Christmas song #17 and a light maze.

With the turkey and lobster delivered we have time to think about winter solstice celebrations. In town there's a light maze which advertises itself with the jaunty  line ' Walk a patch of light on the longest night '. Who could resist ? Old traditions run deep here. 

 

The Christmas rush hasn't started yet although I'm betting the hotels will soon begin filling up with Edinburgh and London families wanting to get away for the long weekend. What better place to spend Christmas than a town with a long safe beach where toddlers can exhaust themselves and bars aplenty where father can stop off for a restorative tipple while walking the dog ?  Yesterday 'The Font' discovered that the supermarket was pure bedlam with folks doing last minute shopping. The aisles around the fresh flower counter were particularly wild . I'm told the shelf stripping determination of the customers was akin to the manic scenes you see in B list movies when zombies appear in the parking lot. 

We thought the light maze might be a forest of burning torches. Instead it's a sea of fairy lights set into the ground. Young families love it as do a group of ladies in fluffy woolen hats who are walking backwards and forwards chanting. We might have found it more ethereal if it hadn't been for a biting easterly wind rolling in straight from the sea.

By the time we've wandered the maze and headed back towards the car  the town has become even quieter.

To avoid hypothermia we stop off at a bar and sit at a table outside under a well placed electric heater. There's time for us to have a drink and take in the decorations on the main shopping street . We'd expected the wine by the glass to be dire but the white is drinkable and the red the acceptable side of  'cheeky'.  The local roofing firm is having a Christmas party for its staff in Nandos. Half an hour later the plumbers staff also start to show up for their annual bash. Nandos is going to be humming. We now know all these people by name having used their services on not one  but two houses. There is much shaking of hands and the polite trilling of  'Have a Merry Christmas' . 

After all this excitement we would make a night of it and  go to the cinema but the offerings seem to be targeted at a pre-teen audience. 

Christmas music #17. Dame Kiri had a most remarkable voice . Quite possibly one of the top 3 Christmas  recordings ever :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql0CnTY49mc

Intriguing that Utah and Montana should be top in social mobility :https://www.archbridgeinstitute.org/social-mobility-in-the-50-states/

Cheating on Wordle :https://rjlipton.wpcomstaging.com/2023/12/21/have-i-been-cheating-at-wordle/