08:00 Oh dear - we have to get up early again. Mark the Gardener is going to be here in 40 minutes. He arrives on time and starts work. He gives us a Christmas card, which sends us into a tizzy - we can write him a quick Christmas card, but do you tip gardeners?
This is the first Christmas where we've had a gardener, but I know that on "Curb Your Enthusiasm", Californians always tip their Hispanic gardeners. To be on the safe side, we wrap up a bottle of wine for Mark: we're getting a free bottle of wine later today in any case with our ParsleyBox ready-meal delivery, so we're not really one bottle down on the deal - phew!
I remember that in one episode Larry gets into a discussion with Carlos the Gardener where, after tipping him for Christmas, Larry tries to speak Spanish to him, with a quick "Usted eres muy amable" (you are very kind). He's trying to put Carlos at ease, but Carlos says the "usted" (you polite) is too formal. and that Larry can use the "tu" (you familiar) form when speaking to him.
And in his stand-up act Larry reminds us that Julius Caesar used the 'tu' form with Brutus, even after Brutus had stabbed him. Caesar said, "Et tu, Brute", which Larry thinks was a little too informal, when somebody's trying to assassinate you, a view I can sympathise with. At that point, says Larry, with an "usted" he would perhaps have been better off. "But that's Caesar!", adds Larry. "That's crazy, whacky, mixed-up Julius Caesar!"
I think Larry is right about Caesar - it was a bit of a faux pas on Julius's part. But how lucky we are in English to have only one word for "you", which we can use to everybody, from a cat to a queen!
"Thou" and "thee", the old familiar form, fell out of use in English in the 17th century, although it's persisted in some regional English dialects, and also among members of the Quaker sect and in prayers. There's also the phrase "fare thee well". But what about "lookee here"? Is that short for "look thee here" or is it "look ye here"? I don't know. But I think we should be told!
10:00 Most of the rest of the day is taken up with things we have to do. I phone Virgin Mobile to cancel my old contract, now that I've got my shiny new Samsung phone. I have to give them 30 days' notice, so I can continue to use my old phone till mid-January, which will give me time to get used to the new phone.
Today is an "exercise day" for me, according to the schedule worked out for me by Connor, my NHS physiotherapist, and tomorrow is a "walk day". However the weather forecast is bad for tomorrow, so I decide to switch them round.
First we go for a drive to Bishops Cleeve and back, as we haven't used the car for 5 days, so that it doesn't moulder away. When we come back, we go for a walk, stop at the post-box to post even more Christmas cards, and then go further to see where they've pulled down the old "day-care centre" and are starting to build a new doctor's surgery - which we're both hoping to join when it opens for business.
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