I didn't feel sociable enough to attend the Steiner School Christmas Fayre today, even though Clare was singing there with the Fountain choir. I went into town instead, and bought all the annual supply of Christmas cards I need to accompany our end of year newsletter. I believe this will be the fiftieth year in which I have written our annual round-robin. Such a pity I never kept hard copies, and can only account for those stored digitally, since 2002. I'll make a start on writing this tomorrow.
In the evening, we treated ourselves to supper at Stefano's, which promised musical entertainment after the meal. The food was excellent, but the singer, ostensibly with several albums to his credit was more of a working men's club entertainer, interspersing songs with attempts to tell outrageous jokes like an old school working men's club stand up comic. Everything was delivered at such a pace that much of what he said verged on the unintelligible. It spoiled an otherwise pleasant evening, as far as we were concerned.
Daring even to hint at racist and sexist jokes or jibes contemptuous of 'political correctness' is unacceptable. To judge from the proprietor's reaction it was an embarrassment to him. I felt sorry for him, but at least it won't tarnish their reputation for good food. Entertainers are here today, gone tomorrow. It wasn't easy to gauge the reaction of other diners, to know whether others may have been as uncomfortable as we were during this performance or trying to be convivially tolerant. We left earlier than we might have done, though not as early as we both felt we should, but as we were seated rather far back from the exit, we were reluctant to expose ourselves to more embarrassment. It wasn't exactly what we were looking for to start our countdown to Christmas.
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