Seeing the wood despite the trees

Sorry - laborious attempt at wit in the title. Blame my waking at 4am with a sudden maddening need to cough (bad enough to waken me from deep sleep) and the subsequent onset of complete hypochondria: I was convinced it was a "new, persistent cough" and that I felt flu-symptoms, and that I was running a temperature, all this within five minutes of waking. I suspect it may have been the Christmas tree allergy; I was fine in the morning.

It was such a miserable day that I had no aspirations towards exercise other than recording and rehearsing in the church, including test recordings of me vs organ in increasing volumes to see just how loudly Himself could play for a last verse at Christmas (for another recording, later ...) I've just heard the results; the answer is at full welly as long as my voice is in decent nick. Quite alarming, really. Other than that and some Italian, I actually can't think of any useful thing I've done all day; I suspect the worsening wind and rain gave me the excuse to think of it as a day off.

Our Scottish Government is tightening the relaxation in rules for visiting people over Christmas, and it looks pretty probable that we shall be going precisely nowhere. Argyll is in Level 2, and would very probably be even lower without Helensburgh/Faslane, but Edinburgh is suffering from a surge in Covid infections and ... As a result, we've started thinking of a super celebration whenever the two of us are vaccinated - perhaps a re-run of Christmas food? Whatever we end up doing, that vaccine can't come soon enough. Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition in Westminster, had a lovely go at Johnson today over his preposterous lack of any real ability; it was genuinely funny but I don't actually think anything sticks. It's hard to make fun of someone who has so little regard for his own veracity.

Blipping the hernia-inducing tree, now settling down to look very like every other tree I've had over the years. No new ornaments this year, though some are from fairly recent posh crackers; the glass baubles (like the long pink one and the red one to its right in the top right hand photo) date from 1970 and that first tree, and the wee santa on a horse (or maybe a camel) was a present to the boys from a friend and colleague some 40 years ago. Only the lights are fairly modern, even though they're only the second set we've ever owned. 

Now fretting over the vagaries of the Royal Mail parcel delivery: the Big Box I posted yesterday arrived in Edinburgh today; the one posted on Friday, also to Edinburgh, is still wandering the country. Fingers crossed for the resolution of that one. Meanwhile I'll have to start thinking about the dreaded shopping on Friday - I'd like to make it the last till after Christmas. Bet I don't manage it ...