This morning was spent in all those things which somehow magically appear when you are trying to get out of work and on with your holiday.

From last minute meetings, administration, funding panics and arguments with a very misnamed help desk it all descended like snow : suddenly and needing to be cleared.

Yet more tense was the packing. An even larger case than I last used into which I was trying to force clothes, presents and wrapping for the more delicate stuff which wouldn’t last the journey. I soon ran out of space and had to resort to a plastic bag praying that L had some room I could steal.

Out in the road Don was cleaning the car before it’s service and looking glum as I told him where I was heading for Christmas. It’s his end of the country with his parents living just down the coast from L’s. “Make sure you have a beer for me” he said as I left. “You maybe thirsty and I’ll have to have two”, I replied.

Sainsbury’s was full of panic buyers and people who seem to shop only once a year and that immediately before Christmas. The aisles were full of abandoned trolleys and abandoned husbands as the last turkey was claimed and the last box of crackers bought.

Walking into the Ice Box tonight it finally felt like Christmas. Whatever else needs doing can wait. We just need to have a great holiday together.