A Handful of Games - 2020

End of year chores made up the day's bulk. Cleaned the oven which was a well overdue job so now it glistens and sparkles. I did the final shopping run of 2020, I tell you man, the Lidl down our road is never busy at the moment, it's absolute heaven to shop somewhere that isn't rife with riff-raff. Last but now least, I completed my write up for the best games I played this year. I always enjoy doing my annual round up, and this one I feel is a little sharper than most - Give it a read here if you have a moment!

Social Streamer

Rose early to be a part of a Twitch stream with a handful of other gaming YouTube folks. We were all basically coming together to share and discuss all of our favorite games of this year. I was actually the very first guest in the show and stuck around for almost two hours before they had to rotate someone else in. Had a real cute time doing it too, got to chat loads with people I'd never really met before - good bit of PR there!

Mark and Lucy swung by to do a present drop at our place too. We initially planned to go out for a walk but the sleet made us reconsider. Seeing them again at arms length made me more than ever wish for a bit more normality, we've all probably made personal 'what I'll do after the pandemic is over lists' and spending more time with friends like them if number one on that list.

Spicy Turkey

Turkey strikes again today as Rebecca squeezed the very most out of our leftovers. Soup for lunch, as prepped yesterday and a turkey green curry this evening for dinner. A handful of my home gorwn chili peppers are still knocking around so Rebecca asked if we could put them in as an extra spice. I remembered them being rather potent, but the few I picked I left to dry so I figured they'd mellow out a bit. I thought wrong. Worse still, Rebecca never learnt about the whole 'wash your hand after handling peppers' thing - some things you gotta learn the hard way. The ran shrieking from the kitchen and re-emerged with a cold compress against her eye. In solidarity, I bit into a chili flake and truthfully, I could barely put my tongue near one of these pepper, heaven only knows how bad it must sting if it gets into your eye.

Soul

Despite owning a mountain of cooked turkey, we needed to head out and buy some provisions. I elected to head to the supermarket and I while I know this is an all too common complaint, I was still agog at how busy it was and how many people still weren't wearing masks. Nine times out of ten I give people the benefit of the doubt, but while queuing I spotted a whole yuppie family together without any coverings. It triggered a very rapid level of intolerance deep within me, probably hailing form my Mother's side. I begun doing that thing where I fantasize about an interaction where I say something so snippy to them they immediately curl up and die with embarrassment while I'm lauded through ASDA as a Covid superhero. Instead I just bit my tongue and stewed by the self checkout... You know, the polite but unhealthy thing to do.

Luckily my spirits were lifted back at home, Rebecca and I took a spin on Disney Plus and watched Soul, the latest Pixar offering. You could boil it down to Inside Out meets La La Land and truthfully, that's exactly what you get. While no moment really 'wowed' me, it felt honest in all the right places and the gags were timed well with Richard Ayoade's character earning the most chuckles. I like how they didn't try to go for a big tear-jerking moment in this one too, but at the same time, it did feel a little toothless, the final 90 seconds in particular robbed one character of consequence. As a result though, it made for ideal Christmas Holiday viewing. A little funny and a little philosophical, it's the Pixar formula perfected, for better and for worse.

Boxing Day 2020

Still felt full when I woke up. Full of Christmas meats, chocolate and pudding. Like every Boxing Day I thought I'd try and pace myself on the decadent foods, but like every year, my standards slip near immediately after breakfast and now I feel the same as when I woke up. Rebecca and I treated today as a recuperation day, so we vegged out on the sofa for a time and I settled into the new game I got for Christmas, felt a bit bad for Rebecca because she almost didn't see me for half the day! Now we're back in Tier 3 the Christmas holiday is feeling a bit flat, weather has turned too so going outside isn't the nicest prospect. Guess we'll have to find some films to settle into in the meantime.

Merry Christmas 2020

For what feels like the first time ever in my life, I didn't wake upu in my parents house on Christmas morning. Instead, I honoured our breakfast traditions from my home in Bristol - grapefruit and glazed gammon + eggs for breakfast. Rebecca hadn't had the ham before but I reckon she's a convert now. We exchanged gifts just the two if us after breakfast and we hopped on a series of video calls, first of which was with Rebecca's parents, the latter was with my family. Though it was only in a limited capacity, it was truly wonderful to see that familiar living room brimming with the people nearest and dearest to me. Our call had some technical problems to begin with, but one we got into the swing it felt like second nature. We signed off wishing everyone a Merry Christmas.

Shortly after we headed to Louis and Rachel's for our Christmas dinner. It cannot be overstated just how fantastically they both did, Rachel in particular was spinning so many plates, but it didn't phase her and lunch was served with beaming smiles all around the table. 

A short walk followed by a group return to our house followed suit. Louis and Rachel made comments about how chilly their home is so we lit a fire and warmed up with some port, cheese and television. 

It was undeniably a smaller Christmas, but my spirit was sated regardless. It marked my first Christmas with Rebecca and despite getting fewer gifts this year, it just goes to show that presents don't make the holiday - the people do. I sincerely wish that everyone felt at least a tingle of Christmas magic this year and had a wonderful 'alternative Christmas'!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve 2020

Plans for the big day tomorrow have all been finalised and the turkey has been passed on to Louis for roasting. To my incredible embarrassment I told him the wrong weight of the turkey, giving him a number I still don't know how I saw. Inexplicably, I told him it was 2.9kg, in reality, it was almost three times that size so they will have to improvise a bit when it comes to over spacing tomorrow.

Rebecca and I are in charge of the 'after dinner and nibbles' department, we stockpiled plenty if wine and cheese for the occasion. Additionally, I prepped my own cola boiled ham, as is now tradition in the Durrant household. I thought I'd messed it up about four times while cooking it, but it came out a treat. I leant in for a smell after it had cooled off and it transported me right back home to my dining room on Christmas morning. Can't wait to share it with Rebecca, Louis and Rachel for Christmas.