All in the best possible taste

Carl's folks were otherwise engaged this year, so what's developed into a tradition of my spending Christmas Day with them didn't happen. Instead, our friend who hosts the majority of our Grand Prix lunches stepped into the gap and invited us to his place.

He did us proud (indeed, the table was lucky to survive at all under the weight of the food on offer), and we had a terrific time (including a rather drunken hour and a half or so spent with the sing-along version of the Mamma Mia movie). This garland of Christmas lights proved very popular later in the night, and ended up draped around the shoulders of one and all. All in all, a terrific day.

Thankfully, our hosts laid on sleeping space, which was most welcome after a rather late-night viewing of an old Miss Marple movie.