Deck the halls – eventually

“I HEARD that dreaded cry today: ‘Will you get the decorations down from the attic, please?’” a reader reports.

“As we are to be away over the festive season, there did not seem much point, but my wife promised to keep the decorations to a minimum. Fat chance!

“Since she wanted to pick and choose, I sent her up the ladder to decide for herself, while I waited below to take the weight of the boxes.

“Before I had time to put my hard hat on, there was an anguished yell from above and a cardboard box full of tins came hurtling through, scattering tins and muck all over me.

“Then the boss decided she would set up three small illuminated Christmas trees and a set of lights for the lounge window. This set me on the hunt for extension leads which had me up the ladder into the loft several times.

“After much travail, I eventually set up the trees, but the set of lights would not work. Another search began for the spare bulbs and the bulb-tester to find which bulb was causing the trouble.

“Back to the attic again to track down the bulb tester, then I discovered I had left the battery in last year and it was not working either. Yet another search for a new battery – still no joy. The connections had corroded.

“Luckily, frantic scraping with a knife and wire wool cleared the contacts, the bulb test came back to life and I was able to track down and replace the faulty bulb.

“Some three hours after I started, our limited Christmas decorations were up and working.”

“Why does Dad always do his shopping in there?”