where art collides philosoperontap

The house is approaching a state of normality, if it could ever be thus. The Christmas decorations are down and will be put away today. The tree is at the bottom of the garden where it will remain for a year or two before I get around to doing anything about it. The small sofa to the left of the fireplace has been put back in its normal place – with the tree in we have to rotate it to be flat against the wall to make room. 

Our minds are starting to get to grips with the weeks and months ahead. Plans fulminating. There is already much in place, to the extent that Anne and Hannah have been struggling to identify a weekend between now and the spring when they can have a day out together in London. They want to visit the Tutankhamun exhibition in London before it returns to Egypt. Not sure I’m that bothered about going myself although it is historic obvs.

In January I will be variously in London and Brussels. We also have Kevin Phipps’ funeral to attend at the end of the month followed the next morning by a dash to Cardiff for the Wales v Italy game on the 1st of February. Kev was one of our oldest friends and a lifelong cystic fibrosis sufferer. He had a lung transplant a few years ago but has finally lost the battle. The hardest thing about his illness in latter years has been the fact that we were unable to visit him in case we passed on colds and infections. He, and his attitude to life will be missed.

In early February I am off to Nanog in San Fran for the first time followed by a couple of weeks off touring California. We finish off with a flourish in Vegas baby. Upon our return I head straight for Barcelona and Mobile World Congress, an abomination of a trip. Then it will be March!!!

There is no sign of the busyness abating in 2020 but things should begin to calm down the following year. Terrible that someone with a philosophy of living life for the here and now is seen planning for two years hence. The hear and now doesn’t happen without lots of work being done to make it happen you know 😉

Back in the present I think for the most part the supplies procured for the holiday festivities have mostly been run down. Wine apart. We seem usually to be able to survive for weeks or months after Christmas without having to go out and buy any more alcohol. Not a bad thing I suppose.

More as it happens…

Day Eleven. Inauspicious. Omelette with smoked salmon plus a gallon of tea. Milk running low and represents this morning’s shopping list. Low sun no surprise. The gentle hum of the dishwasher. A silent wife nurtures her sore throat. Previously unnoticed chimney pots on the horizon. It is a Saturday morning. Occasionally a cough breaks through upstairs. Another day of getting things done ahead, at least that’s the plan. This is not a jobs list thing it’s a Tref thing. The list is in my mind and has been days, if not weeks in the planning. The kitchen is brightly lit. There are a lot of lights in our kitchen. I note a few breakfast items need putting away. I note also maybe one hundred cookery books in the kitchen bookcase. Many recipes, mostly untested. It is not yet nine o’clock. There is no rush.

It’s Sunday morning. I’ve cooked breakfast and am now sitting in the front room with a cup of black coffee. Espresso actually. Probably more coffee than is sensible. The choir of King’s College Cambridge is providing relaxing background music with their extensive repertoire of Christmas carols. Still ten days to go but hey…

Anne has gone to church leaving me with the sole job of putting up the outside lights. I’m not a big fan of outside lights at Christmas but Anne likes them and these are reasonably discrete. The other job on the list is one I don’t consider to be a job and that is shopping at Waitrose. I like shopping at Waitrose. I find it relaxing. I will have all this done by lunchtime, by the time Anne comes home.

The run up to Christmas is very hectic. We are extremely fortunate in having lots of nice friends with who we have a routine leading up to the big day. Our own Christmas Market Party, trefbash in London, the Wards and the Brittain’s parties and then with the kids home the countdown to the 25th December: the big shop, picking up the meat, the Morning Star Carol session, Christmas Eve spent quietly prepping the food for the next day and maybe a couple of beers early doors in the Morning Star or Strugglers before dinner. 

This year the vote for dinner on Christmas Eve has been takeaway Chinese and Indian. People get to choose one or the other or indeed a mix of both – crispy duck starter and lamb balti main for example. It works. Anne will go to midnight mass and I will probably be in bed by the time she gets back.

Christmas Day itself is far more civilised than in the years where the kids were small and woke up ridiculously early to see if Santa had been. Present unwrapping would have been a frenzy of flying paper with us parents trying to keep track of which child had been given which present from which relative. Now we have to get them out of bed. The present opening still has an element of flying paper but it is far more controlled.

Breakfast is traditional with every individual choice catered for. I especially like tinned grapefruit segments on Christmas Day because I remember having them when I was small.

I will probably delegate the job of lighting the fire to a responsible adult whilst I take charge of the kitchen and the preparation of Christmas lunch. We usually have a rack of beef with trimmings by request. 

Before lunch we usually have people round for drinks. After lunch we are fortunate enough to have a sufficient quantity of settees for everyone to be able to crash. This year we have the Queen (as in Freddie Mercury) DVD to watch as a family. Games tend not to be on the menu much to Anne’s disappointment. When she was a girl at home the Websters always played games. We Davieses never have the energy left to do this. It is one of my (few) regrets in our marriage that I fall short at this benchmark of husbandly qualities.

This year on Boxing Day we are again off to Holt to see the rest of the family: the Cooksons and Dad and Sue and then Aunty Pat and Uncle Ted. Good times.

2019 has been another action packed and eventful year, perhaps more than most. It seems to have been peak year for globe trotting. Anne and I flew to Hong Kong for New Year’s Even followed by ten days or so in Thailand. Hong Kong was fun but bitterly cold. This is something we hadn’t planned for. Our suitcases were full mostly of shorts and tshirts ready for the tropics. We survived.

The rest of the year trips to Reykjavik, Toulouse, Rotterdam and Amsterdam (one long series of conferences), Moscow, Barcelona, the Isle of Man, Washington DC, Antwerp and Brussels in no particular order. There have also been many trips around the UK. It’s been a hectic but memorable year.

Particularly to the fore of our collective memory was the cancellation of the Beyond The Woods festival due to high winds that could have proved dangerous to the public. Many other events were cancelled that weekend and the weather didn’t let us down, so to speak. The decision to cancel was the toughest business decision I/we had ever had to make. It was outside both our experience and comfort zones. It wasn’t taken lightly. We sounded out many sources of authority and advice before pressing the button.

The irony was that on theThursday, where the number of volunteers on site helping with the build was at its peak, the weather was idyllic. At lunchtime we assembled everyone in a marquee and Tom gave everyone the news. The mood was very subdued. People had worked on this project for a year and the excitement levels were at a peak.

I have to say I was very proud of the way the whole team handled the situation. I won’t name them but they know who they are. After a break for lunch everyone got on with the job of undoing all the work they had been doing and the core team continued the process of informing artists, vendors and other contractors and suppliers that the gig was off.

By 5pm everyone was emotionally exhausted.  We all downed tools and began to party. That night ranked as one of the best parties we have ever had. Everyone released their pent up emotions and danced. 

The festival has moved on and planning is well under way for 2020 when we expect put on a bigger and better than ever show.

Our year as a Davies family has been highly successful. Our children are all giving us reasons to be proud of them. I won’t embarrass them individually.

The year has not been great for everyone. Friends have experienced personal tragedy that has affected the whole community. Sometimes things happen in life that are difficult to understand end even harder to cope with. Our thoughts go out to them. 

It is sometimes difficult to reconcile your own good fortune with the bad luck of others. It reinforces my own philosophy of getting as much out of life as possible whilst we still can.

So as we approach the holidays I’d like to everyone best wishes from the whole Davies family. May Santa bring your heart’s desire and may 2020 be a wonderful year for you.

58 is here. Thus far it has been represented by a couple of cups of tea in bed, the opening of two cards (kids and Mrs D), the unveiling of my new guitar stand (v useful and good quality) and cooking myself a full Lincolnshire. I won’t need anything else to eat until tonight’s takeaway curry.

My Out of Office Message is on stating the facts. 

Thus far 58 has revealed little other than a determination that with the passing of mid fifties and the entrance into late fifties it’s about time I started to get a little fitter. A lot fitter actually.

This is not as simple as it seems, if it ever appeared thus. Christmas is coming hard on the rails and the festivities are in full swing. Tomorrow is the Wright Vigar Christmas Drinks do. We will be in London from Wednesday until Saturday immersing ourselves in the festive spirit. Ie gin, brandy etc. Upon our return we have the Brittain’s Christmas Party, an annual gastronomic delight.  Next week we have a quiet start building up to the annual Capacity Yorkshire conference in York on Friday, the Shed 7 gig in Manchester on Saturday and culminating with the Morning Star Christmas Carols session on Sunday.

After that it’s Christmas proper. You know the form.