Kent's wife insisted he did not stay overnight in town for the Christmas party, so he didn't get as drunk as he might have done. Even so, on the last train home, he fought a losing battle to stay awake. When he woke, the train had come to a stop. The carriage was dark, and the doors were open, and he peered through the window for the town name. There were no signs in sight. Kent got off the train to look for someone, but the station was dark too. The engine stood at the buffers, the end of the line. Out the front of the station, a single car waited, and the woman inside called his name. He didn't recognise her, but got into the car anyway, and did his best to settle into his new life.

Background

This is another story from my 2024 advent calendar. I only commuted to London for a short time at the start of the century, but it remains a vivid period of my life. I even wrote a story zine about it, The Legends of the Commuters.

The booze culture around British business has calmed down since I started work, which is a good thing. In the noughties it was expected that people’s employer would get them wasted at a Christmas party. There were many bad things that might happen to a drunk commuter, one being to fall asleep and wake at the end of the line, having missed your stop. The Metro free newspaper used to print little signs that people could use to write their intended stop, so that someone might wake them if they passed out.

Recommendations

Letterboxed has several lists of surprise Christmas movies - films set at Christmas which are not straightforward festive films. Die Hard is an obvious one, given the debate over whether it’s a Christmas film. My favourite example is the 1999 film, Go.

I picked up a copy of Go at a 99p DVD shop in Blackpool. It’s gone now, but it was an amazing place for picking up odd films. I originally saw Go around the time it came out, and images and lines from the film have stuck with me more than many other movies I’ve seen since.

Go fits into a certain post-Pulp Fiction vibe, following multiple characters through misadventures, looking at how their stories intersect. Adam and Zack, two soap actors, are being coerced into wearing a wire for a bust. Ronna, played by Katie Holmes, is trying to set up a drug deal to avoid eviction. And Simon, Ronna’s British colleague, is off to Vegas.

It’s an entertaining, fast-paced movie, which is far better than a synopsis makes it sound. There’s a superb performance from Timothy Olyphant as dealer Todd Gaines. It would be hard to make a more 90s film (there’s even a sequence at an EDM rave) but director Doug Liman has made a fun cult-worthy movie. And it’s set on Christmas Eve!