We all have our Christmas indicators –
The thing that tells us that Christmas is on its way when we start to feel Christmassy, or whatever. For some, it’s the Coca-Cola advert – a big lorry of red. Christmas is red. For others, it’s the John Lewis advert, this year’s offering being a snowman porno, I heard somewhere. Seems a bit unlikely. You can’t really trust Newsnight these days.
Anyway, for some folks, Christmas is all about grabbing a Christmas pudding, putting it on a plate and running around an obstacle course in Covent Garden in fancy dress. This year’s Great Christmas Pudding Race – held in London – is the 38th of its kind and a perilous assault on food. Teams of six – work colleagues are allowed, so you can shove your boss down a bouncy slide – compete to be the first over the line, Christmas pud intact. The thing is, there are plenty of things in your way, not least enormous inflatables, silly string and your dignity. It’s effectively an egg and spoon race but nobody gets covered in egg. Mmmm eggnog. Lovely egg.