Vroooommm… From time to time I get stopped in an airport concourse, a hotel lobby or a buzzy restaurant by a Monocle reader or listener. “Excuse me,” they start, “are you Tyler?” In 99 per cent of such encounters they offer a kind word of thanks for all that we do or they mention an email that I responded to 12 years ago requesting travel tips to Kyushu and how surprised they were that I responded, or how they admire me for refraining from being a slave to social media. As for the one per cent, they usually have a bit of constructive criticism about the quality of coffee in Zürich versus London or how they wish that we could use AI to ensure that their subscription would show up wherever they happen to be travelling during a given month.Overall these exchanges are always rewarding and instructive but over the past two weeks there’s been an uptick in the number of times that I’ve been stopped in the street with a rather different opening line: “So how is it?” The enquirer is always male, somewhere north of 35 and the question is accompanied by a grin and glance up and down, and left to right. Next, they ask: “So, are you happy?” As openers from total strangers go, they’re rather curious and personal questions but I get where these gentlemen are coming from so I very happily engage and indulge. Now you might be thinking that these chaps are all sizing me up in my lovely new jacket from A Presse in Tokyo – but only the keenest eye would recognise where it’s from and a little stroke of the fine cloth would be required to properly nail its provenance. While the object in question is very much “Made in Japan”, in this instance it comes with four wheels, five doors, a chocolate-brown leather interior and has attracted more positive nods, thumbs up and quiet applause than anything I’ve ever owned. Yes, dear reader, my Land Cruiser has finally arrived, is an absolute delight to drive and has already made its Alpine debut last Sunday as it growled up the Julier Pass to St Moritz.As more of these vehicles make their way onto the world’s highways and trails I’m sure the admiring glances will calm. But as only a couple of hundred were released in Mitteleuropa, it’s a rather rare beast on Swiss roads. Having been a G-Wagon owner, this is a much smoother, less obvious option if you’re in need of something to get you over mountains and across the continent. For shorter jaunts, the little olive Suzuki Jimny is still the best urban option.Oh la la la… Monocle’s staff Christmas party (the London edition) was perhaps the best yet with the Midori House dancefloor packed from 22.00 till 03.00 and proper recovery aids supplied for all staff the next morning. There were many songs that helped pack the parquet but Lisa’s “Moonlit Floor”, as recommended by our Fernando Augusto Pacheco a few weeks ago, is surely the song to spin this Christmas season.Ho, ho, ho… And speaking of Midori House and Christmas, here are a few shots from day one of our buzzy market. If you’re only catching this now and inbound or in London, then you can still catch the market all day today at 1 Dorset Street in Marylebone. The usual, trusty crew is on hand – including Nancy from Farmers’ (all the way up from Wales), reindeer from Lapland via the home counties and, of course, Santa from Finland. Please swing by and we’ll sign our new travel guide, Greece: The Monocle Handbook, or you can pick up the latest issue of Konfekt and even a tote bag if you wisely choose to subscribe.