The great Waterlooville Christmas tree heist | Cheryl Gibbs

Last week I wrote about how I was getting serious FOMO (fear of missing out). It felt like everyone but us had their Christmas decorations up. I’m now pleased to announce that Christmas has finally arrived in the Kingston household. But, as usual, it wasn’t without a bit of drama.
Cheryl's very big Christmas treeCheryl's very big Christmas tree
Cheryl's very big Christmas tree

We went to our usual place in Catherington for our real Christmas tree.

It’s the same place I went with my family when I was a child – you know how I don’t like change. But when we got there, no one was around and we didn’t really know what to do.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

We found the tree we wanted and it had a price tag on it so I suggested to Matt that we take the tree with us and post the money through the door.

Matt always errs on the side of caution with these things, I don’t.

I didn’t see anything wrong with my plan – we knew how much the tree was, we were happy to take it there and then, and when the owners returned they’d have £40 in cash posted through their letterbox.

I know £40 is a lot for a tree and it hurts the pocket, but it’s my one vice.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Matt reluctantly picked up what was the largest spruce in the lot and attempted to drag it into the car.

I was about as useful as a chocolate teapot because I’m struggling to bend down these days so couldn’t really help. Plus, I forgot my gloves and real trees really hurt the hands.

So there we were attempting to shove a seven foot tree into the back of our Ford Focus.

Matt was cursing me the whole time, saying how dodgy it would look if the owners turned up at this point because they’d think we were trying to steal it.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

I kept the cash in my hands at all times, just in case that happened, and my plan was to video record myself posting the cash.

Unfortunately the tree was just too big so we had to give up, only to return a few hours later when they were back.

When we were reversing out of their driveway I noticed a massive sign alerting people to 24- hour hidden cameras.

I now fear they’ll watch it back and it will look dodgy as hell!

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A great night filled with fab music and a little brown alien

Last Sunday we went to the Royal Albert Hall, in London, to watch E.T while the BBC Orchestra performed the movie’s soundtrack in real time.

Because of the train strikes we drove and it was so easy.

It’s pretty much one straight road all the way into London, and it is not in the London congestion zone so it was a much cheaper way of travelling there and back.

The show was phenomenal and watching a classic like E.T on a big screen with a live orchestra was quite emotional. Matt’s got such a musical ear and points out all the instruments I’d never be able to pick out otherwise.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

I envy his skill at listening to music that way and I can now totally appreciate the power of a live orchestra.

For my money, Kate should have been I’m a Celeb winner

More than 11 million people voted in the final of I’m a Celebrity and I did not envisage Jacqueline Jossa being crowned Queen of the Jungle.

I really thought Kate Garraway had it in the bag.

She was a fab personality in the camp, she is also one of ITV’s main stars and got a heck of a lot of screen time, so I thought she had it nailed.

When Kate got booted out – too soon in my opinion – I thought Capital FM’s Roman Kemp was the next dead cert but, nope, apparently the majority of the voters thought Jacqueline deserved to win.

She was entertaining – albeit a bit of a drama queen – but I didn’t think she’d be crowned the jungle queen. How wrong I was.