After the Festivities...

So, how was it for you?  Did Santa's Magic Bum fart you everything you asked for?  (I know, I know, that last reference will mean nothing to anybody other than my four year old great niece, upon whom I tried out my latest idea for a children's book before Christmas).  I had my simplest hope fulfilled: a couple of days respite from the rain and gales.  Particularly the gales.  That said, even as I type this, the wind is building up again outside.  I'm bracing myself for another sleepless night and more damage to my roof.  Still, I've got a roofer coming round on Monday to assess and hopefully repair the damage from earlier this week.  At least I only have to worry about external damage to my property - judging by the sounds coming from next door late on Christmas Eve night, there was a tornado raging inside the house.  It really sounded like furniture was being hurled around their living room.  This was followed by the sound of their back door flying open and then something being sawn up in the back garden.  I'm afraid I didn't have the courage to go and take a look at what was going on - I feared what I might see would drive me insane.  It was all getting a bit too much like an M R James story for my comfort.  Perhaps Mark Gatiss could adapt it for TV for next Christmas?

Speaking of Christmas TV, I was pondering yesterday as to how much the Christmas schedules have changed over the past couple of decades.  I remember the days when the festive season saw the BBC and ITV premiere lots of big feature films.  In fact the Christmas Day schedules back then were basically constructed around two big films on each main channel, at least one of which would be a premiere - usually the evening film.  On ITV, one of the movies would inevitably be a Bond film.  For the BBC, the films would be more varied.  Over time, the bigger of the two films would be shown in the afternoon - I seem to recall Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade being premiered in such a slot - with something less high profile being shown after ten o'clock.  These changes were to accommodate the growing number of Christmas specials of popular TV series which were beginning to become popular and now dominate the seasonal schedules.  Back in the day, of course, it was generally only sitcoms and light entertainment series that got seasonal specials - these days everything gets them.   Nowadays we're down to just the afternoon film, which is generally a family-friendly piece of animation.  Which is why, over the past few years, I've resorted to providing my own Christmas afternoon movie, usually on DVD.  I always try and find something with no discernible Christmas connection - this year it was Big Wednesday, the greatest surfing movie ever made.  I must admit that I can't decide whether or not our current Christmas schedules are an improvement over their predecessors or not, but with subscription movie channels making film TV premieres seem commonplace, I don't foresee any return to the old schedules.