(Thursday 24th December. Christmas Eve) So, it seems that a trade deal with the European Union has been struck. I heard this on BBC Breakfast this morning and a statement is due to be made by Boris Johnson but as I write this at 10.05a.m. there is nothing and everyone is waiting. The BBC had cameras outside Downing Street and they kept cutting from the television studio in Salford to Downing Street. Felt a little bit sorry for the policeman who stood outside. The Downing Street cat got a walk-on role and at one point we even saw a fox slink past! If this goes ahead it will be a very nice Christmas present for Boris Johnson. It's seems amazing that they've been negotiating a deal for most of the year and it's four-and-a-half years since the Brexit referendum and the country voted to leave by a very tiny majority.
This afternoon it was announced by Boris Johnson that the Brexit deal had been done. So, at least he has lived up to the mantra he had keep on about during last year's General Election (just over a year ago.) 'Let's Get Brexit Done.' It seems to have been a tortuous effort to get this thing sorted out, but it now has to be ratified by the EU parliament as well as the British parliament. Let's just hope it doesn't get voted down otherwise we will have to endure more negotiations. I feel sorry for the politicians, as the document which outlines the 'deal' is some two-thousand pages long and it will take them some time to wade through it.
(Christmas Day. Friday) I've been out with Alfie as usual and we found it to be quite chilly. There was ice on the pavement leading to Oldbrook Green, but that horrible patch of water I keep mentioning has gone. I think it might be cold enough for snow.
I have my Christmas dinner all ready to cook and have already peeled the potatoes. I have a turkey roast, not a turkey. There was no point getting one as I wouldn't have eaten a whole one, let alone got one small enough to fit in my electric cooker. It's supposed to take around 75 minutes to cook so I will have to work out when to put it in the oven if I want to eat my meal at around 4 o'clock. I did the Brussel sprouts yesterday evening. A really fiddly job. My father grew Brussel sprouts on the farm at Cardington. A lot bigger than those they sell in Sainsbury's. I used to feel sorry for the men who used to pick them, working in horrible wet and cold conditions in the fields. Then they were bagged and went to Covent Garden. A lorry used to come and collect them, the company who bought them called Bennet and Hawes. I don't know why people make such a fuss about Brussel Sprouts. I rather like them. I know if they're cooked to death they they can taste bitter, but I can't remember them being bitter. We had no choice, we had to eat everything put in front of us. I've seen a programme on television showing a machine that picked Brussels and probably no more than two people operated the thing as it moved across the field. No such technology on the farm and it must have taken quite a few men to do the picking.
Later. My Christmas lunch has been a great success. The Brussels were cooked to perfection. Certainly not bitter, which they can be. My roast potatoes were crisp and the parsnips just as i like them. I had to take Alfie out for a walk around Oldbrook Green after the first course. Some odd person on the grass miming boxing. Well, I think they were miming or just training, but it did look odd. A lot of people over the past months exercising around Oldbrook Green, some doing strange things which do look odd to other people who don't know what they're actually up to. A few women who walk around waving their arms around as if they're being windmills is another oddity.
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