Been bloomin' cold lately, n'est-ce pas? An east wind is to blame, so those in the know tell me. Flippin' freezin' on the way into town yesterday. Hugely relieved to get inside Next for the warmth, though could have done without the strains of McCartney's "Simply Having A Wonderful Christmas Time". Give me this anyday:

Oh blimey, it's Christmas
It's Christmas time again
It comes round every year
On the 25th of Decem...
...ber
— Frank Sidebottom, Oh Blimey It's Christmas

Slowly starting to feel Christmassy, greatly helped by today's traditional outing to Notcutt's nursery for a Nordic fir, i.e. The Tree. They also stock an unparalleled (had to check this spelling for number of ells) range of lights, decorations, and other festive paraphernalia. Quite taken with the fibre optic multi-colour trees. Not much needle droppage there, I bet.

As if that Shake-n-Vac pine smell in the car wasn't enough, mood was further enhanced on the journey back by the syncopated swingin' sounds of Herb Alpert's Tijuana Christmas. Hark The Herald, O Little Town, etc. all none-too-tastefully arranged for trumpet and gee-tar. Great.

And was as excited as ever to buy this year's Radio Times 14-Day Guide. Slightly frustrated by the film review section including "the best of digital and cable" - La Grande Illusion, Memento and Last Year In Marienbad all took my eye - then decided to take a pen to those sections. Take that! Still, timer will be set for Topsy Turvy, Fight Club, 12 Angry Men and, of course, Back To The Future.

Oh, to find out the identity of "one of the worst films you'll see this or any other year", look at BBC1 on Monday 30-Dec at 12:40am. And it's in widescreen!

Be seeing you!

Ed