like weeks, and although the sun was low in the sky, it painted the woods a soft gold, the sky a palest Wedgewood blue, the sea a clear emerald green.

I got back to find a card from a friend saying, ‘thanks for wonderful walks and for invaluable friendship.’

I couldn’t get better presents than those two.

Hopeless Tagger

I was tagged by Mother at Large re Food. Now, this is not a good one for me, as we have spectacularly bad luck eating out. Food is either burnt or uncooked, we’ve been overcharged and pissed off, so we’ve given up eating out except for two exceptions which are both in Falmouth, Cornwall.

Mali Thai restaurant is in Quay Hill, Falmouth, just off Custom House Quay, conveniently placed for both the Chainlocker and Quayside pubs. We always get takeaways rather than eating in, and the other night I had their vegetarian red curry which was spicy, hot yet delicate at the same time. Definitely worth repeating. I can’t remember what Himself had but it was good and garlicky.

The Clipper café in Well Lane, Falmouth. Here, despite their less than friendly proprietor, the food is consistently good, imaginative and cheap. They use local ingredients and my favourite is toasted tuna and coleslaw sandwich, or hummous and roasted vegetable sarnie. They also do tortilla, home made tarts, a selection of salads and ham on the bone. Their coffee is spectacular and served in huge French style cups/bowls; a sarnie and coffee costs under a fiver which isn’t bad these days. Unfortunately it’s tiny – only three tables, so you either have to get there very early or queue. Or go somewhere else.

I can’t stretch to five restaurants but on Christmas Day we took ham rolls down to Church Cove, having stopped for a quick drink at the Blue Anchor in Helston. (They do very good Spingo if you’re into real ale which neither of us are.) I digress. Church Cove is beautiful and was filled with dogs and people who’d been swimming, warming up in front of a big fire. We walked Mollie along the beach, where the tide was out, then over onto the dunes and up to the top where we had a breathtaking view of the Lizard, north and south and all the way out to sea. Those Atlantic rollers looked spectacular.

On the way back we met a girl in her thirties at a guess, walking along the road. Now the Lizard is very isolated – you can walk for miles without encountering a house let alone a village or person. It was also nearly 3pm and would be getting dark soon so we gave this girl a lift. She’d obviously been to a pub (she reeked of booze) and asked us to drop her back onto the main road as she was lost and staying on a campsite in the middle of nowhere. In between phone calls (her mobile phone rang, endlessly, from her husband) she told us that they’d split up on Christmas Eve, he’d disappeared with the car and she was left alone on this campsite knowing no one.

By this time I was in tears, she was in tears and I think Mollie was too. Himself was moist round the eyes. I couldn’t just drop her at a crossroads, so we took her back to her caravan. She got out, gave me a huge hug, then gave Himself a huge hug and disappeared into the mist.

I promptly burst into sobs, thinking what a terrible way to spend Christmas Day. So lost and alone, unloved and miserable. She couldn’t get back home (Liverpool or somewhere, hundreds of miles away) until after Boxing Day as there were no trains, and the nearest station was Penzance or Truro - both miles away. And how would she get there? There were no buses that far down. Taxis? Doubtful. I couldn’t stop thinking about, worrying how she was going to spend the next few days. What really happened with her husband? Would he come and collect her, to take her home?

I appreciate this has very little to do with food and I seem to have broken all the tagging rules, sorry about that, but it was a Christmas Day I'll never forget. I wonder what happened, and where she is now?