Appetite For Distraction

Is it even Christmas if you don’t arrive in the door for a few days’ festive break without your mother exclaiming: “You’ve as many bags!”? It’s a subtle sentiment which can be broken down into nine parts judgment, one part extreme nosiness, as she wonders which one of the bags is for her.

But it wouldn’t be Christmas without it. Just like it wouldn’t be Christmas without 17 litres of minerals in the ...