Looking forward...
By the time you read this, I’ll be stomping around the house crying “Anywhere but here!” because this is how Christmas gets to me.
Banish the Scrooge in your heart by turning on the radio.. it works.
And if it is escape you want, then join me for a walk in Greenland with writer Horatio Clare.
It’s slow radio for the season and it’s on at 4.30pm on Christmas Eve and 4pm on the following two days on Radio 3.
Horatio will be trekking along Greenland’s Arctic Circle Trail.
I guess it will be very quiet in all that white snow. He’ll be talking about the early lives of the Inuit and the early 20th century explorers and settlers.
We are promised lots of music too – including the ice music of Terje Isungset ... pass me my snow shoes, I feel a little wanderlust coming on.
Dither a while on Radio 3 on Christmas Day and after more from the Arctic you can hear Words and Music which takes swans as its theme.
We are promised excerpts from Yeats – that will be the Wild Swans at Coole – and Hans Christian Anderson – the Ugly Duckling? - and music from Saint Saens and Tchaikovsky and Sibelius.
Over on RTÉ Radio 1, Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without the ‘Live from (just off) Grafton Street’ on 24 December with Joe Duffy at the helm.
But it may be a little poignant this year following the death of the man who used to celebrate on that spot, the late Gay Byrne.
Later Derek Mooney will be offering callers the opportunity to talk to Santa Claus.
Céilí House and South Wind Blows will mark the end of the year in the company of singer Niamh de Burca and music from Other Voices in Dingle for RTÉ.
But the Irish have a special place in their hearts for the late great Leonard Cohen, so watch out for a special programme called Cohen Heads on RTÉ to mark the passing of a great singer and the end of 2019.
