Christmas Bashed – Sandra 37

 

[For back story go here: Story so far at 30 Nov 2020 and more recent Sandra episodes especially this one.]

[Other back story through in-links.]

Frosted, hyper-cool and sweet coffee in hand, there were odd moments when Sandra actually felt a tiny little bit Christmassy. The weekend’s ‘Christmas is Cancelled’ announcements had finally put – or rather removed – the icing on the Christmas cake for not going anywhere near Frankie and Rob’s place (campervan, awning or not). Actually icing on the cake was the wrong image. The announcements had taken a sledge hammer to this and many other Christmas cakes in a merciless and sudden way. To emphasise her own resolution, Sandra had already emailed her nephew and niece their gift voucher presents.

“Sorry,” she said briefly in her accompanying message to Frankie, “but Happy Whatever you Manage to Do anyway.”

She’d received nothing back from Frankie - or anyone else for that matter - but it really didn’t surprise her in the slightest and she was actually quite relieved.

The closing of Dover Port had also stirred her to thinking she should try and get Epstein's front and centre to comment, but on reflection she decided if they didn't want to discuss Brexit, they certainly wouldn't want to discuss this.

Instead, she was hooked up with Trinny for a quick Xmas bash. In another couple of open windows they’d put a log fire, snow falling and the video of some angelic children’s choir singing Away in A Manager on repeat. There was no Adrian as he had tested positive, was isolating and didn’t want to talk about it at all.

“Great year,” said Trinny. “Here’s to the next.”

“Kidding right?”

“Well,” said Trinny, “you’ve got to admit it had a few moments. Think about how far we've come. Where we were this time last year?”

“We were on a beach in Lanzarote,” said Sandra. “And you were having an almighty row with Ben.”

“It wasn’t that bad,” said Trinny. 

“We had to go to another hotel to eat,” Sandra reminded her.

“It had better food,” said Trinny. “And Ben was a prat. What did I ever see in him?”

“Money.”

“Oh, come on,” said Trinny. “I’m not that shallow.”

“You’ve not given him his ring back have you?”

“I’m not that stupid either,” said Trinny.

Trinny said Daniel might join them later online, as long as his daughter would let him. This led to a discussion of how Daniel’s presence had had a positive impact on the development and expansion of the app in recent weeks.

“Cats and dog walkers,” said Trinny. “That’s our year in a nutshell. It’s like animal marketing is the future.”

“Don’t get him started on that,” warned Sandra, “He can get a bit carried away.”

As if on cue Daniel logged on to the call. Daisy was there too, sparkly wand in hand and chocolate around her mouth.

“She’s just going to watch something,” insisted Daniel, “aren’t you, Daisy?”

The three merrily bantered for a while including Daisy in some of their conversation and wishing the child the best from Santa Claus.

“I’m hoping Santa will still find me,” said Trinny, “I’m spending this one on my own which is something of a first.”

“Oh, come round my place,” said Sandra. “I’m not seeing anyone else so we could support bubble.”

“Nice idea if it weren’t for Adrian,” said Trinny. “We had a celebratory coffee at the weekend after the tiers changed. Twenty-four hours later he calls me up to say he’s had a positive test. Merry isolation everyone.”

Sandra promised loads more video calls and plenty of virtual hugs. 

“What about you Daniel?” asked Trinny, “You’ve got your hands full?”

Daniel went quiet and his eyes blurred a little. “Actually Daisy is... she’s going to her mum's as from tomorrow. Didn’t want her to or anything but - well, in the end she said she wanted to so… I’ll have her for some of the time though. New Year, I guess.”

They raised a glass to each other, even though there seemed little to celebrate. It had been a stupid year, they decided, but they’d risen to the occasion and achieved success here and there, in sometimes unexpected ways.

Having signed off, Sandra finished her coffee, treated herself to a chocolate and was halfway through measuring out the flour for her next solo cake when she decided to make the call.

“Hello? Did you forget something?” came the response.

“No I - I just thought if you were alone I could still come over to your place,” she said. “I mean, I know there are risks and everything and you might want to keep yourself to yourself and video chat with people but...”

“I think it’s a great idea,” said Daniel. “Daisy gets picked up tomorrow morning. There’s no one else around, you can come for as long as you want.”