I learnt recently that Roosevelt gave ‘Fireside Chats’ on the radio every Sunday evening between 1933 and 1944. I have no intention of boring you to tears with 11 years of idle chitchat, but I quite like that folksy Mom and Pop idea ( ‘couthie’, to use a Scots word ), and I am actually sitting at the fireside here in deepest coldest bleakest Abruzzo, chatting to you – for a few seconds anyway.
Abruzzo is a region in Italy, and Italy is still a generally Catholic country, so it’s difficult not to be aware of the various saints’ days and Christian traditions. Today it’s the turn of St Stephen, whose cruel means of murder reminds me of the ‘not throwing the first stone’ aspect of things.
In Ireland though, December 26 is celebrated as Wren Day, and that looks much cheerier: https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2023/12/27/those-that-went-before-us-kept-it-going-from-generation-to-generation/
Out There & In Here 