ALONE AT CHRISTMAS: A Newbury woman's diary of Tier 4 festivities
Caroline ffrench Blake describes spending the festive period on her own for the first time
It's going to be Christmas alone! For the first time in my quite long life, I will be completely on my own for the whole of this year’s drastically unfestive period, and probably for months to come after, until we emerge from Tier 4 safely vaccinated.
My two daughters are in Sydney and Los Angeles, and the rest of the family homes range from Oxford to Oregon.
A situation which will lead to interesting internet experiments, involving multiple participants and time zones.
Will we still be talking at the end of this? Time will tell.
I feel that a daily diary of these times may be therapeutic for me and possibly some sort of company.
The family normally gathers in large numbers for Christmas, putting aside hatchets for the occasion, and have Mediterranean-style fun, with family stories, laughter and delicious food at a long pine table.
A considerable loss to do without it, but better than being dead, I thought.
However, I woke up on Wednesday with a headache and nausea. Covid flashed through my mind. It's got me at last. I’m going to die just at the wrong time when the hospitals are low on staff.
However, after some paracetamol and a cup of tea, surprisingly I seemed to be ok.
Later in the morning Christmas visitors started arriving, bringing parcels and cards, inducing guilt about my own meagre offerings, or even non-offerings due to not having bought or wrapped enough presents.
Most poignant was a gold foil chocolate teddy bear left outside my door with no message.
The people here are incredibly kind and thoughtful. I’ve never for a moment regretted moving from a beautiful but isolated village to the very centre of Newbury, a busy unpretentious market town full of ideas and the kindest and most interesting people. And still the open countryside is only a few minutes away for walks.
The gift visits were punctuated by long phone calls, which cut in on each other asking me that awkward WhatsApp question – do I hold/accept or decline the call? Or in other words, who do I choose to offend just at this moment?
So far, my solitary Christmas is turning out to be surprisingly sociable.
On the morning of Christmas Eve, I am expecting a delivery of materials for supporting the new trees in Goldwell Park nearby. I only volunteered last week, and am already being involved.
More tomorrow
