We have stood in a great many market squares in December, and we have got it wrong more times than we have got it right.
Here is what we have learned. It is a short list, because most of what gets written about this is padding.
Cash
More stalls than you expect are cash only, or have a card reader that will not find a signal in a crowded square. Take forty pounds in small notes. You will spend it.
Layers, not a bigger coat
Standing still is much colder than walking. A market is two hours of standing still. Two thin layers under your coat will do more than one thick one, and you can shed them when you go indoors for a drink.
Something for your neck
Most of the heat you lose goes from your neck and head. A scarf is worth more than an extra jumper. We fold a Turkish cotton towel into a bag for this — it takes almost no room, it is warm, and it is useful afterwards in a way a scarf is not.
Gloves you can use your phone in
You will be taking photographs and paying for things. Gloves you have to take off constantly are gloves you will lose.
A bag with a strap over your shoulder
Both hands will be full. One will have a drink in it.
Wear the boots, not the nice ones
Cobbles, wet leaves, three hours. Every year somebody in our house forgets this.
Go on a weekday evening if you possibly can
The difference between a Tuesday and a Saturday at any market is the difference between an evening out and a queue. If you can only do a weekend, go at opening rather than after lunch.
Eat before you go
Market food is wonderful and expensive and there is never quite enough of it. Have something first and then enjoy the bratwurst as a treat rather than a meal.
And the part everyone forgets
You will come home cold, tired and slightly overstimulated, at about nine o’clock, and the house will be dark.
This is the bit we now plan for more carefully than the market itself.
We put the flameless candles on a timer before we leave, so the front room is already lit when the door opens. We leave a throw over the arm of the sofa. If it has been a long one, the bath salts come out.
None of this is complicated. It just has to be done before you go out, because nobody has the energy to do it at nine o’clock.
That is the whole trick, really. The evening is not just the market. It is the market and the coming home, and the second half is the one you have any control over.