I like xmas but have to say I find xmas day itself massively boring.

Loads of people I know get really excited about sitting in their pyjamas all day, stuffing their faces and watching TV until they pass out but I find it so boring, can’t stand the lethargy. Squeezed in a ten mile run at 7am last year before the inlaws came round as I knew I’d then be able to cope with sitting around all day doing **** all…with a load of other people doing **** all.

The thing is I am far from Mr Motivator or anything and enjoy sitting around on my arse as much as the next person but it’s something about the enforced nature of doing it with others, imprisoned in a living room that winds me up.

So I suppose the answer is yes, I would love to spend xmas day on my own, though I never have. Or at least just me and my g/f anyway which I realise isn’t the same thing.

I’ve started to trim down a lot of xmas visiting stuff in recent years which I realise is slightly selfish but I don’t care. 2 weeks off work straight is a big deal for me like most people, so I just can’t be arsed wasting it by spending a week of it sat round somebody else’s front room watching Cash in the Attic or whatever.

My Mrs, daughter and I always spend Xmas together at home – but we get all of the visiting/family stuff over and done with on Xmas Eve.

However, Mrs ScotRoutes will be working until lunchtime this year, so I’ll likely nip off out for a couple of hours on the bike unti she gets home.

This will be the first time I will have spent Christmas in Bristol where I have lived for 25 years. Normally I would spend it in Yorkshire with my Mum, but she passed a couple of months ago, so will spend part of the day with a friend who is boycotting her own family Christmas. Will be a very strange experience.

I’ve often thought about this: I live on my own but usually spend Christmas around my parent’s house. However, they aren’t going to be around forever and I do wonder what I would do when they pass. I guess I will have to rely on friends.

It is a scary thought, though.

Well, perhaps I can help – I have no family so I’m always on my own, but I actually look forward to it.

My usual schedule is:

Breakfast of scrambled eggs and smoked trout with chestnut mushrooms, thin buttered rye toast and a glass of Bucks Fizz. Fresh coffee.

Cook lunch which is usually something I haven’t done before (a rehearsal for cooking it for a January dinner party for friends).

Tea with mincies and creme fraich.

Through all this I’ll be floating along on a cloud of something(s) alcoholic, delicious and expensive.

Films, telly “xmas specials” I might be interested in, BBC radio.

Boxing day much the same…

Works for me. Happy Xmas everybody.