THERE were two major events which occurred in my life back in 1970 when I was nine years old.

First up, The Beatles broke up, a band I had loved since first hearing Yellow Submarine four years previously. I still do love them in fact and I am 58 now.

Secondly my mother, who is South African, split up with my father and took my brother and I halfway across the world to start a new life in her homeland,

Naturally, I was hugely disappointed to land in Johannesburg and discover that there were no lions or cheetahs happily lounging in the sun adjacent to the runway.

Fortunately, my mum’s relatives has found a flat for us in Pietermaritzburg, but both of us boys had been warned that, initially, life was going to be tough.

We didn’t have much money or any possessions. “Imagine no possessions, it’s easy if you try,” sang the multi-millionaire John Lennon. Well actually it is not.

We had no chairs, no beds, no plates and no cutlery. It was only the largesse of others that kept us afloat. Meals were rudimentary yet tasty thanks to my mum’s skills in the kitchen and gradually we found our feet.

My mum, a successful teacher in the UK, got her first job back home, subsequently working her way up to become a headmistress and then a university lecturer.

But those early days were tough and we were warned not to expect too much for our first Christmas.

My mum scrimped and saved and bought us both little transistor radios. To this day, it is still the best present I have ever received.

At last I could build on my initial love of music, expanding my knowledge by spending hours on end listening to pirate radio stations.

Our first Christmas lunch as a family of three consisted of a chicken, mashed potato and green beans with a lovely gravy. Again, it was perfect even though the ingredients were rudimentary.

We were told to cherish every meal put in front of us and it was emphasised that we should never, ever waste food.

Corporate raider Gordon Gekko, brilliantly portrayed by Michael Douglas in the Hollywood film Wall Street, was wrong. Greed is not good.

I can’t stand seeing food wasted which is one of the main reasons I have complete antipathy towards the entire festive season, with Christmas Day at the top of the list.

There are people starving in certain countries across the world as I write this, there are people sleeping in the streets of this very city and yet still there are those with the means to do so who will continue to over indulge.

Been to a supermarket this month? The aisles are crammed with trolleys piled high with Christmas goodies. Food wise much will go to waste no matter how much people gorge themselves on the big day itself.

Then there is January when almost without exception, people moan about having no money and wondering how they are going to survive until the next pay day.

Which brings me back to Lennon and arguably the greatest festive song ever, Happy Christmas (War Is Over).

It has an extremely telling lyric... “and so this is Christmas and what have you done? Another year over, a new one just begun”.

I accept that for many Christmas is the best time of the year. They love the atmosphere, the carols, the sense of occasion and the giving and receiving of presents.

Yet somewhere along the way the real message of Christmas has been lost with greed and gluttony taking precedence.

You don’t need to spend 500 quid on someone to make them feel special and they don’t need to spend a similar amount on your either. It is the thought that counts and that is how it should be.

My little radio bought for me by my mum gave me a decade of pleasure before it finally gave up the ghost. But it also gave me a lifetime’s love of music.

I shall be spending this Christmas Day alone and that is just fine and dandy. I am working on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day so the chance to chill out is a welcome one before normal service resumes.

There will be no turkey for me, no decorations and no wild celebrations for the simple reason that it is not really my scene and I am at a stage in life where I don’t really need anything.

So I shall celebrate with simple pleasures, namely a late morning Baileys after a breakfast of scrambled egg and salmon on toast, mid-afternoon steak with cauliflower cheese and green beans and, er, that will be it food wise. A few glasses of wine in the evening and then a damn good sleep. Happy Christmas.