Christmas - A Retrospective

 

Back in Singapore, and in need of a rest. Christmas 2024 was certainly a hectic time and required many more hours flitting from one place to another than was even halfway sensible. One reason for this was having to service my annual trip to the Defence Academy in Brussels, a commitment nested inside unshiftable commitments in Singapore. It was worth it though.  I had a big (but not too big) bunch of naval students from various of Europe’s navies, including a contingent from Sweden who were very interesting indeed about cable cutting incidents in the Baltic.  They made it sound as though we are already in a low-level war with Russia and China. Interesting times !

More cheerfully, it was a very convivial few days with a special lunch and a dining out night in town. In any case Brussels at Christmas time takes a lot of beating. They light up the Grande Place with a son et lumiere that’s quite spectacular and the place is really one big Christmas market. I had two individual suppers out as well, in my usual haunts one of which is the ‘King of Spain.’

Usually I try to get one of the little window seats you can just about see here but this year for the first time they were reservation only. It was fun anyway.  They have a stuffed horse by the central stairs  which I think I have given an annual pat to, off and on, since the mid 1970s when I used to come here with the Greenwich staff course. The other place is the Grand Café a convivial café-bar – all belle epoque. Food wise I go all Flemish, obviously.

The metro station I travel to is interesting and has a Starbucks I use for breakfast, often as their first customer. The station is Schuman, which as the name suggests is right underneath the famous Berlaymont building the home of the European Commission. The whole area is full of bright young things all chattering away in English. What an opportunity we kicked away in the referendum !

The only disagreeable part of the trip was the return trip since Great Western  had cancelled my train and I had to come home after an appallingly crowded train to Swindon, squeezed up standing room only and I had three heavy bags. Fortunately someone gave up their (illicit) seat for me and the person who reserved it from Reading never turned up to claim it. And then I had to find the special bus to Pewsey. That was an experience too. There were four of us on the vast bus which went to Pewsey by the most peculiar route taking almost as long as the Eurostar to Brussels. I really wondered if he was actually lost. Then the car home.

That apart, the festive season was a full on family event, divided like Caesar’s Gaul into three parts. The first was everyone (except poor Philippa suffering from a particularly poisonous kind of flu who stayed at home) at Cross in Hand. I had a difficult drive there arriving after dark and late and causing some concern. A late start because amongst the two month pile of post I discovered a DVLA reminder that I needed a MOT and wouldn’t be taxed without it, so not insured. That needed sorting out and afterwards, it was a stressful journey. Once there it was terrific. All the usual of course. So terrific in fact that many of possessions clearly did not want to leave. When I pulled up at a Services for a breakfast coffee, I discovered that my coat and wallet were amongst them. Plan B was doing without. Fortunately I had filled up the tank on the way  to Cross-in-Hand !

Stage 2 was at Wansdyke with the teams from Walthamstow and Burgess Hill, this time with Philippa, valiantly recovering. Again all the usual. Midnight mass at All Cannings and a nice collective meal at the King’s Arms. We managed a walk to the Canal, accumulating on the swing bridge for a photo.

Stage 3 was again at Wansdyke when Cross-in-Hand came for the New Year. Again all the usual. Wood burner going full bore. Food. Another King’s Arms supper and some much needed exercise to Avebury. There by the ‘miraculous tree’ I bumped into Edward, Pat and Jame’s son. Most unexpected ! We got some more exercise in the village actually. Heavy winds had brought down a tree that blocked the path to the village (as well as distressing two of my fruit trees). So we set to clearing it with some first class wooding. The result was dumped in the garage to dry off and wait for attention until I get back.

The second major task was to take down the Christmas decorations, including both trees) something done the last afternoon before S,R&V went home as I was returning to Singapore the following morning.

So, all pretty hectic ! Just as expected. A less expected event was Cousin Clive coming to Wansdyke with our silk rug from Udaipur all washed and mended. I treated him to the first of the three King’s Arms sessions  - the landlord (under pressure financially as they all are, surprisingly so for such a popular and active village pub now knows me by name !). We were just about to tuck in when Clive gave me a Christmas present. I was taken aback first by the idea and secondly by what it was. He lives in Istanbul (appropriately for a rug specialist) and happened to come across what he thought was a 1920’s Shanghai embroidery of HMS Endevour ( a survey ship) that had probably be done for a member of the crew and somehow ended up in an Istanbul flea market. I was so taken aback I really didn’t know what to say !  It’s now at a picture framers in Devizes, awaiting my return.

But that’s still two months away and there’s an awful lot here waiting to be done, which I had better get on with right now. Happy New Year.