The Nigel Slater Christmas Chronicles Readalong 2025/6 Part 4

[RainbowZebraWarrior]

Hello all, and welcome to Part 4. We Continue our CC journey. We are almost at the end, as there are only four chapters of the book left, but there will be a year round thread for those who wish to continue.

For anyone who has not already had the pleasure, the annual Nigel Slater Christmas Chronicles read along is a real time annual MN tradition.
The Christmas Chronicles (Notes, stories and 100 essential recipes for midwinter) book began on 1st November.

We continue to read along and comment with the book which is set out in diary form. I will make a post each day (or let you know if there is no entry on a particular day)

For anyone new, (and it's never too late to join in) it's a challenge to see of you can pick up the book as a bargain. Vinted has come up trumps in the past, as has ebay. A rare and precious charity shop find is always a bonus. Don't forget, you can also listen along to Nigel's dulcet tones via Audible.

So, welcome to old friends and new, and don't forget that reading by candle light is particularly enjoyable. Cire Trudon may be one of Nige's candles of choice, but it's somewhat pricey. We don't discriminate against other less expensive brands - even if they are NVN (Not Very Nigel)

Pull up a chair, light a candle, grab a cosy blanket and join in!

Morning all. It's squirrel Appreciation day today. (I got that from my gardeners almanac)

I don't think that's unusual to feel a bit down and out of sorts at this point in January @PrizedPickledPopcorn I think there is always a come down after christmas. It just doesn't always hit in early Jan when you perhaps expect it to.

I do hope everyone takes vitamin D by the way. Everyone in the Northern hemisphere should be taking it in the winter months.

<end of public service broadcast>

Ahh beautiful Mr Darcy 😍

@thebabessavedme love a "hello" miaow, it's so funny.

Sorry you're feeling down @PrizedPickledPopcorn - I think this is the worst bit of winter once all the Christmas/ New Year excitement and busy-ness is over but it's still dark and damp and tiring.

I upped my dose of vitamin D after I was ill and as a bonus have decent fingernails for the first time in ages!

Hooray for squirrels - here's one I befriended in the summer. I was out for a run and it followed me for a bit - I stopped and said hello and it came over and climbed up me! I wasn't quite sure what you're meant to do when a squirrel is attached to you, but it was eventually persuaded off with a bit of flapjack. A man passing by then told me that particular squirrel was notorious for this sort of behaviour 🤣

Oh that’s gorgeous! What a funny character!
Good reminder about the vit D. I actually take quite a regimen of supplements in the hope they are doing some good!

And I’ve had very few colds… so maybe they work!

I take glucosamine, vitamin c & d in mega doses, fish/pumpkin oil, collagen… and at the moment a magnesium. I tend to take a random one for a while, see if I notice a difference or not. Sometimes I go all in on fibre, too.

I can’t say I see much difference whatever I take, but it’s the thought that counts! 😉

Lovely cats. And I do love a squirrel. The dogs not so much.
I feel a bit low too @PrizedPickledPopcornfor no immediate reason , and with the ever ongoing situations we have (issues with DSS’s mum, and my elderly mum and my sister being at loggerheads), there is nothing I can fix-perhaps I need to work a bit more on my radical acceptance of those ones. Still, a day off today, very welcome and nothing to do until I need to pick up DSS’s at half past four. So I plan a lie in, a bit of cleaning, dog walk and I’m making a Malaysian fish curry for dinner. I should go and see my Mum really but she is in one of her phases of being hyper critical about everything and everyone and I don’t have the energy for it today at all so I’m being selfish and giving it a miss.
Have a lovely Wednesday all

There are a group of 5 small squirrels living in the park just opposite me.(I think they're last year's breeding) I don't know if they're all from one litter, but they stay quite close together. My spaniel is fascinated by them, and would definitely chase them if I dared let her off the lead.

How was Hamnet @leporello ? I fear it’s a bit of an emotional one, having read the book, but the cinematography looks fab.

@RainbowZebraWarrior thanks for sharing the link. What an inspiring woman.

@piscofrisco January is a tough one for all sorts of reasons. Old double faced Janus with his looking back and forth has us in a pickle. I hope you have a good day today and get things done for yourself.

I have a day in the office and will make a useful list first so that I can see the dent I’ve made. I’m working less than before my illness but feel it takes me longer. I’m trying to be stern with myself about the amount I take on.

I spent years hating and loathing January-March with a passion but I've come to appreciate it as a peaceful time to reset and focus on myself and what I need. Also the Vitamin D has helped, as @RainbowZebraWarrior points out, although I've forgotten to take it this year, doh.

That said, I could really do without the wild wind we're having, especially when walking down the seafront to the station. It's actually scary.

Hamnet was an interesting one, @Bimblesalong . I didn't love it in the way I anticipated. The cinematography was indeed spectacular and beautiful and I loved how central the natural world was to everything. But I wasn't sure about the depiction of Shakespeare, and the ending lost me a bit. But the first two thirds were beautiful and heart-wrenchingly moving. Jessie Buckley is incredible.

Just catching up as I've heard on radio this morning that the Oxford English dictionary's children's word of the year is 'Peace' which I thought was very interesting. It beat 'resilience' and 'AI' apparently. I am very pleased that Peace won. We need this desperately in the world right now.

I also take a lot of supplements as I've been anaemic and vitamin D deficient before. It is a difficult time of year with the darkness and the cold. I'm rather enjoying food at the moment and im all about the curries and casseroles and the slow cooker. Something a bit different today though; slow cooker garlic myshroom mac and cheese. I'm also making some cheese and ham Pasties to use up some puff pastry.

I really wanted to see Hamnet, but I can't make it work for me time wise as it clashes with afternoon school run and I can't do evening showings.

Speaking of school run, my voice message will be on Trevor Nelson's Old Skool Run slot today between 3.30 and 4pm if @martha79 and anyone fancies hearing my Geordie accent. It's awful when you listen to yourself back on a recording and go 'woah! I don't sound like that, do I?' I introduce myself as Dawn from Whitley Bay if you want to know what your listening out for.

@piscofrisco yeah, think about yourself for once and don't feel guilty about not seeing your Mum. You've done more than plenty and you've been through a lot in the past year. You need to look after you. I don't want you getting poorly again my lovely. As you say, you need to file some things away under 'stuff I have no control over, so what's the point in worrying about it'

Oh, and grey squirrels have no shame. The family that live in the big horse chestnut tree in one of our parks frequently chuck conkers at us as we walk beneath the boughs. Our dog is slightly perplexed by them.

Thanks for the update @leporello I'm going to wait for it to stream as it's too close to a family situation and I don't want to lose it in the cinema!

@RainbowZebraWarrior never mind Stanley, I am brushing with fame here today!

Squirrels - a giant chonky one just wandered in front of my office. For a moment I thought it was a huge rat and was semi-relieved. We live close to a canal and have had issues with rodents one year, when my neighbour's compost heap was infested. Not good!

It would definitely be a tough watch in that case @Bimblesalong

@leporello , I felt exactly the same about Hamnet - saw it last night. The friend I went with wept buckets, but I was dry-eyed throughout and thought the ending was very clunky (in real life I bet one of the groundlings would have punched her for talking during the play). The cinematography was absolutely beautiful but there were some clunking anachronisms, and the interior scenes were like looking at an animated Inigo (estate agent) brochure.

@RainbowZebraWarrior totally agree about the shamelessness of squirrels. My old garden shed had a semi-circular hole gnawed in the top of the door - a relic of the long-running disagreement between me and the squirrels about how often the bird feeders should be refilled. They used to chew their way into the packets and plastic tubs - all bird food now is kept in lidded metal buckets, and the lids are held tightly on by bungee cords!

@RainbowZebraWarrior on the radio😀Very nice to hear you in 'real life'. I have been reminded why I don't usually listen to music while I'm working though, getting nothing done for dancing about!

I know what you mean about listening to your own voice, I had to play back a meeting we'd recorded at work this week and was wondering why everyone else sounds like professional people having a serious work conversation and I sound like someone's let a small Scottish child join in.

Enjoying all your squirrel stories!

I heard you!

Aw, thanks for listening, both.

@martha79 I know what you mean. I sound about 12. Radio 2 slowed my voice down so I sounded more 'normal' haha.

I’m loving the descriptions of naughty squirrels and radio voices. I was horrified to hear myself, aged about 20, sounding like a hooray Henry. Very, Ok, ya!

I’ve mellow since then and picked up a lot of little notes from this place and that. I’m one of those people who catches the accent of the person I’m with. So I too would sound like a small Scottish child, were we to chat @martha79 !

I do love the uniqueness of our voices. Though there’s a presenter who does a lot of tv voice overs, and I hate his voice. He’s a male version of Nigella crossed with David Attenborough (whose voice I love)- all slow accentuated langorousness, a bit breathy, with an over inflated sense of self importance. I think he does property programmes as well.

Anyway, sending a fist bump of solidarity to you @piscofrisco with the mother/sister issues. And your post was hidden, was it an interesting link? If so, do pm me with it!

I heard you too!! I squealed!!

Haha no it wasn’t an interesting link! It was a question about supplements that contain mushrooms. (Normal, not magic!)

There were some daffodils opening in St James Park in the middle of London today. Was cycling past and was late so didn’t stop to take a photo - will try tomorrow. The spring IS coming (might be a bit early) even if the weather is pants.

I also pick up other people's accents really easily so who knows what mix we'd come up with @PrizedPickledPopcorn 😂

Nice to hear about daffodils @Comtesse - it's been incredibly rainy and gloomy here today.

I did a thing! Bought a cardi on Vinted! It’s starting to work for me, thanks for the advice @RainbowZebraWarrior

Hurrah! I have to say, it works a little bit too well for me, now. I've managed to get some great things that I haven't been able to find elsewhere. It's especially great at finding stuff that's now discontinued, but I don't think I'm currently needing anything else.

Yuk to the wind and rain this morning. I've got my weekly hair appointment, then im coming home to hibernate till school run pick up time. Im working through planning what to make for our Easter Craft fair. I've made s list of new candle blends, but then im wondering if folk buy as many candles in Spring and Summer? We only usually do our Autumn Scarecrow Festival and a Christmas fayre, so this is new.

Once you train vinted by searching for things you like to wear and clicking on them, it gets really good at knowing what you want. Sometimes it knows what you want before you do! Most of my wardrobe is vinted now, the amount of new with tags stuff has really made me commit to searching pre loved stuff first, just for planet reasons if nothing else.

@RainbowZebraWarriorI just heard you on BBC Sounds. I never think to listen to radio 2. All our radios are set to radio 4 and if that's not on I've normally got an audiobook running. I should broaden my horizons really!

Working from home today and have booked in with a hairdresser who is a specialist in curly hair after work. My hair was straight until menopause but now it's really quite curly. I want to embrace it and am hoping that someone who knows what they are doing can give me some good advice.

How exciting, @petitpasta ! I tried to embrace my waves and persuade them to be curls, but the hair wasn’t having it! So I’ve gone the other way, lopped off the length and using a blow dryer to tame it into a bob. First time ever to routinely, intentionally dry my hair. Hope the stylist gives good advice and you love your new hair!

I generally haunt charity shops for clothes, with the odd splurge in the sales round about now, if I’m really low on clothes or have an occasion.

Had a very odd dream about Anton du Beck last night. He was a bit needy, truth be told!