A Sidekick Advent Calendar Day 8

"Nothing and nowhere is more wintry than the far reaches of space."
Jacques Derrida

I admit the above quote is an outright fabrication but it's also totally true! Next year Sidekick will be publishing Laboratorio, an anthology of creative writing by astrophysicists at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, helmed (and edited) by their poet-in-residence Simon Barraclough. Along with fellow Sidekick collaborator Harry Man, Simon is one of poetry's biggest space enthusiasts, and his second Salt collection, Neptune Blue, includes a planets sequence. We have asked for - and been granted! - permission to reproduce his ode to the ice giant Uranus as part of our advent calendar.

Now, of course, it's well known that Father Christmas only got as far as Mars during his forays beyond our own planet's atmosphere, but we reckon Uranus would make a suitable base of Christmas operations after Earth's ice caps melt. It's a little further out, but then, gentrification is forcing all of us to make longer commutes these days.

Keep an eye out for a Jacques Tati cameo towards the end of the second stanza!