WASN’T the centre of Barnsley lovely this week? The Christmas food market was gorgeous, I could have gone to every stall.
And isn’t it nice to have some clothes shops? More please. I had a lovely wander around Christmas shopping.
Also, I think the big roses are beautiful. Haven’t we come a long way since the ‘Brok’ Clock’. And it’s something different to ‘mines’.
Yes I know our heritage is built on coal, you’d have to be daft not to realise our origins, but I still say we do not need car parks named after ‘Seams’.
Do young people even know what that word means? For those who say we still need to nod to the past… we have enough of a fight on our hands trying to convince outsiders we don’t still live in a town dominated by pits and muckstacks, that all of us have a whippet and everyone wears a flat cap.
There’s plenty to celebrate looking forward now. Surely, we’ve done over and above our duty to the past.
Unpacking the Christmas decorations inevitably leads you down memory lane. I lost both my parents in the lead up to Christmas, both funerals were at either side of the Big Day so my mind tries to avoid the horror of that and visit merry Christmases past, and they were merry.
Mum was a lovely cook, our big dinner was always beautiful. Our house was always warm, there were always lots of presents under the tree for me.
I wish they were still here but time only goes one way. I kept mum’s decorations, her little tree is in my hallway, her plastic sledge is on my office windowsill, the Santa with the grinding hips (don’t ask) that looks like my godfather is in the living room.
For anyone going through the awful ‘year of firsts’ it helped us to jiggle things a little, we moved the table the other way round just so it was different and we weren’t comparing one Christmas to another. If it helps you to lay a place for them at the table, do it, do whatever gets your through.
Raise a glass and enjoy it for you all. As they would want you to.
Happy sixth anniversary to the Barnsley Book Vault on Market Street who opened just before Covid and managed to survive and thrive.
Raising a glass (any excuse) in a toast. Long may it stay open and trade.
My events are all done for the year and it’s been joyful – if knackering. Thank you to every one of you who has supported me, bought my books and tickets to come and see me.
Our event at Shaw Lane last week raised £1,263 for Royston Animal Welfare – people were so very generous. Next year this old workaholic in planning a break, after twenty years without barely a day off, I’m due.
I have loved touting my book around the country and meeting people though, it’s been a thrill. A perfect antidote to the wider world which seems a very unstable place, especially after the events of this week.
We have to keep our wits about us at all times, folks, because nasty stuff doesn’t just happen to other people so watch yourselves, but don’t stop living – find the happy medium. We must find our pleasures where we can, however small: a new lippy, a really good pen, a meal out with friends. Did that this week at ‘Med’ and put the world to rights. Oh if it were only that easy. Enjoy the run up to Christmas when hopefully everything comes together as if by magic.
