Home for Christmas

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Well. The plan was to spend Christmas with Jean-Yves’ brother and his family, as has become a most pleasant habit. But no. After everyone has asked about my Christmas plans and been assured that they were in place and happily anticipated, SNCF canceled my train. Was every other train long since fully booked? Yes, of course. Are we all supposed to suck it up, claim solidarity with the poor, embattled workers who might soon have to retire at the same age as everyone else? Of course, though I wish they would ask how much solidarity the retire-at-50 crowd feel for the rest of us.

That said, there are worse places to pass Christmas or any day. Jacques doesn’t believe in Santa, so we’ll sleep late and catch up on a few things. I hope your day will pass as calmly as I expect mine will.

And I hope you like the music. I have heard a lot of Charpentier this year and hope to hear a lot more in the future. I hope you like the video above, which I hope will be shown without ads. It’s pretty long, so save it for when you have some time.

All the best for the new year.

11 thoughts on “Home for Christmas”

  1. So it’s not just the U.K. falling apart at the seams…..
    Will they refund your ticket or will you get the response I did all those years ago when their advance ticket system packed up ‘Vous etes foutue Madame.’
    I haven’t listened to Charpentier for years now, so thank you for reviving an old pleasure.
    Enjoy your peace and quiet.

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  2. Helen, you have been away too long. You have forgotten. This happens at most holidays. The railroad workers are the worst. But yes, at least I did get a refund — for the return, as well as for the canceled train. This stupid game is being normalized.

    I hope you like the video. It is quite long. I actually went to the concert. Hearing music Charpentier composed for that space, in that space, was magical.

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    1. Me and a lot of people. I was looking forward to seeing everyone but honestly, a five-hour trip each way, with a heavy suitcase and Jacques and two connections….. There is a level where SNCF did me a favor.

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  5. Too bad your trip plans got messed up but maybe a quiet day with Jacques is best. Thanks for the musical interlude which I have playing in the background. I love Charpentier even more than LA’s top rap and hip hop stations. We are Scrooging this Christmas, low key all the way and no traveling. I did put up Christmas lights so as to avoid being declared the neighborhood pariah and finding a stuffed hedgehog in my Nativity Set. Merry Christmas!

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    1. Merry Christmas. Wow, you put up lights. Almost nobody does that here. There are hardly any street lights, either, so this time of year it gets pretty dark, pretty early. I was hoping for a real hedgehog, put out a little hedgehog house and everything, but no luck. Maybe Jacques scared them all away.

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  6. Love that music, YT video saved, thanks! To travel in these big movements times is very oft difficult, my wife and I simply decided not to do it! Our Christmas decorations made us happy enough, a little bit of quality food, relax…it was good!

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    1. A lot of people simply stayed home this year. Maybe one benefit of the lockdown was that so many of us learned that being home a bit more is often quite nice.

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  7. I got caught out by SNCF strikes in 2019, when we had to book expensive plane tickets at the last minute. We got reimbursed the rail tickets, but had to foot the bill for the difference… Now we only travel by car at that time of year, which has been working out very well with several overnight stops and sightseeing along the way! 🙂 It’s part of the holiday and we’re no longer at the whim of the strikers…

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    1. Well, just between us, I hate traveling at the holidays. I was sorry to not see my friends, but not at all sorry to be at home. Of course if you have kids, it’s different.

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