Saturday 30th November 2024

 

Woke around 0845. Got up and made tea. Aki cycled off to Yerbury Farmer’s Market to buy bread. I cooked brunch when she got back. Popped out in search of a Santa beard…walked past the scene of the fire earlier in the week…the kebab shop totally devastated. Walked on down to the Party shop on Holloway Road and bought a beard…walked home via Peacocks, where I bought a cheap T-shirt with a reindeer in sunglasses on the front. Drove over to Stoke Newington in good time. 

Sharing Santa duties with a chap named Kevin, a local schoolteacher…he wanted to do the 1300-1430 shift, so I dressed as an elf and worked the queue outside Santa’s grotto, ukulele in hand, occasionally singing snatches of I’m Dreaming of a White Xmas. The kids were brought in on timed slots that their parents had booked. I took over from Kevin around 1430 as planned, and took my seat in my grotto. The kids were ushered in with their parent or grandparents, and dealt with as quickly as possible...1 minute allowed per child! All went well...a couple of kids turned up with a letter to Santa detailing their wishes...very sweet. Finished at about 1615. Tidied up, got changed, and headed back to the car. Got home around 1730. Aki cooked an aubergine parmigiana lasagne...I had to pop out to get her some mozzarella. Bumped into Andrew from No.49 outside...he was waiting to gain entry to the church hall...I'd forgotten we had a meeting to look over the facilities ahead of this year's Xmas bash. So I had to run round to Tesco, get the cheese, and leave it with Aki, before I was able to join Andrew, and Becky from No.5, in the church hall...Tom had kindly shown up to show us the ropes. Looks great...plenty of room, plus kitchen facilities if needed. Nowt on telly this evening, so we rehearsed our ukulele Xmas numbers before The Ten, and a bit of MOTD.