Any Xmas at Palmer Mansions is similar to the one before.
So everybody knows the score.
Somebody will give me smoked salmon and scrambled eggs for breakfast and we’ll open the presents now piled under the Christmas tree and then I’ll play some vinyl while the chefs work happily in the kitchen.
Haven’t played Ella Fitzgerald Sings Cole Porter for years because I can’t find the LP. I know the kids want a bit of Sinatra again.
But it’s gonna be a soul day with Aretha’s hits and Smokey Robinson & the Miracles hits and some Duke Ellington and maybe The Beach Boys again.
Today, after the kids had gone out, Jan asked me to put on Holland, one of her favourite Seventies albums and near the end of California Saga she said she likes the place names they sing about.
“How many times did I take you to see the Beach Boys?”
“Twice, I think,” she replied.
One gig was at the Festival Hall, the other at Wembley Stadium with Elton John.
PS. Just rediscovered my Christmas reading for 1998.
A long time ago. Wow!