The Beautiful Life....
I've just eaten chocolate for breakfast again...
...and if I hadn't eaten all the chocolate in the house, I'd probably have found room for a little more.
For it's the time of year not only for copious television viewing by women who live alone and own sofas, but equally for those little sponsorship sequences that play before the show starts, or sandwich the ad-breaks. These are the small, softly-shot scenes featuring a beautiful single lady with lovely hair, a roaring fire, a blanket and something nice to eat, be that a Magnum Mini or one exquisitely wrapped Lindor chocolate.
This isn't working effectively in my lone-lady household, as I've already eaten all the chocolate, and thus just feel a bit nauseated by that Magnum Mini Maid creeping in after a hard days work for the one humble treat. God, how empty her life must be, what with all the moderation and hair-brushing that must go on in that cosy cottage of hers - you know, the one on the hillside by the lighthouse. Apart from anything she must be driven wild by the incessant fear of burglary, perhaps even a cliff-collapse, or werewolf attack. I wonder if she does her home insurance on direct debit.
Pies Vs Politics... Currant Buns Vs Current Affairs
I'm utterly overusing the phrase 'at this time of year' (see somewhere above) to excuse the most ridiculous lapses of moral, social engagement.
Isn't it easier to get away with being a dumb, lazy boozer if everyone else is doing the same? I can't honestly say I have a lot of hobbies right now, aside from working, writing study plans for next year, taking baths, shagging, eating and running. And the latter only happens because the former of the former doesn't burn enough calories to balance out the former of the latter.
But, all those delights aside, the most beautiful thing about Christmastime is that everybody seems to be equally indulgent, lazy and disinterested in anything worldly, and nobody expresses guilt about it.
I think I could probably tell you the top news story of the day for the past few weeks, and nothing more. Some of those stories have been pretty rotten too - so much for a slow news month - but perhaps I am not alone in only wanting to hear nice things in December. Perhaps this is cynical, but big stories are often big when they are timely, and so our year seems to have see-sawed between indifference and indignation, in line with the national spirit.
The latter half of this year (post-olympics when everything was great, apparently) has been one of media shift and scandal, when the public engaged in arguments around press independence and moderation, and several big stories put the whole thing in context and made this age-old discourse current. Phone-hacking at the News of the World, it's demise and the launch of the The Sun on Sunday, was followed by the opening of wounds still raw at the 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster. The Jimmy Saville sex scandal emerged and alongside it, great mistrust of the great BBC. Newsnight's related tarnishing followed, an old man accused wrongly and publicly of child abuse, which was then propagated on Twitter, finally followed by the appointment and resignation of a beeb director general in just months. Indeed, this side of the Olympics, media stories have taken centre stage in media coverage, whether it has been the departure of Chris Moyles from radio 1, farewell to Ceefax or hello to whichever on demand TV provider you favour... no wonder people have been asking, in effect, is the tail wagging the dog?
As an aside, I don't think the tail IS wagging the dog. Sorry, I hate that phrase, I don't know why I just used it twice. Evidently I'm a twat... but anyway, surely the very fact that scandal in the media is so prominently covered by the media just highlights it's own self-awareness. Print and broadcast are democratic mediums that can recognise their own flaws and individual areas of corruption - prevalent (and thus relevant) inevitably as it shall be in any section of society. Perhaps what we have learned this year, is to not disregard and leave unquestioned what takes place before our very eyes. Again, I'd posit that this is the position not merely of the media but of any organisation which has a duty of responsibility and trust. Surely, alerted to great self-reflection, the exposure of malpractice (which by it's nature, only becomes scandalous when exposed) is the greatest safeguarding against further error.
This is a simplified view, for it does not take into account the fact that there are (and always will be) a few genuinely malignantly motivated people in any organisation, and as a part of their democratic privilege, these people will have access to power and influence that may remain unchecked until mass attention recognises it as harmful. All I'm saying is that sometimes we need to remind ourselves where we're going wrong, and think about what's right and wrong. We'll forget again as we eagerly try to get by and do the day to day, but at least, together as a society, we are able to pull each other up and have a good old argument about it. Moderate that and you have one thread of belief governing a whole rainbow of society and opinion.
But back to December, and here many of us are, struggling through the last few days of work before the big 2 days of feasting and family (hopefully), lost in merry cookery shows, heavy drinking, lovely food and lots of sleep. Even the Mayan Apolocalypse seems to have passed with a relative degree of gung-ho affection. This week I overslept and was late for work. My boss just nodded sagely and agreed, we were all just clawing through. That wasn't like me. I must be tired. I nodded. I cannot get enough sleep right now.
Tired from what though? Work is always busy - that's no change. Is it rather the fact that everything is inevitably on the go-slow now. You can't exist in isolation, getting excited about the news and deadlines and being early for work if nobody else is. Frankly, I'd carry this on all year if everyone else was up for it, and bring on the regressions or ultimate downfall of society through sheer laziness, but we know that as soon as January comes we'll be tightening our belts. Cliches are there for a reason, and by the time that comes, we'll be hungry for the vim and vigour of a great news scandal.
Not so much Lindor chocolate, perhaps.
Merry Christmas.
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