A quarter of a million visits in the last week alone, from over 150,000 unique hosts. Thanks.
OFF TO NEW YORK CITY: Maybe it was growing up in England, but I’ve long been a bit of a Christmas-phobe. As a kid, it meant two weeks in a small house in the gloomy English mid-winter with no relief from, er, family. (No, seriously, love you, guys!) Since I came to America, I’ve been home for Christmas maybe a couple of times. I try and go places where the festivities impinge the least – usually Miami, where you can almost forget it’s happening altogether. This year, we’re going to New York out of a) solidarity, b) a desire to party. Why my Christmas phobia? I think it’s a freedom thing. I’m not referring to the religious aspect. I’m planning on going to midnight mass in Harlem this year and love the Advent and Christmas ritual. What tyrannizes is the hermetically-sealed universal secular imperative to be happy. It’s like a universal Disneyland for a few days. It seems to me that a critical freedom is the right to your own mood. If you feel lousy, there’s nothing more irritating than some cheery boob telling you to cheer up, it’s Christmas. Screw that. Have a great Christmas. And be miserable if you feel like it.
The Dish 