Saturday night

Fire, home, mulled wine and jazz. No, thanks, I won't be coming out tonight, you can have your loud clubs. I am staying right here. 

                                     

Mulled Wine

My own festive season starts on December 1st but occasionally I find myself feeling the tingle of joy, my inner bells start jingling and before I know it, I hear myself humming words about reindeer, noses, sleighs.... One year a few winters ago, festivities came as early as mid October. This year? I put my Christmas CD in the car and hit play 2 nights ago, if ever so shyly.
As time passes, my confidence has grown- last night I made my first mulled wine for the season. It was fantastic, and I have the friend who can vouch for it!

Unfortunately I forgot to photograph my own mulled wine last night, courtesy of the Internet

Here is my recipe:

Red wine - 1 bottle [quantity varies depending on how many friends you have and how much of a drunk you are!]
Orange - 1 [peel it, and put the peels in the potion. Eat 2 slices of orange and put the rest in, too]
Apple -1 [ cut it in bite-size chunks and put it in]
Cinnamon sticks - a few [mostly for decoration, put one in each glass when you serve it]
Ground cinnamon - half a teaspoon or so [ I really like cinnamon]
Clovers - 2 teaspoons
Black pepper - a pinch or so, don't go overboard
Cocoa powder - half a teaspoon
Honey / brown sugar - depending on taste. Resist the temptation to make it too sweet, you'll regret it

Heat up the wine, add the ingredients, stir with a wooden spoon.

Serve with gingerbreads or cheese, or anything else you'd like. Or simply enjoy the thick spicy wine by itself. Ideally, in front of the fireplace.

Acts of Random Kindness 3

This is the only topic for which I have needed to write three parts. The world is far less mean than you think.

The Kind Stranger seems to be Santa Clause's little brother- many talk about him, they tell magical stories about him/her but these always are stories about someone else, who knows someone else, who knows the Stranger in question.

I don't believe in Jesus and I don't believe in the mythological Stranger. Because believing would imply blind faith without proof. No. I have seen the mythological Kind Stranger. The cousin-of-my-friend's-dog's-uncle cycle ends here.  

I have met the Kind Stranger.

Many people get a kick out of being destructive, negative, pessimistic, mean, offensive which means there is a large number of people who get a kick out of being cool, adventurous, polite, spontaneous.

The creature is very much like you'd think- changing faces and locations. But if you're lucky enough, you will meet him. It's really not that hard. I was once so lucky I met him twice in one day.

LONDON. Upon boarding my bus, I realised that my reservation was for the wrong journey. Rather than LON-OX-LON, I had booked OX-LON-OX. I easily admitted to the driver it was 100% my own fault and that I was leaving it completely to his discretion to decide what to do with me. He smiled, said he shouldn't... and then changed my reservation, saving me 14 quid. Big thanks.
Why he helped? I think, to a huge extent, he did because I was humble, admitted my fault in the matter and was polite to him. Be polite, kind, helpful and patient with others and they are much more likely to do the same back to you.

OXFORD. Just a few hours later, I am sitting in "Three goats' heads"  in Ox with an Ex and we're having a drink- he's sipping some horrible weissbier and I am sipping some stupidly expensive wine. The bartender comes up to us, carrying a chair and puts it next to our table. We look at him, half tipsy, fully puzzled. He says, giggly:
-It's for your friend.
-What friend?, we ask, even more confused.
-Your invisible friend. For whomever you want.
-That's why I love coming to this pub!, the ex exclaims.

Simple, jolly moments. Strangers are fantastic company.

P.S. If you ask Google, though, some bad images come up for "strangers", even "strangers in a pub". We need to change that perception- one pub, one image, one story at a time.