 Changing Places Week 148 W/C 21st December 2008
`When the going gets tough the tough go shopping' was a car sticker I had for years. Never quite knew what it meant but it appealed to me and I would trot out the words to salve my conscience whenever an expensive shopping trip was beckoning. Those sentiments accompanied me in my Christmas shopping trip to Palma. I wandered around the small and large shops just looking, pricing and planning my strategy. Anyone who knows me might not believe it's me writing these words. Impulse buying was a definite no and the only things I was interested in were things that I knew the recipients really needed or a bit of luxury that they currently couldn't afford. My shopping habits had changed overnight now that the income we have from the UK has dropped so significantly. My shopping day included all the usual things - stopping for coffee and lunch albeit in more modest places than usual. The shops seemed very quiet and I am sure I saw some of you there doing exactly the same thing.
I am not a political commentator and don't pretend to know what is going to happen next in the financial market but I'm heartily sick of the subject. The television gets switched off as soon as another `expert' comes on to give his opinion - once the latest round of `people in the know' started to predict what was going to happen when the euro joined the pound in freefall I decided that enough was enough. Christmas films and slushy sentimentality is now the order of the day. `It's a wonderful life' - the Christmas film that reminds us of the true meaning of our lives is all set up ready to be watched and begins the season beautifully.
Our choir - The Georgie Insull Singers are limping though the last few engagements of the year. Our voices are just about holding out and a well earned rest is in store. We finish our season with a sing along at a Palma Nova Hotel for the guests that have arrived to spend Christmas in Majorca. We will behave impeccably to the last note and then its time to party or sleep which ever takes our fancy. The choir we used to sing in London before our relocation has suffered the problems of size. The North London Chorus sing carols in the streets of Hampstead in North London to raise money for the Royal Free Hospital's children's ward to have a splendid Christmas party. This year their numbers have risen from 50 to 150 so the carol singing was organised in shifts! The problem came when the early shift didn't want to go home because they were having such a good time and the small streets of Hampstead were filled with a cacophony of sound and an awful lot of people. Crowd management of unruly choir members - sounds like a cue for a song.
Christmas in our house means old favourite decorations and Christmas lights that have travelled from London with us. A family gathering on Christmas Day and relations staying for a week means that a bit of North London joins us. We have our grandchildren living here in Soller which means we don't miss out on their excitement and we play a Christmas game after dinner just like we used to. We are developing new Soller traditions but it's not easy to move on from the old ones. We will of course miss the family and friends back in London and can quite see why so many people return to the UK to touch base around this time. Christmas memories are precious and our move here was not to eliminate the past. Our Soller life is just a new chapter of a book that has only just got past the first few pages.
The Agony Aunt in me wishes to remind you at Christmas that - You are special, you are unique and may your Christmas be as special and unique as you are. Happy Christmas.
  |
||
Copyright © Sun Search Acquisitions 2008
|
||