the corner office

The story of the sham Lapland theme park in the New Forest has been a hoot since it broke earlier this week, and now with a perfect ending (per the Times):

Today families were arriving to find the entrance coned off. A woman from the park shouted through the fence: "Santa's gone home, Santa's f*****g dead."

Not entirely coincidentally, since it is December, but somewhat apropos nonetheless, we took Leo to a Christmas thingy at a garden centre up the road from us on Monday. At least they had live reindeer (Leo not interested), animatronic animals and a pretty display (Leo very interested), a 'magic ride' aka wobbling train carriage in a darkroom with lots of UV paint and two scrolling painted murals on either side (Leo thoroughly unsure what to make of the experience, much like his parents) and getting to sit on Satan Claus' lap (Leo not liking one bit).

It was cheap and cheerful and the queue wasn't too long (just as well because some kid ahead of us had pooped and the smell was what can only be described as insistent), and we got a nice photo with Leo not looking too traumatised. And Leo got a teddy bear as a gift which we named Jabulani on account of the cheerfulness our son was (not) exhibiting by the end of the day, which has now turned into his new best friend.

The joys of Christmas!