Ah, how I used to yearn for the joyful abandon of casting off London life for that Christmas week to install oneself with far-off rellies as my friends did in such remote provinces as ‘Dorset’, ‘Royal Leamington Spa’ or ‘THE NORTH’.
In my 20s, I genuinely thought I was somehow worse off for having parents who lived near me in London. That my suburban Christmas in Zone 4 was in fact sub-rate for not having gone the distance.
