Don't Feel Sorry For Me That I was Working On A Wet and Windy Sunday Morning For At Least I Missed Going To A Christmas Market

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well it was 3:15am this Sunday morning. Outside it was windy, I knew it was going to be cold and it was raining, And to describe the rain as heavy does it a disservice. Apparently there was mild flooding during the night a few miles away from where I live. Not only that but when on my way back from work I saw what is normally the green grass of nearly covered by large masses of water. I was told today that flocks of sheep instinctively herded their way to safety through it all and there was at least one car in trouble.

Through this I drove to work at around five thirty. Passing a flood sign but that was it. I was working from six am.

But don't feel sorry for me.

For if I wasn't working this Sunday I would have to join wife, daughter and two single friends on a trip to a Christmas market. In this occasional series, "What Irritates Me About Christmas" then the market comes up high on this list.

As I see it the Christmas Market is trying to suggest that you are going to spend the festive(!) season in two ways. Either you're going to be in some Alpine village covered in snow so you might as well stay in a hut surrounded by an open fire. Or you're going to time travel to a stately home in Victorian Britain where after a full dinner you would be paying parlour games in front of an open fire.

Instead the people going will be spending the time in a bricked abodes in Barry, Bridgend and the Valleys where after dinner families will slump around an open television too stuffed to do anything useful. The only game will be who will have control of the TV remote (spoiler alert it's never me on Christmas day the best I could manage was to record some NBA games).

And yet you're expected to buy some sort of thing to perpetuate a myth that probably never existed in the first place. To admire the tat on display only to hide, put it away and forget about it until the following year.

I've no idea whether this Christmas market was selling food. I hope not. They seem to consist of farms are trying to flog not just Turkey, but also goose, duck and venison. The latter being too dear for me.....I'll get my coat..in a few moments.

And of course they have to be "free range". I believe this is just pandering to fashion. Either you don't eat meat (which is fair enough) or you do. "Free range" is just a marketing ploy to make your conscience forget that the animal was still killed at the end of it all.

And as for Christmas cake, pudding, mince pies and the yule log...ugh. It's as if other cakes/desserts wanted a break so let the stuff people would normally avoid take the limelight instead.

So as you see though some things went down at work, I was busy and there were moments when things were a little tense it didn't matter. I did not go to the Christmas market.

The sting in this tale though is this. At time of writing wife/daughter are not yet back...and I don't know what they've bought.

Until the next time.