BETWIXTMAS BEGINS

Betwixtmas Greetings!

Yep, now that the days with special names are over for the year, it’s time for that last great season - the five days when no-one has a clue what day it is or what’s actually happening.

I call it Betwixtmas. And for me, the great joy of the First Day of Betwixtmas (and so it is!) is being an introverted caterpillar, wrapped in a chrysalis/duvet of his own making, lazily rising for hot toast and butter, going for a heartwarming blustery walk, and chiefly, being mostly on my own.

Oh don’t get me wrong. I like people. But I am an introvert: a swirling ‘I’ to the left of Myers-Briggs; a ponderous ponderer, a thunderous thinker, an imperious imagineer, who loves a bit of time and space when the tinsel-party finishes and we all go home.

Except this year, for some inexplicable reason, I’ve gone shopping for a bin. A recycling bin, to be precise.

“I knew it was a mistake going shopping with two women,” said a tall man in the bin aisle. He was clutching an enormous box with a picture of the World’s Fanciest Bin on it. The two women in question, presumably his girlfriend and his Mum, were gathered around him, looking concerned.

“Well you do leave your recycling on the side,” said the younger woman. “This will stop you doing that!” The fancy bin was a dual compartment storage unit, judging from the picture.

“Yeah but all I wanted was a bin that goes on the inside of the kitchen cupboard!” he protested.

“Well if you don’t want it,” said his Mum, “You don’t have to get it.”

I looked up at the price on the shelf, while pretending to test the flap on a plastic pedal bin. The World’s Fanciest Bin was £49.99. I was suddenly on his side.

“Right!” he said, decisively. “Sorry mate, ‘scuse me.” I squeezed in while he passed.

“He’s always like this,” said one of the women. The other nodded in agreement.

I smiled, suddenly thankful for something I’m not often very thankful for.

But of course, The First Day of Betwixtmas doesn’t last forever. Soon I’ll be craving company again and I’ll be ready to be sociable. I shall emerge from the introverts’ chrysalis and be ready for the colourful world again.

Probably tomorrow, actually. For now though, I’m quite enjoying choosing my own bin.