Christmas Songs 3

Christmas is less than a week away.

We've done the late night dashes into town, the food for the Big Day  is planned, the cheese is bought.The cheeseboard located and lovingly cleaned in preparation.

 The children have returned home and suddenly the house is alive with noise and clothes and shoes are all over the place. My son is , as usual, not well and consequently grumpy. The daughter is , as usual, well just herself.

Meanwhile the visits about welfare reform go on in houses where it is colder inside than out because people can't afford to put the heating on. The tears when you tell them their , already low, income is going to get reduced further.

Then there's the families where you go into their houses and it's beer cans on the floor and in hand . Or those cans of energy drinks that are so popular. Shouting at each other and the place stinks of dog, sweat, fried food and cigarettes. Half naked kids running around desperate for attention.

Then there's the ones working in the low paid retail or care services who are trying their best and for whom these changes will make it just that bit harder to get by. They have just come in from a long day/night and are just too knackered to take it in.

And then there are the ones with 48 inch flat screen HD TVs Sky + box, 4x4 in the driveway and pictures of this year's two weeks in Benidorm on the digital photo album scrolling away. The ones who don't bother turning the TV down as you go through the changes. Who aren't bothered as they know they will continue to get the cash in hand work in the black economy and still claim.

The one thing they've all got in common is that they all smoke. We are supposed to ask them not to smoke when we are in their houses ( advice from our H&S guys) but to be honest I gave up doing that years ago. People get cross when you ask them not to light up.

I haven't really come down as being either for or against these changes, my heart says I'm against but my head tells me something needs to change. Whether it is this way or another way is the bit  I don't know.

Out on the estate doing these visits in my company fleece and coat and uniform I got stopped by a bloke calling out from a White Van asking did I want to buy a memory foam mattress for Christmas. Top quality and cheap apparently. I declined the offer.

Another Christmas Song. The Wedding Present again. I like this song although most fans don't.

Holly Jolly Hollywood- The Wedding Present