The cranberry jelly and holly are, I suppose, a bit of a give-away. Pictured above is the Christmas pizza, as served at Fire & Stone, in George Street, Oxford. I tried one a few nights back at my first festive dinner of the year, having put myself in appropriate mood by the placing of a party hat on my head and a fine Margarita in my hand.

There are those who will perhaps consider this creation a move too far for a growing restaurant chain that prides itself on being a bit different. Pizzas include the Jakarta, with mozzarella, satay chicken, spinach and aubergine, and the Texas (it’s great!) with barbecued rump steak and roasted red onions.

In fact, the pizza is surprisingly good, especially the rich gravy spread across the base instead of the traditional tomato sauce. Other ingredients include slices of roast Norfolk Bronze turkey, a chopped sausage, cooked stuffing and roast potatoes. Brussels sprouts? They wisely drew the line there. The wine I chose to drink with it was the excellent South African Goats Do Roam, a blend of three grapes, which offers a tinge of apricot in its flavour.

Was it a surfeit of this that brought about the amusing mishearing of the evening concerning an old friend? “He’s got dementia,” Rosemarie appeared to be telling me. I was relieved to learn she had actually said: “He’s gone to Manchester.”