Monday 6 January 2014

Now, now the mirth comes… by Lynda Waterhouse

Now, now the mirth comes
With the cake full of plums
Robert Herrick
Yesterday I spent all of three minutes taking down the Christmas decorations. Frugal Husband is not big on the festive season but I am partial to sprigs of holly and artistically arranged bowls of pine cones and clementines. We usually compromise on the inflatable Christmas tree, the Bah Humbug bauble and the glittery penguin. As a child my Mum always warned us that it was unlucky to leave Christmas decorations up beyond Twelfth Night. So, I had to take them down yesterday because to leave them up beyond the twelve days of Christmas would leave me exposed to this unspecified dose of bad luck.
It is useful to be given a deadline and to draw a line under the feasting and fun. You cannot spend every day surrounded by glitter, fairy lights and cake. The pressure to be happy is just too much for me. It is only when the fairy lights have been switched off that the mirth comes for me.  

It’s the strategies that create good luck that I’m after. Good luck is not the right word but I can’t think of a better way of succinctly summing up the randomness of this writing business. In 2014, I will be attempting to turn the base metal of all the ideas whirling around in my head into writer’s gold. I am going to enjoy the process and mirth will now be my watch word.
On the subject of cake, today in the Theatre Royal Drury Lane a sumptuous Twelfth cake will be eaten, as it has been on every 6th of January since 1795. The actor Robert Baddeley left a sum of money in his will ‘for the purchase of a Twelfth cake and wine for ever’ for the company to enjoy. The picture at the top of this post is from 1908.
 Since 1975 the cake has reflected the theme of the show. Its going to be a tough one this year!!
May you all have your Twelfth cake and eat it too!

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