It had been an exciting day for the little lad, back to school after the Yuletide break and a chance to see friends for the first time in weeks. He had loved it. When he got home he ran into the living room, he couldn’t believe his eyes. He sank to his knees and said in the most mournful voice just one word ‘NO!’. The Christmas tree had gone and so had all of the decorations.
Easter eggs already on sale in Swansea
Now I know he’s only 4 but I get it. After weeks of carols and twinkling lights and a house full of family back for the holidays, all of a sudden it’s over and it hurts.
Launching Everyone Deserves A Christmas -Swansea Market
I must admit that I had decided to take a bit of a step back from social media and writing music for a couple of weeks after what had been an intense December. With the final ‘Everyone Deserves A Christmas’ Hamper being put on the back of the last van I thought the time was right for a break. The trouble is people were starting to get worried. I even got a concerned answerphone message from my big brother checking to see if I was alright. He hadn’t seen me posting anything online and was worried about me!!!
Maybe I wasn’t the only one ‘stepping back’ this Christmas but that all changed this week with a deluge of emails and letters. The start of the new year seemed to energise people. By mid- week I had had 4 invitations to either host or perform at various charitable events later in the year. I’d also had an email from my accountant and financial adviser and lots of brown envelopes landing on my doormat asking for money. I must admit, just like my little grandson I was tempted to fall to my knees shouting ‘No’ as well.
I was hoping it would start to calm down a little over the next few weeks as the year starts to enter its usual, natural rhythm but seems that the news is trying it’s best to send us into 2026 in a state of wild panic and fear.
I’m a confessed news junkie. I credit that, or maybe I should say blame that addiction on my Junior school teacher Mr Morlais Williams who sadly recently passed away. Every morning he would start the day with a news quiz. As a class we all had to come to school with 10 questions based on the news from the previous evening.
That lifelong addiction has been a blessing and a curse. First the blessing, for my life as a broadcaster and writer it has given me years of research material and a brain full of useless facts that sometimes actually come in handy. The curse is that it often shows the worst of humanity. It can really make you question the hope you’ve always clung to that people are basically good.
So what do you do? Ignore the news and hope the world goes away or watch every bulletin and slowly sink into a ‘slough of despond’.
This is another issue with my generation. We do actually make it all about us. I don’t actually live in, or anywhere near, any of the places that are hitting the news headlines at the moment. In fact I often think we live in a 21st Century version of Tolkien’s ‘Shire’. That’s why I admire my parents generation so much.
When I read my father’s diary from the 6th June 1944 where he notes ‘D Day has started but where will it end?’ As a sailor he was totally involved in the news headlines. Or when I remember my mother talking about the Swansea Blitz, hiding under the table or in the Crypt of New Siloh or when the school she worked at in London was destroyed by enemy action it puts my second hand anxiety into some sort of context.
I think as we look ahead to 2026 we should take a leaf out of their books.
People who actually go through these world changing events still find a way to try to live a ‘normal’ life. They fall in love, read books and dream about a better world. They still ‘care’ about things that don’t really matter, but for a moment have the utmost importance.
So I will forget about the world for a few hours tomorrow afternoon as Swansea play West Bromwich Albion in the FA Cup. I will look forward to next month’s 6 Nations Championship even if I’m worried the only thing we will win is the wooden spoon. I’ll plan my new record releases and concerts and tours. I will write new songs and record new tracks and I will start sharing daft pictures and stories on social media again because the alternative means the bad guys really have won, even here in the Shire.
Before I go I’d just like to update you on the story of my grandson and the missing Christmas tree. After a nice lunch and some time playing in the snow my 4 year old grandson was soon back to his normal self and looking forward to school the next day with his mates.
The wonder of putting up the Christmas decorations is one of the most exciting events of the year but as this old man can testify it’s still really sad when they’ve gone back into the attic…but the good news is, spring is just around the corner.