Christmas 2023 Favourites – Part 2

A collage of 6 photos, including a painting of a clock with Roman numerals, a tall pixel tree illuminated with green and red colours and a bright yellow star on top, the words Peter Pan on top of a compass design surrounded by an ornate circular frame, a portrait of Charles dickens, a large puff pastry pie with a large bone containing bone marrow standing in the centre, and David Tennant as The Doctor running with Catherine Tate as Donna Noble in Doctor Who.

Happy New Year! I hope you had a great Christmas, and that you have a prosperous year ahead as well.

This is the second, bumper part of my festive Favourites, as the first part covered the month of November, where I had a free Christmas meal, explored a trail of snowmen sculptures and saw some of London’s displays, among other activities.

Since then, in December and early January, I’ve met friends in both London and Devon, seen four incredible theatre shows, explored a museum I hadn’t been to before, had some lovely meals in restaurants, ate far too much food at home, celebrated the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who, watched lots of comedies on TV, and enjoyed some music as well.

So once again, as with every Christmas, this is a bumper post and video. One of the meals was a free PR invite for my journalist friend Emily to review, but as usual I’m not sponsored or affiliated to write anything here, and all opinions are my own. I hope you enjoy!

Contents

Devon Holiday

I still keep in touch with my old colleagues and school friends down in the Westcountry, so I like to pop down there for a visit every so often. And after the strikes and snow prevented me from making the journey last Christmas, this year I was thankfully able to pay a visit for a long festive weekend.

As usual I stayed at the Premier Inn on Torquay seafront, thoroughly enjoying their filling cooked breakfasts every morning. And it’s attached to the Beefeater restaurant, which is where I met some of my ex-colleagues for a lovely Christmas meal, before we went on for a few drinks nearby as well.

I also had a look at the Bay Of Lights trail along Torquay seafront which, while inevitably not as amazing as some of London’s displays, had some nice installations including a big pixel tree, a snowflake, a comet and an octopus, among other things, much of it accompanied by uplifting Christmas music. It added a welcome bit of light and colour to the area.

Glen standing with a pint of cider in the Rock Garden bar in Torquay, while some people have fun on the dance floor in the background.
Strings of festive lights hanging over Fleet Street in Torquay, along with some lit snowflakes on the first floors of the buildings on the right hand side, above the shops on the ground floor.
A very tall tree-like structure, covered in pixels that are showing animated red and white patterns. A brightly lit yellow star sits on top of the tree.
A large sculpture of a comet with a big star at one end, covered in festive lights. It forms a large archway that people can walk through, or stand under to have photos taken.

I popped over to Exeter a couple of times as well, firstly to catch up with an old friend from school, which was wonderful, and then secondly to explore the Exeter Cathedral Christmas Market and the High Street.

The front of Exeter Cathedral, towering over the people browsing the Christmas market stalls.
Princesshay shopping centre in Exeter. Large wreaths, covered in white, silver and gold baubles, hang at regular intervals from the arched glass ceiling over the corridor, above the shoppers and the Blue Boy statue.
A large bauble-shaped structure on the High Street in Exeter that people can walk through.
Silver reindeer and large gold stars with lights around the edges hanging from the ceiling in Exeter's Guildhall Shopping Centre. On the ground floor below, a red throne with festive lights all over the back and sides is available for people to sit in for photos.

So I made good use of my time and had a lovely break. You can find out much more and see a wider selection of photos in my blog post about my little holiday, and I’ve also posted a video of the Torquay Christmas trail. So do go and check those out if you haven’t already.

Arts & Culture

Charles Dickens Museum

If you’re going to visit any museum at Christmas, where could be more appropriate than the home of Charles Dickens, author of A Christmas Carol? It sounds obvious and yet, strangely, neither I nor my friend and colleague Emily from Fashioneyesta had ever been there before. So that’s where we went first, on the day we’d set aside for our Christmas meetup (well, our second one technically, following the festive meal we had at Bill’s back in November).

A white sign with large black text saying Charles Dickens Museum stands next to a short path leading to the vivid red front door, on which a green wreath with a decorative gold bow hangs just below the black number 49 at the top.
Close-up of a green wreath with a decorative gold bow, hanging below a black number 49, on the red door of the Charles Dickens Museum.

The Charles Dickens Museum is a lovely big Georgian townhouse, with rooms spread across 5 floors, and they were all fully furnished and decorated in the way they would have been during the festive season, along with many artworks and documents on display. So we very much enjoyed exploring the place, with the aid of their interesting audio guide, before we finished with a tasty mince pie and a lovely glass of hot chocolate in their café.

Christmas tree in the Charles Dickens Museum, decorated with candlesticks plus gold and red baubles.
A fireplace in the Charles Dickens Museum with a white frame, the mantlepiece of which is lined with decorative green foliage supporting five candles, and a red bow tied around the centre of it.
A table laid out for Christmas dinner in the Charles Dickens Museum. The white crockery has ornate blue decorations including portrait sketches of people in the centre of the plates. A model of a large cooked turkey sits on a dish in the centre of the table.
A quote from David Copperfield on the wall in the Charles Dickens Museum, which reads as follows. It was this. My father had left a small collection of books in a little room upstairs, to which I had access (for it adjoined my own) and which nobody else in our house ever troubled. From that blessed little room, Roderick Random, Peregrine Pickle, Humphrey Clinker, Tom Jones, the Vicar of Wakefield, Don Quixote, Gil Blas, and Robinson Crusoe, came out, a glorious host, to keep me company. They kept alive my fancy, and my hope of something beyond that place and time - they, and the Arabian Nights, and the Tales of the Genii - and did me no harm; for whatever harm was in some of them was not there for me; I knew nothing of it. It is astonishing to me now, how I found time, in the midst of my porings and blunderings over heavier themes, to read those books as I did.
A toy theatre in the Charles Dickens Museum, covered in very colourful and detailed imagery of people and horses, and with a couple of cardboard cutout figures on the small stage.
A four poster bed in the Charles Dickens Museum, with red sheets and a long white pillow.
A tall storage cabinet in the Charles Dickens Museum, with 5 shelves full of books, and another shelf below that with 4 books laid open, all behind a tall glass door. At the bottom, an open drawer, the width of the cabinet, shows a couple of handwritten documents inside.
Portraits of Charles and Catherine Dickens in the Charles Dickens Museum.
A piano in the Charles Dickens Museum with some sheet music on the stand.

The House With Chicken Legs

After visiting the Charles Dickens Museum, Emily and I went to the Queen Elizabeth Hall in the Southbank Centre, to see a play called The House With Chicken Legs by the theatre company Les Enfants Terribles. It included audio description by VocalEyes, so prior to the show we were able to take part in the touch tour, where we went on stage and explored the house in the title with its many detailed props, before being shown some of the puppets, dolls and costumes that played a key part in the production. It was lovely to see so many things close-up, and it was really useful for putting everything in context during the performance itself, alongside the audio description.

The show is based on a novel by Sophie Anderson (adapted by Oliver Lansley), which I had never heard of before. But it wasn’t necessary to be familiar with the book, as it was easy enough to follow what was going on, and it had a few little twists and surprises along the way. Emily did know the story, but she very much enjoyed the show as well, so I got the impression it was faithful to the source text.

It’s about a 12-year-old girl called Marinka, played wonderfully by Eve De Leon Allen (who I’ve seen before as Angie Maitland during Series 7 of Doctor Who). She lives in a house with an older lady called Baba (Lisa Howard), who is the guardian of a gateway through which dead people pass to their next destination. Marinka is next in line to take over that important role, but isn’t very keen. She just wants to live a normal life, but isn’t able to do so because the house uses its chicken legs to move them to different locations on a frequent basis. It means they never settle anywhere and she’s unable to make any long-term friends.

So it’s ultimately about Marinka’s attempts to find happiness in her life and the lessons she learns along the way, particularly when an unexpected event forces her to reassess everything. And it’s a lovely story, with funny and uplifting moments mixed with more dramatic and emotional scenes. So while it involves death and loss, it never gets really heavy, as it’s a family show with a good balance of light and shade.

Talking of which, the lighting and back screen projections are used to great effect throughout, to convey scenery and travel, especially during a major scene in the second half. Puppets are also creatively used to represent some of the characters during the show, including a jackdaw called Jack, Marinka’s only constant companion. And the set of the house is moved around the stage regularly, either turned to reveal its interior or lifted up on its chicken legs when it relocates, all thanks to the aid of the ‘spirits’, a group of silent performers who use their body language and expressions to convey the house’s feelings.

Meanwhile the dead people who turn up to pass through the gateway are visually identifiable by the masks they wear, and they communicate with musical instruments instead of talking. And therefore those performers also provide the musical backing for the lovely songs and other parts of the score (composed by Alexander Wolfe). Just like the scenes in the story, these are a mixture of upbeat and more heartfelt numbers, and they’re all really nice. They include elements of Russian folk music, reflecting the background of Marinka and Baba in the story, as well as more contemporary theatrical styles. They’ve released a soundtrack album as well, with a variety of beautiful songs including Oh What I’d Give For A Friend, Odd Two Out, Yaga House Party and the closing title track.

So altogether I really enjoyed the show. It’s quite long, at 2½ hours (including a 20-minute interval), but it’s really nicely constructed in terms of the story, visuals, puppetry and music. And I’m very grateful for the touch tour and the audio description, because they were absolutely essential to fully appreciate, understand and enjoy what was going on, and thus really brought the story to life for me.

After the show Emily and I finished our day by going to the In Horto restaurant, as discussed later in this post.

The Time Machine

The day after seeing The House With Chicken Legs with Emily, I went to the Park Theatre in Finsbury Park by myself to see The Time Machine – A Comedy. This also included a touch tour and audio description, this time delivered in-house by the wonderful Roz Chalmers, who I’ve previously met at various other shows around London, so it was great to see her again. The cast of the show very kindly came out to introduce themselves at the start of the tour, before going off to get ready, and then some lovely members of the backstage crew helped us to explore the time machine, costumes, hats and props.

There are some very rapid costume changes and some of the props are only used briefly, so being able to see them close up like that meant I didn’t miss out on anything important. And Roz was very good at keeping me up to speed with the visual jokes during the show, so I could enjoy them and laugh along with everyone.

The stage for The Time Machine at the Park Theatre. A large image of a clock, with gold Roman numerals on a black circle around a gold centre, is on a wall between two columns that are holding up a triangular canopy. The set is bathed in green light.

The show, written by Steven Canny and John Nicholson, is effectively about a trio of amateur actors attempting to put on a play. So in that sense it’s a little bit like The Play That Goes Wrong, The Goes Wrong Show and other productions by the Mischief Theatre group, of which leading cast member Dave Hearn is a founder member. This production is completely unconnected with them though, and it works somewhat differently, but it’s still farcical and very funny. Dave is joined by Michael Dylan and Amy Revelle, and they’re a great cast who interact very well with one another.

The stage during the interval of The Time Machine at the Park Theatre, with a shimmering curtain hanging beneath a triangular canopy, supported by a column on each side, all bathed in green light.

The basic premise is that Dave is a direct descendant of HG Wells, and he’s attempting to put on a play about Wells’ discovery of time travel, with the help of Michael and Amy. They all play several characters from across time while telling this story – including people with HG Wells in Victorian times, Pat & Frank Butcher from Eastenders, Kermit The Frog and Miss Piggy from The Muppets, and mysterious beings from the future – and the actors get frustrated with each other on numerous occasions when things don’t work as they’re supposed to.

However, an oversight in the show’s preparations has dire consequences, putting the second half in jeopardy. And it turns out that the time machine they were using as a prop actually works a little too well, although it’s seemingly impossible for them to go back and rectify the course of events due to the paradox it would cause. So the second half is about them trying to deal with their impossible situation, and in the process they even get some of the audience involved, which is a fun additional element.

A cardboard cutout of physicist Brian Cox, with a Santa hat that has slipped down to cover one half of his face. He has a big white sign hanging around his neck, with black text that reads I travelled through time with Brian Cox, sort of! Share your journey at Time Machine HGW on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, or X if you prefer. Hashtag The Time Machine.

It’s all very amusing and very well choreographed, and there’s some good music too, with Amy trying to shoehorn in tracks by Cher as she’s a massive fan, and the use of Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song to introduce each half. So it was the perfect way to have a laugh and some fun at Christmas.

The show is touring the UK in 2024, so there’s still plenty of opportunity to see it, and I can very much recommend doing so if you like a good silly comedy.

Tina: The Tina Turner Musical

In between Christmas and New Year, I met up with 3 of my friends – including Emily again, my best mate Simon, and his wife who happens to be called Tina – to see the Tina Turner musical at the Aldwych Theatre.

We had 2 guide dogs between the 4 of us, and the staff had no problem with that whatsoever, being very friendly, helpful and accommodating throughout our visit. Having forewarned them of the guide dogs when making our booking, they had reserved 2 private rooms for us, one for each dog with their relevant owner. That meant we could relax with the dogs before the show and during the interval, and then while we were in the auditorium there was a member of staff in each room to keep the canines company. We had felt it best to keep the dogs separate as they had never met before, just in case they got rather frisky, so we introduced them to each other outside the theatre instead, and they did get on very well.

The exterior of the Aldwych Theatre, with a signature of the name Tina in white lettering next to a yellow silhouette of Tina Turner against a black background above the entrance.

The production wasn’t audio described, as they don’t offer that unfortunately, but we managed alright without it. It’s easy to follow, we had good seats near the front so I was able to see well enough (using my monocular to look more closely at some of the finer detail in the outfits and choreography), and you ultimately go there for the music anyway.

As is obvious from the name, it tells the story of the late Tina Turner – with her blessing, as she was involved in its creation – from her upbringing in Nutbush (ohhh, Nutbush…) to her stellar career as an award-winning superstar. And it doesn’t shy away from the tough hurdles she faced along the way, including domestic violence from Ike Turner, her attempted suicide, and overcoming racism, sexism and ageism in the record industry to prove herself worthy. Sure, it can only focus on key events relatively briefly as the show progresses, but it tells you enough and is very enlightening, so it increased the admiration we already had for her.

And above all it obviously contains lots of Tina’s songs, most of which I knew, and they’re performed brilliantly. Lead actress Karis Anderson emulates and embodies Tina incredibly well, making it look deceptively easy when moving around the stage and belting out the big notes in the legend’s signature style. I can only imagine how much time, research, effort and practice goes into that. Nobody could ever be a true copy of the real Tina of course (footage of whom appears on the back screen during the finale), and Karis isn’t trying to do that. But she has the right mannerisms, vocal range, energy, etc to make it feel like Tina is with us in spirit and being channelled through her, and she does her proud.

Artwork showing the eyes of Tina Turner looking to one side, filling the stage curtain in the Aldwych Theatre.

She also didn’t lose focus when she unexpectedly had to perform a song twice towards the end of the first half, after a technical issue forced them to lower the curtain and put the show on hold for 10 minutes or so. That’s the first time I’ve ever seen a technical fault in a theatre show, because they’re very rare, and it’s testament to all performers and backstage crews that they’re able to overcome occasional gremlins to keep big productions like this going. It was also great that the audience were supportive, remaining patient as they waited before applauding her when she returned. I’m also pleased to report that the audience took heed of the pre-show announcements not to sing along and to be respectful of others around them. It’s a shame that theatres have to tell people something so obvious in the first place, but at least it worked. And you are invited to join in during the finale anyway.

So we loved the show. It’s a very interesting story told in an entertaining and impactful way with lots of great songs. And the finale feels like the closest to a Tina Turner concert you can possibly get, where she gives it her all and has everybody on their feet. Altogether It’s a fantastic tribute to a star who will forever remain one of the best of all time.

Peter Pan Pantomime

My last, and favourite, show of the festive season was the legendary Palladium Pantomime, which I was finally able to see for the first time after missing it with Covid last year. It was an audio described performance too, including an amazing touch tour on the enormous stage of the London Palladium beforehand, where we got to see a lot of the beautiful props and costumes.

And the show itself was amazing, with lots of hilarity, music and impressive choreography. It was very loosely built around the story of Peter Pan, but ultimately it was a big variety show. The central star was Julian Clary as Seaman Smee, who wore different outrageous costumes every time he appeared, had lots of funny gags and innuendos, and paid a moving tribute to the late Paul O’Grady with a song. The rest of the brilliant cast included Jennifer Saunders as Captain Hook in her panto debut, ventriloquist Paul Zerdin as Starkey with his puppet Sam, Gary Wilmot as Mrs Henrietta Hook (Captain Hook’s mother), Nigel Havers as Pirate Nigel (who was regularly teased about his age), Rob Madge as Fairy Tink, Louis Gaunt as Peter Pan, and an understudy for Frances Mayli McCann as Wendy.

Check out my review of the pantomime for all the details. It’s definitely something I’ll try and see again in the years ahead. Oh yes I will!

The London Palladium, with blue screens along the ground and above the door advertising the Peter Pan pantomime.
The wide screen above the entrance to the London Palladium, showing the title of the pantomime Peter Pan along with an image of the cast, set against a blue background.
The auditorium in the Palladium for the Peter Pan pantomime, mixing blue lighting with the more traditional lights, and stars projected on the walls.
The stage for the Peter Pan panto, revealing a large 4-point compass style design against a blue backdrop. Only the North, West and East points are visible, the South point hidden below stage level. The arms of the compass star that span the entire stage each have a few lights along their length. In the centre is a smaller circular compass, surrounded by a frame of ornate swirling shapes, with the words Peter Pan in big white letters in the middle.

Food & Drink

As is traditional I’ve been enjoying plenty of culinary delights and unhealthy treats over the past month, and that’s included some lovely meals out and about with friends as well as at home.

Bill’s, Covent Garden

The first of my close friends I met in December was Claire, and we went to Bill’s in Covent Garden for a meal, which I paid for in return for the dinner she had gifted me at the same place for my 40th birthday in August. It was very busy, but they actually got us in early, about 20 minutes before the slot we had booked. The staff were very friendly and attentive, and they didn’t rush us, so we had a very pleasant couple of hours eating and having a catch-up chat.

Yellow lights on a tall tree with bare branches outside the Bill's restaurant in the Covent Garden district.
The courtyard area outside the BIll's restaurant in the Covent Garden district.

We didn’t eat from their Christmas Set Menu – unlike my previous meal with Emily in November – because we hadn’t booked early enough to pre-order from it, but that didn’t matter. We did each have cocktails from the Christmas Specials menu though, and this time I had a couple of glasses of the Apple N Spice, made from Jameson Whiskey, mulled spices, cloudy apple and Sicilian lemon juice, which was really nice.

The food was great too, and I was happily full after scoffing down:

  • Chicken & Sesame Dumplings – Tasty crispy fried dumplings served with spicy chutney.
  • 8oz Chargrilled Rump Steak – A deliciously thick 21-day-aged pavé rump steak with rosemary salted fries, garlic butter, roast tomato and pea shoots.
  • Triple Chocolate Brownie – The irresistible choice really, served with warm chocolate sauce, vanilla ice cream and a chocolate flake.

Claire enjoyed her food and drinks as well, and she also gave me some very nice chocolates that I shared with my mother. We also had a nice little walk after the meal, as I showed her the lights and decorations in Covent Garden and the Strand – including a look at the lovely tree outside the Savoy hotel, which I hadn’t got around to seeing on my previous walkabouts in November. So thank you to Claire for that lovely afternoon and the gifts!

Christmas lights over the entrance to the Savoy hotel. There is a lit Santa hat on the O of the word Savoy, while there are brightly lit Christmas trees each side of that sign. The tall building behind the sign is lit up in red.
Large Christmas tree on a round base outside the entrance to the Savoy hotel, mainly in red, green and gold colours, adorned with glittering stars and baubles as well as lights.
Christmas decorations hanging from the arched ceiling inside Covent Garden market, including large gold bells with glittering red bows on the top, large red baubles and mirror balls.
A huge, glittering Christmas tree standing outside, and towering over, the Covent Garden market building.

In Horto (PR Invite)

After seeing the Charles Dickens Museum and The House With Chicken Legs, as mentioned above, I went to a restaurant called In Horto with Emily. She had been given a PR invite in order to review it for her journalism role (which I’ve been supporting her with for a year already now), and so we were very kindly given our meals and drinks for free.

All of the free meals I’ve had with Emily this year have been lovely, but in all sincerity this one was the best for me so far. The whole place has a really nice vibe to it, feeling a bit al fresco despite being undercover, with atmospheric lighting that isn’t too dark, and pleasant background music playing that isn’t distractingly loud nor too quiet.

The In Horto restaurant, with tables set amongst set in between tall pillars under atmospheric lighting. Two cocktails are on our table.

And the staff were really nice to us – which you would expect for a review, I know, but they did seem genuinely keen for us to be happy and proud of the service they offer. And their 4.5+ star ratings on Google and TripAdvisor, in addition to our own experience, would seem to justify that. And they even gave guide dog Rosie some water and a few treats (with Emily’s permission of course), which was very kind.

And as for me, I had:

  • Baked Tunworth – A cheese dish with truffle honey & confit garlic. Emily and I shared this as our starter, and they gave us lovely pieces of bread to dip into the cheese.
  • Beef & Bone Marrow Pie – With root vegetables & red wine jus. I loved this, as there were big, tender, succulent chunks of meat awaiting me beneath the puff pastry lid, in a delicious gravy. There was also a big bone standing in the centre from which you could scoop out the marrow. It was all very filling and very satisfying!
  • Apple Crumble – With vanilla ice cream. This was a lovely way to finish the meal, so I’m glad I just about managed to find room for it.
A big dish filled with a puff pastry pie, with a thick bone filled with marrow standing in the centre, at the In Horto restaurant.
A dish of Baked Tunworth cheese, with some torn up pieces of bread beside it, at the In Horto restaurant.
A bowl of apple crumble next to a slightly smaller pot containing a big scoop of vanilla ice cream, at the In Horto restaurant.

For drinks I had a Pear Sour cocktail followed by a glass of red wine. And at the end Emily got me to try a glass of Baileys, as she was shocked I’d never had one before. It was very nice, to be fair, so I would have it again.

Glasses containing a winter mule cocktail and a pear sour cocktail at the In Horto restaurant.
A pear sour cocktail, with a white foamy head on the top.

So we were very happy with the meal and the service we received, and were practically rolling rather than walking to London Bridge station afterwards! If I have to find any kind of criticism, it’s that they’re easy to miss at first, because they’re a bit tucked away within a group of other restaurants off Southwark Street – but that also makes them a bit of a hidden gem, so it feels special to know about their existence. In Horto are certainly worth looking for.

You check out Emily’s review of the restaurant for her perspective. And I can also recommend her extensive blog post investigating how disabled people really feel about the beauty industry, and some of the innovations that brands have implemented with disabled people in mind, because it was a big project she worked on as part of her journalism diploma.

The Bear & Staff

My final meal out was with my friends Simon & Tina, after we’d seen the Tina Turner musical with Emily (who wasn’t able to join us for the meal as well). We went to The Bear & Staff, which Simon and I had been to during my 40th birthday celebrations back in August, so we knew it was nice there. Once again the staff were very nice, and they didn’t have a problem with Simon’s guide dog. There was nice lighting in the upstairs dining room as well that made it feel a bit festive.

The Famous Pies menu on the wall in the Bear and Staff pub. The options include wild boar and chorizo pie, hand-pulled lamb shank shepherd's pie, British chicken and portobello mushroom pie, steak and Nicholson's pale ale pie, slow cooked beef rib, shin and pulled brisket pie, sweet potato and goats cheese pie, puy vegetable and lentil cottage pie, and fish pie containing salmon and king prawns.

Simon and I were both tempted by the Slow-Cooked Beef Rib, Shin & Pulled Brisket Pie, but they only had one left, so I let him have that – and it was huge, but he finished it and really enjoyed it. They didn’t have the Lamb Shank Shepherd’s Pie either, which also sounded tempting. So I went for the same dish I had last time – the Steak & Nicholson’s Pale Ale Pie (which, like my friend’s pie, came with surprisingly big carrots, nice mashed potato and a little jug of gravy). And I followed that with Sticky Toffee Pudding and custard for dessert. It was all very tasty and filled me up nicely, and I had a nice couple of pints of Henry Weston’s cider with it as well.

Slow Cooked Beef Rib, Shin & Pulled Brisket Pie, with gravy, carrots and mashed potato.
Steak & Nicholson's Pale Ale Pie, with gravy, carrots and mashed potato.

Home

Naturally Mum and I have eaten lots of nice things at home, many of them not at all healthy, as is the festive way. We got plenty of food from M&S for instance, in particular our turkey crown and three bird roast from their Food To Order service, which cooked really nicely, as well as trimmings and treats when browsing the store in general. There’s always so much temptation in there, and I’ve had a few nice offers on their Sparks loyalty card too, including a free farmhouse loaf of bread that we enjoyed.

M&S British Oakham slow cooked turkey crown with bacon & stuffing, on the bone with a rich turkey gravy.
M&S British slow cooked three bird roast, boneless, with a rich turkey gravy.
M&S British outdoor bred 32 piece garnish selection, with pork, sage and onion stuffing balls and pigs in blankets.

Our regular grocery deliveries, meanwhile, always come from Sainsbury’s. M&S food is generally better, but Sainsbury’s have very nice stuff too, especially in their Taste The Difference range. And by building up our Nectar loyalty points over the year and taking advantage of special offers in the app, we were able to get a decent discount for our Christmas groceries.

Sainsbury's Tunis Cake, a madeira sponge cake with a thick layer of chocolate on the top, in the centre of which is a cluster of 3 small marzipan fruits.
Sainsbury's Taste The Difference Milk Chocolate Yule Log
Sainsbury's Taste The Difference Belgian Chocolate & Salted Caramel Cheesecake

Apart from that, we did treat ourselves to a takeaway one weekend in December, as it’s something we don’t do very often. We bought a seasonal pizza from Domino’s called The Festive One, with pulled sage & onion turkey, sausage, smoked bacon, onions and mozzarella cheese, topped with cranberry drizzle. And it was very nice, Mum and I both liked it.

The Festive One pizza from Domino's, with pulled sage & onion turkey, sausage, smoked bacon, onions and mozzarella cheese, with zigzag lines of cranberry drizzle over the top.

And then, as if we didn’t have enough treats, my Aunt surprised us with a bag of goodies to nibble on as well (alongside a couple of new jumpers she gave us to wear), which was very kind of her. So we were very well fed at Christmas altogether!

A blue tub of Cadbury's Roses.
A collection of treats including Terry's Chocolate Orange Snowballs, Maltesers, Quality Street Honeycomb Matchmakers, Tesco Milk Chocolate Coins, Irish Cream Liqueur Chocolates, Luxury Hazelnut Truffles, and After Eight Mints.

Doctor Who

You may well have noticed that I’ve been celebrating the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who recently, as the occasion has been marked by lots of special programmes to watch and listen to. So that’s kept me very busy over the past couple of months, and you can check out my trilogy of posts to see what I thought about it all:

  • The Specials – My review of the anniversary specials, the extras on the Blu-ray steelbook, and the subsequent Christmas special on TV. I love these new episodes, with the return of David Tennant and Catherine Tate, along with the final poignant appearance by Bernard Cribbins before his death, plus we welcome back Russell T Davies as showrunner and Murray Gold as the composer. The stories were fun, the increased budget really shows in the effects, it’s great to see a cast that is more diverse and inclusive, the music is excellent, and it looks like Ncuti Gatwa is going to be incredible as the next Doctor based on what we’ve seen so far.
  • Radio Shows – My thoughts on the celebration concert, documentaries, interviews and music mixes I’ve listened to on BBC Sounds. There was a much bigger selection here than I expected, as they didn’t publicise it as heavily as the TV stuff.
  • The Whoniverse – My deep dive into The Whoniverse on BBC iPlayer, a treasure trove that includes hundreds of episodes from the Classic era as well as all of the modern adventures, plus documentaries, concerts and more, with audio description and sign language available for all of the main series as well as some of the extra material.

I’ve also put together a playlist of clips relating to the anniversary on Youtube. And I’ve written extensive reviews of Series 1-4 during the past year, with lots of details about the episodes, music, extras and other related material, as I wanted to complete all of David Tennant’s adventures before his return.

With all that done, therefore, I’m now taking a bit of a break from the Doctor Who stuff, while I focus on some other shows that I need to catch up with. But later this year I will continue my reviews, when I turn my attention to the modern spin-offs and Matt Smith’s era, so do look out for all of that.

The full cover spread artwork for the Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Specials Blu-ray steelbook. The front cover shows David Tennant's Doctor and Donna Noble running urgently towards us, with the Tardis flying the background, while the back cover shows a green alien Wrarth Warrior, the small white furry Meep and the smartly suited Toymaker. All of this imagery is set against a background of the universe with stars and galaxies.

Comedies

Game Shows

  • Would I Lie To You? (BBC One) – This year’s Christmas episode starred Victoria Coren Mitchell (who claimed she bought an awkward gift for husband and team captain David Mitchell), news presenter Naga Munchetty (who seemed to admit not recognising opposing team captain Lee Mack on Pointless), Last Leg star Alex Brooker (who told a tale about tipping his binmen) and veteran actor Melvin Hayes (who appeared to recall a story about driving a bus). There was also a special guest appearance by singer and actress Patti Boulaye, and Lee claimed he had helped a couple called Mary & Joseph. It was all very funny as usual, as is the new series that has started since then.
  • QI (BBC Two) – Series U kicked off with an entertaining Christmas episode featuring Eshaan Akbar, Jo Brand & Jimmy Carr, alongside host Sandi Toksvig and regular participant Alan Davies. The questions and conversations, in the extended XL edition I watched, covered all sorts of topics as usual, including Saint Nicholas, unusual Christmas trees, urine, Queen Victoria, the patron saint of television, sundials, horses, appetites, Christmas puddings, Charles Dickens, vegetables and washing dishes, and at the end we saw an impressive ice sculpture by Sandi. There have continued to be new XL episodes since then as well, which is fantastic, as there have sometimes been very long delays between the original and extended versions in the past.
  • The Big Fat Quiz Of The Year (Channel 4) – The traditional annual quiz hosted by Jimmy Carr was back again this Christmas, with contestants Richard Ayoade, Mel Giedroyc, Rosie Jones, Katherine Ryan, Mo Gilligan & Kevin Bridges. It wasn’t the most exciting line-up they’ve had but it was still fun, although predictably Rosie got a lot of ableist abuse from people mocking or criticising her speech defect, sadly, who are unwilling to accept that she has tons of fans and has every right to be on whatever TV shows she wants to. In the quiz there were a few questions I knew the answers to, but a lot of it was about celebrities and social media trends that I had absolutely no idea about, as I’m not ‘down with the kids’ these days. There were also the traditional appearances from the children of Mitchell Brook Primary School and Charles Dance, while other guests included newsreader Krishnan Guru-Murthy, a group of Hobbycraft colleagues who went viral for dancing to Padam Padam by Kylie Minogue, and a couple of people from Love Island Games (so they clearly couldn’t get a big name for the show’s finale this time). It was also amusing to see the panelists’ faces recreated as 90s yearbook photos using AI, Jimmy’s face inserted into video clips from movies instead of still photos like before, and Richard’s rather good impressions of Jason Statham and David Beckham.
  • 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown (Channel 4) – This year’s Christmas special featured Danny Dyer, Joe Lycett, Jon Richardson & Roisin Conaty as the contestants, which isn’t one of their best selections, and of course the absence of the late Sean Lock is still keenly felt, but it was still fairly funny. Joe Wilkinson returned as usual, this time dressed as Santa Claus and setting up a parlour game involving rugby players and a mini Babybel. And Dictionary Corner featured Nick Mohammed as Mr Swallow again, who isn’t particularly good, but then the guests in that segment are often the weak spot of the show. And apart from all that, there was also a quiz about Christmas cracker jokes, a shower of snowballs, and an extra long Christmas jumper with neck holes so that everyone could wear it together. A new series of the show has also started since then, which I’m happy about.
  • I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue (BBC Radio 4) – Mum and I still listen to the new episodes of this delightfully silly show, hosted by Jack Dee, as it’s always a good laugh. Series 80 finished in December, which is an impressive milestone, and thankfully it shows no sign of stopping. Just A Minute has now replaced it in the usual Monday night cycle, which we’re also listening to of course.
  • The Unbelievable Truth (BBC Radio 4) – This is a game where each member of the panel has to give a short lecture on a given topic consisting entirely of false information, apart from 5 obscure facts that the other guests have to try and spot. So it’s both funny and interesting, as there are often some surprising nuggets of truth in there. There was a Christmas compilation over the holiday season, featuring host David Mitchell with guests Sean Lock, Richard Osman, Lee Mack, Rufus Hound and many others, so it was quite fun to hear them talking about a variety of festive topics. Mum and I are also currently working our way through the older series that we never heard originally, as they’re all available as free podcasts on Audible.

Sitcoms

  • Not Going Out (BBC One) – This Christmas special marks the 100th episode of the sitcom, which is quite some achievement. Lee and Lucy agree to invite an old man called Wilfred over from a local care home to join them for Christmas dinner, but Lee gets into trouble from the moment he gives their new visitor some alcohol, and his attempts to hide the consequences from the rest of the family get increasingly fraught. So it follows a pretty standard sitcom formula of trying to cover up a disaster and making it worse in the process, but it does it well, it’s very funny.

Stand-Up Comedy

  • Dawn French Is A Huge Twat (BBC iPlayer) – This is a recording from Dawn’s recent stand-up tour, filmed at the London Palladium last year. The programme on BBC One lasted for 75 minutes, but I watched the extended version on iPlayer that runs for 2 hours. And it’s very funny indeed, as she tells lots of stories from her life and her 40-year career about the many occasions she’s humiliated herself, illustrated with the aid of photos and video clips on the back screen. Among many other things, her tales include recollections from a few episodes of The Comic Strip, embarrassing herself at a pantomime, being in rehearsals for an opera, her trouble with accents, auditioning for the Mamma Mia! film, playing the Fat Lady in the third Harry Potter movie, why she’ll never be invited to a James Bond premiere again, meeting Dustin Hoffman, going to Elton John’s 50th birthday party, shooting Lulu in more ways than one, and how recreating the puddle scene from The Vicar Of Dibley had catastrophic consequences viewers were unaware of. She then finishes the show by taking on her dream role of Nancy from Oliver!, and there’s a fleeting but lovely cameo from her comedy partner Jennifer Saunders (who had a starring role in the Palladium pantomime I saw recently). Dawn’s an excellent storyteller and shares her mortifying moments with good grace and humour, and it also gives a nice overview of some of the different roles she’s taken on during her career. So it’s well worth a watch if you’re a fan of hers.
  • Ricky Gervais: Armageddon (Netflix) – Having enjoyed Ricky’s previous shows, I have more mixed feelings about this one, it’s certainly not his best. Some of it is funny, as he makes light of the extreme claims about how ‘woke’ people behave, raises fair points about how humanity is destroying itself and the planet, observes how language and society have changed, and I do like some of his darker jokes. He’s also won a Golden Globe for the show and raised a lot of money for animal charities, which is admirable. But it does feel like he’s increasingly relying on causing offence, instead of just telling good jokes, in order to get laughs from the audience and free publicity from complaints, such as his use of the R-word that he shared on social media. I know he’s talking about doing a nice thing, and I do get the joke, it’s just not a clever one. The real problem is that when people and charities have raised valid grievances or concerns, they’ve predictably received abuse from a lot of Ricky’s fans, who feel that anyone who gets upset is weak and inferior, and some take pride in the further distress they’re causing. Ricky isn’t naive, he would have known that would happen, yet he’s effectively endorsing and emboldening their behaviour by not addressing it. Sure, I know he can’t stop it, but he could at least address it. Because if those ‘fans’ were capable of respecting people’s opinions and feelings, and could avoid being inflammatory, it wouldn’t be such a big issue. Some people would still hate his use of the word, but at least they’d feel comfortable in saying so and using it to raise awareness without fear of bullying and harassment for it. So that has put a dampener on the show really.
  • Stand Up Just William (BBC Radio 4) – Martin Jarvis has long been a great narrator of the very funny Just William books by Richmal Crompton, and this year Radio 4 broadcast a new reading of William’s Truthful Christmas that he delivered on stage to a live audience. Determined to prove to his parents that he can actually behave, young troublemaker William Brown pays close attention to the vicar’s sermon at church, and firmly takes on board the message to always tell the truth. After all, that’s clearly what God, the vicar and all the adults want and expect, and therefore they can’t punish him for it, right? So he’s rather confused and frustrated when his family don’t then approve of him being totally honest all the time, about what he really thinks of his Christmas presents, the people he meets, and so on.

Nicholas Parsons Day

On Christmas Eve, BBC Radio 4 Extra devoted their schedule to the late great Nicholas Parsons, who would have turned 100 in October, with a special collection of programmes introduced by his good friend Paul Merton. So Mum and I went through the shows together, listening to them day by day whilst having our dinners. And it was a great mixture, a lot of which we’d never heard before. Most of these programmes were half an hour in length, except where stated otherwise:

  • A Christmas Carol By Candlelight – Recorded in 2018 yet never broadcast until now, the 95-year-old Nicholas does a beautiful reading of the Dickens classic in this 75-minute programme, accompanied by a cast of singers performing some lovely original compositions and classic carols.
  • The Grantham Connection / Doon The Watta – These are nice programmes from 1994 & 2010, in which Nicholas returns to his birthplace of Grantham in Lincolnshire, where he spent the first 8 years of his life, and Glasgow in Scotland, where he worked as an engineer and studied at university. It’s really interesting to learn about his early pre-showbiz years, as he explores how things have changed in each location and talks to various people.
  • The Arthur Haynes Show – This is an old sketch show that Arthur Haynes and Nicholas starred in together, and this particular episode from 1962 has Arthur playing a persistent visitor at the house of the local vicar, played by Nicholas. I’m not interested in checking out the other surviving episodes of Arthur’s radio or TV shows, but it was a mildly amusing glimpse into one of the older programmes from Nicholas’ career that I’d never heard before.
  • Listen To This Space – This is a 1966 episode of a satirical comedy show that neither Mum nor I had ever heard of before, inspired by the much more famous TV programme That Was The Week That Was. We weren’t struck on it though. There’s nothing wrong with it particularly, and Nicholas even won the Radio Personality Of The Year Award for the series, so it clearly went down well back then. But it is very much of its time, so there were some references we didn’t recognise or understand, and there weren’t any memorably funny moments. It was interesting to hear for the sake of curiosity though.
  • How Pleasant To Know Mr Lear – These are two half-hour programmes where Nicholas regales the studio audience with a selection of nonsense poems, limericks and recipes by Edward Lear, accompanied by Colin Sell on the piano, and he also talks about the author’s life. Mum and I only knew The Owl And The Pussy-Cat, and had a vague awareness of one or two other poems, so most of Lear’s strange creations were new to us, and I knew nothing about him as a person. So it was quite fun and interesting.
  • Just A Minute – A couple of classic episodes from the game show that Nicholas hosted for over 50 years, firstly Series 11 Episode 1 from 1976 (with Kenneth Williams, Peter Jones, Alfred Marks & Shelia Hancock), and then Series 79 Episode 5 from 2017 (the last time that Nicholas was on the show with Sue Perkins, who took over as host after his death, along with Gyles Brandreth, Andy Hamilton & Paul Merton). I prefer the latter of the two, as I much prefer Paul Merton’s style compared to people like Kenneth Williams, who can get a bit irritating when he’s all full of himself. They also aired a documentary called Just A Minute’s Indian Adventure, where Nicholas visits Bangalore and Mumbai to see how people there have created their own local versions of the game, after it became popular on the World Service.
  • Steve Wright & Nicholas Parsons – A light-hearted compilation of Nicholas’ appearances on Steve Wright In The Afternoon.
  • Paul Merton Talks To Sue Perkins – Paul interviews Sue for just over 10 minutes about her love of Just A Minute and Nicholas Parsons, and how it feels to be the current host of the show since his passing, which leads into the repeat of the 2017 episode above. It’s a lovely warm tribute to the great man by both of them. And Sue has done a great job stepping into his shoes. Nicholas will always be the best of course, and she generously acknowledges that in every show by crediting him at the end. But she’s keeping his legacy alive very nicely, and he’d be proud of her for that.

So it was a great celebration of Nicholas’ life, with a nice variety of programmes, although one thing they didn’t repeat was the nice chat between Paul & Nicholas that marked the 50th anniversary of Just A Minute, which would have been appropriate too.

I also have a large collection of Just A Minute episodes hosted by Nicholas that I’ve bought online, I own a brilliant live Rocky Horror album from 1998 where he’s the narrator, and he’s also in an episode of Doctor Who from the Classic Era called The Curse Of Fenric, that I’ve recently watched for the first time in the Tales Of The Tardis series online. And he’s popped up in various other things I’ve seen over the years, as he had a very prolific career. So he will always be sadly missed, greatly celebrated and never forgotten. He was a true gentleman, a versatile entertainer, and a lot of fun.

Other Comedies

  • The Unofficial Science Of… (Sky Max) – Following on from the Home Alone special last year, Sky have given us two more 90-minute editions of this amusing series looking back at classic movies, demonstrating how dangerous it would actually be to do the stunts in real life, and showing alternative ways of doing them safely. Firstly, comedians Chris Ramsey & Paul Chowdhry try to replicate stunts from Die Hard, marking 35 years since its release, including the fire hose jump, elevator explosion, walking on glass and Hans Gruber’s big fall. They also try to solve puzzles under pressure like in Die Hard With A Vengeance, and argue over whether Die Hard is a Christmas film (I say it is, but a recent YouGov poll shows the nation is still very much split on it). Then in the second episode, radio DJ Greg James and comedian Maisie Adam look at the stunts in the Indiana Jones films (of which I’ve only ever seen the original trilogy once a very long time ago, so I don’t remember it well), including the whip swing, quicksand, mine cart, poison arrows and the boulder. In both episodes, the hosts learn about the science from engineer Zoe Laughlin in an entertaining way, they play little pranks on members of the public or children, and Alex Brooker interviews some of the cast and crew from the films.

Music

The Rolling Stones

At the risk of sounding like an old man, even though I’ve only recently turned 40, how many of today’s new bands will retain their drive, creativity, productivity and popularity for anywhere near as long as The Rolling Stones have in the decades ahead? Mick Jagger’s never had the best singing voice, but he’s always made up for it with the captivatingly raw energy and emotion that he pours into his performances. And despite him turning 80 this year, along with Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood being in their late 70s, and the absence of their late drummer Charlie Watts for most of the tracks, they’ve still got it.

That’s been proven on their new album called Hackney Diamonds. I was going to review it following its original release in October, but then they announced a deluxe edition being released in December, containing a second CD of live tracks, so I decided to wait for that. It’s not their best ever work, and it was never expected to be, but it’s still a solid collection of tracks, and they also took part in a fun live interview with Jimmy Fallon to mark its October release.

The lead song is the Grammy-nominated single Angry, which has a powerful, catchy beat and a nice riff to it. Some people are put off by the autotune on Mick’s vocals, but I think it works, as it’s not too over the top. It’s clearly used for creative effect here to give it a particular sound, as opposed to correcting his notes like some artists rely on, and it doesn’t stop me enjoying the song at all. Even my mother liked the song when I played it to her, and she often considers a lot of new music as just noise. I think there’s just a simplicity to the track that just makes it click, because there aren’t lots of fancy things going on. It feels like pure Stones, striding into the room with justifiably confident authority that they still know what they’re doing.

The album also has some great collaborations. Paul McCartney features on the head-banging Bite My Head Off, while Elton John plays on the catchy tracks Get Close and Live By The Sword, the latter including percussion by the late Charlie Watts (who also features on Mess It Up). And near the end, the beautiful 7-minute Sweet Sounds Of Heaven includes Lady Gaga on vocals and Stevie Wonder on piano, in a bluesy ballad that builds really nicely as it progresses.

The rest of the tracklist is good as well, with a mix of slower tracks like the calming country song Dreamy Skies, and more upbeat compositions like Whole Wide World. The bonus 7 tracks on the deluxe edition are then live performances from their album launch gig in Racket NYC, New York on 19th October 2023, with premiere renditions of songs like Sweet Sounds Of Heaven (with Lady Gaga) and Whole Wide World mixed with a few classics including Jumpin’ Jack Flash. So I’m very happy with it altogether, the Stones are still on good form.

Queen

Last, but far from least, Sky Arts had a couple of new programmes on over the festive period in relation to my favourite band of all-time, Queen:

  • Queen + Adam Lambert: Live In Japan – This is a concert lasting around 1 hour 20 minutes (plus a further 20 minutes of adverts), filmed at QVC Marine Field in Tokyo on 17 August 2014 as part of the Summer Sonic Festival. I’ve seen it online in the past, and a few tracks were included on the Live Around The World release a few years ago, but it was only ever fully released on DVD & Blu-ray in Japan, and this appears to be the first time it’s been broadcast in the UK, nearly 10 years on. And it’s really good. Adam Lambert will never be as good as Freddie of course, and isn’t trying to be, but he still gives a fabulous performance as he joins Brian May and Roger Taylor to bash out some of Queen’s biggest hits, backed up by Spike Edney on keyboards, Neil Fairclough on bass, and Roger’s son Rufus Taylor on percussion. Notable nods to Freddie include the late singer’s contributions on the back screen during Love Of My Life and Bohemian Rhapsody, and Adam’s line “Down in the front row it’s Freddie and me” during Now I’m Here. Other songs of particular interest are Teo Torriatte (a beautiful love song specially written for their Japanese fans that Brian sings with the crowd), These Are The Days Of Our Lives (which Roger steps out from behind the drum kit to sing while images of the band play on the back screen) and I Was Born To Love You (a great rocking version of a solo song by Freddie that the original band never performed live).
  • Freddie Mercury: The Auction – It was a great privilege and a thrill to be one of the 140,000 visitors who explored the huge exhibition of Freddie Mercury’s personal possessions at Sotheby’s last summer, before they were auctioned off. I’d still like to write a more extensive post on it one day, as it was so big and I took so many photos. But this was a lovely documentary discussing how Freddie’s personal life differed from his stage persona, while looking through some of the key items that were up for sale and revealing the colossal amounts of money that they sold for (with some of the proceeds going to a couple of AIDS charities). So there was lots of footage from the exhibition, which brought back great memories, as well as clips from the auction (you can also watch the full bidding for the Bohemian Rhapsody lyrics on the Sotheby’s website, which Freddie originally considered calling Mongolian Rhapsody). And there were insightful interviews with Sotheby’s staff members David Macdonald and David Goldthorpe, as well as international memorabilia specialist Sarah Hodgson and official Queen photographer Denis O’Regan (whose photo of Freddie on stage headed up the publicity for the auction). There were a few archive interview clips featuring Freddie Mercury & Brian May as well, and brief glimpses of previous auctions at Sotheby’s and Christie’s for David Bowie, George Michael and Dave Gilmour. So it was a really interesting programme and a lovely tribute to music’s greatest ever showman.
The cover of the book accompanying the Freddie Mercury exhibition at Sotheby's, entitled Freddie Mercury, A World Of His Own. It shows Freddie posing on stage in white trousers and a bare chest, with a large red cape draped over his shoulders and a crown on his head, punching the air triumphantly. The stage is full of colourful lights behind him, and Brian May can be seen playing the guitar in the background.
The large red cape, with gold decorations and white fur lining, plus the ornate, gem-encrusted, gold crown, worn by Freddie Mercury at the end of concerts on Queen's Magic tour.
The tall gate from Garden Lodge, covered in layers of graffiti where Freddie Mercury's fans wrote messages in tribute after he died.
A large kimono, covered in beautiful leaves and flowers predominantly in vivid shades of red, green, blue and white.
The black Yamaha Baby Grand Piano, which is actually quite large despite the name, on which Freddie Mercury is believed to have composed Bohemian Rhapsody.
Freddie Mercury's handwritten lyrics for Bohemian Rhapsody, scribbled on a piece of British Midland Airways headed notepaper.
Glen smiling as he stands next to the entrance gate to Garden Lodge, which is shielded by a large plastic screen bolted to the wall. Glen is wearing a black t-shirt featuring the cover from Queen's Made In Heaven album, which shows a silhouette of the Freddie Mercury statue looking out over the water at Montreux in Switzerland.

Looking Ahead

So that’s it! I hope you enjoyed that bumper crop of goodies, and that you had a lovely Christmas as well.

I don’t have any major plans for this year, other than continuing in my job with Emily (for which I’m now doing 37 hours a week compared to the 22 we started with, which is great). But I do already have tickets for a few shows and stand-up comedy gigs in the months ahead, which I’m really looking forward to, and will no doubt book plenty more as the year goes on. There’s also the Olympics and Paralympics from Paris coming up in the summer, which should be fun to watch. But other than that it will be interesting to see what 2024 has in store.

For the immediate future, my next Favourites post will probably be in March, looking back at the second half of January and all of February, as I’ve already dealt with the first half of the opening month in this Christmas post. And it also gives me a bit of a break so I can catch up on things. All of the Doctor Who and Christmas stuff meant I didn’t get around to some DVDs & Blu-rays I bought, and other things I want to watch on TV and online. So there may still be one or two review posts to come, along with anything else I fancy writing about. And on Instagram I will continue to post photos of anything interesting that I do.

If you want to check out some other great people as well, Hannah Deakin has very kindly included me on her extensive list of Disabled Bloggers, Podcasts and Influencers To Follow, so thank you to her for that! It’s well worth going through her list (and mine), in case you come across anyone you hadn’t been aware of before.

So yes, thank you so much for sticking with me during 2023, and here’s to 2024! I hope it’s a great year for you, and I look forward to sharing my next adventures as always, whatever they turn out to be!

Author: Glen

Love London, love a laugh, love life. Visually impaired blogger, culture vulture & accessibility advocate, with aniridia & nystagmus, posting about my experiences & adventures.