308. The Box of Delights

A small boy comes home from school for the Christmas holidays and gets caught up in magic and mystery and mayhem. It's very old fashioned now, but in a good way - nothing to offend the PC police. It is not possible for me to enter into the spirit of Christmas without reading at least some of this book, and it always makes me long for deep snow, a jug of cocoa... and an adventure.

307. The House at Pooh Corner

A bear of very little brain. Eeyore in his field, eating thistles. Tigger trying to find out which food Tiggers like best. Pooh sticks. Rabbit and all Rabbit's friends and relations. Owl (or Wol) and his very intelligent sign, which read: Backson. Bisi. Backson.

So much of these stories is now woven into our collective consciousness - imagine coming from a generation without Pooh! Therefore I consider it our duty to make sure that we pass on these books. They're old now, sure, but so's the Bible and nobody's thinking of dropping that from the list of books a person Must Read, are they? And now I'm hungry and it must be time for elevenses somewhere in the world...

306. The Tiger Who Came to Tea

Given how much I love them, there aren't enough classic children's books on this blog. So I'm going to make up for that with a short series, starting here with Judith Kerr's first, and for many, best, picture book.

I didn't stick around in the picture books when I was learning to read. So even though The Tiger Who Came to Tea would have been 10 when I was four, I don't remember reading it then. I remember it later, when I read it to my friend Katie. She loved it - couldn't get enough - and I fell in love with it too. As a result, it feels like a cherished childhood memory of my own, even though I only read it during Katie's childhood! Ah well, such is the way of these things. And as Katie is no longer here to have that memory for herself, my mental picture of reading it to a little red-headed girl is all the more precious.

It's a simple tale about a tiger who comes to tea with a little girl called Sophie, and her Mum. The tiger eats all the food in the house, drinks all the water in the tap and leaves again. So when Dad comes home they all have to go out for sausages and ice cream and Mum has to re-stock the larder, not forgetting an extra large tin of tiger food, just in case.

You must make sure that every small person you know has a copy of this book, and for good measure you should probably have one too. You know, just in case...

305. The soundtrack to 'The Hours'

I hated 'The Hours' the first time I saw it. It was too gloomy and miserable and I couldn't see the point. Then I watched it again and fell slightly in love. It's still gloomy and miserable but I can see the point now and largely the point is many brilliant actresses doing their thing rather brilliantly. Anyway, behind all the noses and despair is Philip Glass's soundtrack. I always thought he did cranky discordant nonsense, but I am entirely wrong, at least in this instance. And over the last few years the soundtrack to The Hours has become music that I can not only work to, but which seems to make the work better. When I had to take a copy test as part of interviewing for my last job, this was the music I went to when I had to shut the world out for an hour and do my best work under pressure. And even if you're not typing furiously, lost in another world, it's still beautiful music. And nobody dies.

304. The smell of woodsmoke

Woodsmoke is the smell of autumn in the countryside. It speaks of tumbling leaves and crisp air, of frosty mornings and robins hopping about on the lawn. Of wintry walks and breath-dampened mufflers and snowflakes and Christmas. Pity we can't bottle it.

303. A Bargain

Brown brogues, Clark's, leather, £37.99

Two pairs of spectacles, Glasses Direct, £71

Hiedsieck Monopole, Tesco, £14.99

10 white dinner candles, Tiger, £2 (but I did have to go to London to get them)

Who doesn't love a bargain? Now I will look 'stremely chic this Chrimbletime and then be drunk. Happy Holidays!

302. Chef's perks

(I would write 'perqs' as that would be correct, but you'd think I was a tosser.)

Chef's perks, of course, are those toothsome morsels of deliciousness that the chef gets because s/he is in charge. The crispiest part of the chicken skin. The caramelised gooey lump of sausage that sticks to the pan. The chocolate brownie batter. The golden, glistening cube of roast potato in the corner of the roasting tin. Ah yes, a great deal of greedy slurping goes on behind that closed kitchen door! This is why everybody should learn to cook.