Crackers

A couple of days ago I was tempted to open our box of Christmas crackers and pull them all. I needed a very small screwdriver to adjust a very small screw. The sort of screwdriver that you sometimes get in a Christmas cracker – occasionally, if you are lucky, as part of a whole set of screwdrivers enclosed in their very own little case. I knew there were at least two of these cracker screwdriver sets around the house somewhere from previous cracker pulling festivities, but of course, when I needed one, they were nowhere to be found. No doubt buried at the bottom of one those drawers full of junk (yes you have one, everyone has at least one) that you open and close again immediately thinking “one day I must really tidy that up”. So it crossed my mind about raiding this year’s crackers but in the end I resisted the temptation as my life wouldn’t have been worth living come Christmas Day around the dinner table. (In the end I was very impressed that my mother-in-law knew immediately where to lay her hands on one when I mentioned my plight – her ancient sewing machine came up trumps as it had a screwdriver of just the right size hiding in its toolkit).

That little episode got me thinking about Christmas crackers.

The Christmas cracker: entirely dependable but unpredictable at the same time. The dependability comes from the content – a paper hat, a silly joke... and a naff novelty item, which also offers the degree of unpredictability.

So here is Feel It’s version of a Christmas cracker. I dipped my hand into a box of records – a box of soul/funk records, so there’s the dependability - and pulled one at random, so there’s the unpredictability.

Nothing naff about it though, I hope you will agree, and the title fits too!

Juanita Williams – You Knew What You Were Gettin’ 1965

Juanita Williams – Some Things You Never Get Used To 1965

Available on Girls Of Golden World.