The other shoe

WE SEEM to be getting a little more into the festive spirit, what with enjoying our Christmas goose yesterday, and putting up our little tree, and, this evening, attending the candlelit carol service at our local church. Trouble is, though, for me, there’s the spectre of bad news that always haunts this time of year, a bit like Old Marley’s ghost haunts Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. It’s as if I’m waiting rather anxiously for the other shoe to drop. Somehow, all the glitter and excess, the deliberate cheeriness and the impossible expectations of a good time just magnify the fact that bad things still happen. We’ve already had a little troubling news, with friends and family needing to go for medical treatment soon, but we’re just hoping we get away without something more serious cropping up.