29 December

It’s not a popular view. But I reckon there are many who hold it, maybe secretly. And I like thinking about the people for whom this time of year is horrible, and who can’t wait for it to be done. (That’s not me, incidentally, but I think they’re wiser than we acknowledge.) Holidays and travel are things we often pretend to like, but deep down ‘there’s no place like home.’ They’re just a contrast from jobs or lives we don’t like, so they seem a great thing. All feelings are contrasts, if you sit in a smelly room for more than a few minutes, you won’t notice the smell. Ditto for life, holidays seem like the bomb because they’re a contrast from our other routines. “Our natural habitat is the office, the shop, the bank, the building site. The ocean is for fish, the rainforest is for frogs, foreign cities are for foreign people. There is no experience more comforting than to return from holiday, sink into that luxurious swivel chair, click the on button and try to remember your password.”