So there.

My Christmas tree is taller than yours.

Bit of an emergency blip really as most things which happened today were disasters.

Last night we had friends round for a musical evening and a glass of wine. It was very enjoyable. As a little additional amusement I set up a cactus display on a coffee table. This morning I tried to move the table with the plants still on it and an 18” tall one fell fell to the ground scattering soil and gravel all over the carpet.

We the drove 50 miles to a hi-fi shop for a demo of something we were considering buying. We were in that demo room for two hours during which time every conceivable disaster happened to the manager who was trying to let us hear the equipment. In the end we did not hear it. When the manager phoned the manufacturers near the end of this fiasco he was infuriated to hear that the model was being recalled because of a persistent fault. Some Chinese workers trying to undermine western economies perhaps.

He was lucky that by this time we were collapsing in laughter on the sofa. I have always enjoyed watching a farce.

The best thing was that the ten miles of stationary traffic on the northbound M6, which we had see as we drove south, had cleared and it was an easy journey home.