Seasonal Musings

'Does Covid make the office Christmas party too risky?' asks the media.  Please God, yes, I reply.  Or, at least, I would if I was still working full time in the sort of environment where such things were held.  As I've said before, I actually don't have anything against people holding such things if they want to, I just object to the way in which it seems to become mandatory.  The way in which it fees as if you are going to have your 'cards marked' if you decline to attend.  People tend to take that refusal so personally, no matter how politely it is put and how much you try to make clear that your decision isn't personal - it is based on a matter of principle.  Well, I say principle - it's the principle that the one and only office Christmas party I ever went to was so horrendous that I just assumed that every other one would be at as bad, if not worse.  I have to say, though, that some of the worst difficulties I had in avoiding Christmas parties was when I worked in London.  They were one of a series of social 'events' that, whilst not mandatory, as they fell outside of working hours, you seemed to be expected to attend.  The fact that I had absolutely no interest in them seemed to be a constant source of bafflement to management.  What they couldn't seem to grasp was that not only did I have little in common with most of my colleagues and therefore had no desire to prolong my interactions with them beyond working hours, as I lived outside of London, these extracurricular activities presented all sorts of logistical problems for me involving public transport.  

The only Christmas party that I was invited to that I've even slightly regretted not attending, it was one at the US Embassy.  Its date, however, coincided with an evening when I'd already arranged to meet friends for a drink in my local.  Plus, I knew damn well that I and my other male colleagues from my office had only been invited because we also had a couple of attractive women in the office and they couldn't invite them without asking us as well.  So, why am I back on the subject of office Christmas parties?  Well, for one thing, the season is now truly upon us, (and I haven't done a thing to prepare for it), and we are now in the grip of the UK's latest Christmas obsession: will it be derailed by Covid?  The idea of government anti-Covid measures 'cancelling' Christmas, now seems to have replaced the old  Christmas 'cancelled' by PC lefiies trope which used to obsess the right-wing media.  For those of us for whom Christmas is a quiet, small scale affair, an oasis of tranquility and self-indulgence in the midst of Winter, it is all academic.  As long as I can get my hands on a plentiful supply of sausage rolls, I'll be happy.  The other reason I'm wittering on about Christmas parties is that I spent so long editing together and posting a new podcast this evening left me with neither the time nor inclination to write my planned post.  The podcast (derived from earlier posts on this blog) can be found here, if you are interested.