A Secret Santa
Up fairly early, made Lorraine a bacon and egg sandwich and tea and took it to her in bed. But today was all about the Christmas Fayre in Lorraine's school hall, and we drove off reaching there just after noon. We had the bag of Santa gear with us, as I was the Santa in the Grotto. I sat in Lorraine's office working on the end of my new horror short story. Then the time came for me to change into the gear. I had a big swirling Santa cape, another Santa jacket worn back to front underneath it, some rather skinny felt trousers, and two brown boots, a size too small, and a Santa hat.
A bit of ho-ho-hoing and Merry Christmasing about the school while ringing the school bell, before settling into my grotto. By then the felt trousers had already split along the seams in several places, and that my boxers shorts were simply hanging out of the front. Luckily I could deploy the long cloak over my lap to prevent anything appalling reaching the newspapers.
Then I spent the next our and a half or so chatting to lots of children, and fiddling with my wretched beard which kept sliding off. My patter is a bit more worked out this year, so I cut through them. One kid asked me how I could I possibly deliver presents all around the world. I answered 'very quickly'. Surprisingly tiring talking to a constant stream of children, and when it was all over I slipped gratefully out of my Santa garms, and sauntered anonymously through the graveyard to the Eight Bells where I quietly salving my sore throat with a nice pint of Guinness, feeling like a Secret Santa. Then I went back to find Lorraine, and we returned to the pub to have a drink with some of the parents and others at the fair, and we were bought a couple of drinks. A friendly atmosphere.
Lorraine drove us home, I hopped out to meet Anton in the Park View, and Lorraine came too. We had a few drinks there, and then collected a nice curry from Red Chilli and we ate. Tom arrived a bit later and Anton was in his element talking to Tom about air accidents. Tom showed him a reconstruction of what happened to a plane that went down in the far east and so on.
Rather wonderfully Chelsea beat Manchester City today, City being the best team in the country at present, and Chelsea coming off the back of two losses. It was a night when Match of the Day was a bit of a pleasure. At this point Anton left in a cab, and Tom went to bed. Lorraine and I crept upstairs a bit later.
Below Santa selfie in Lorraine's office.
A bit of ho-ho-hoing and Merry Christmasing about the school while ringing the school bell, before settling into my grotto. By then the felt trousers had already split along the seams in several places, and that my boxers shorts were simply hanging out of the front. Luckily I could deploy the long cloak over my lap to prevent anything appalling reaching the newspapers.
Then I spent the next our and a half or so chatting to lots of children, and fiddling with my wretched beard which kept sliding off. My patter is a bit more worked out this year, so I cut through them. One kid asked me how I could I possibly deliver presents all around the world. I answered 'very quickly'. Surprisingly tiring talking to a constant stream of children, and when it was all over I slipped gratefully out of my Santa garms, and sauntered anonymously through the graveyard to the Eight Bells where I quietly salving my sore throat with a nice pint of Guinness, feeling like a Secret Santa. Then I went back to find Lorraine, and we returned to the pub to have a drink with some of the parents and others at the fair, and we were bought a couple of drinks. A friendly atmosphere.
Lorraine drove us home, I hopped out to meet Anton in the Park View, and Lorraine came too. We had a few drinks there, and then collected a nice curry from Red Chilli and we ate. Tom arrived a bit later and Anton was in his element talking to Tom about air accidents. Tom showed him a reconstruction of what happened to a plane that went down in the far east and so on.
Rather wonderfully Chelsea beat Manchester City today, City being the best team in the country at present, and Chelsea coming off the back of two losses. It was a night when Match of the Day was a bit of a pleasure. At this point Anton left in a cab, and Tom went to bed. Lorraine and I crept upstairs a bit later.
Below Santa selfie in Lorraine's office.
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