Got back to Heathrow on Tuesday morning for a five-week Christmas break in the UK, just a week before Christmas and it was so heart-warming to see the effort that Heathrow had gone to in putting up decorations and entering the whole spirit of Christmas with such gusto and enthusiasm....
Welcome to the UK. We've really pushed the boat out for Christmas!
Compared to the lovely Diorama at Bangkok when we left...
As I wrote the other week, I think it's lovely that the rest of the world seems to be embracing Christmas as simply a secular holiday for spending time with loved ones and spreading a bit of peace and goodwill, as the UK seems to be slightly winding back on Christmas.
My Christmas spirit extended through to Saturday when I wandered into Pontefract town centre. The weather was awful. Not a clear crispy, cold morning, but a blustery, wet and miserable one. I hate it when the temperature hovers around the 7 to 10C mark. It isn't really cold, but it isn't warm either. It's just miserable!
Life in a Northern Town! Vapers are well catered for!
No worries. My Christmas Spirit was still intact. The Sally Army band was out and I had been summoned to Church for coffee with Mum where the choir were going to be singing some carols. It's Christmas, even I can get a little soft at this time of year! It's not a bad choir and so it was a bearable ordeal. It may surprise you to know that there were no forks of lightning and the ground didn't open up and swallow me, but there was a problem of a different kind.
The Salvation Army band. Without uniforms!
The choir sang, and my wife pulled out her phone to record the performance to show her family back home, but after the first carol, the organist stopped playing and rushed down the aisle to where we were standing.
"You can't video here, there is a child in the choir. You must delete it immediately".
I looked around at my Mum and her old friends and I could sense her willing me not to bite back, so I said nothing. My wife just looked embarrassed and said sorry and put the phone back in her pocket, and the guy went back to his organ. We went back to our coffee and someone apologetically explained that videoing kids was illegal but the choirmaster had been very rude.
I was seething. It wasn't like she was offering 'sweeties' whilst carrying a basket full of puppies and we were in a bloody church! It says a lot about the guys' faith in God's ability to protect the choir in their own home, but more than that, it was just so absolutely sad.
When we went outside, I noticed the strange Christmas lights in the town centre looked like candies, and that's exactly what they were as the whole display had been paid for and erected by the town's largest employer; Haribo.
It dented my Christmas spirit slightly, but only until this afternoon in the pub when I watched Leeds come from 2-0 down to beat Villa 2-3 and go back to the top of the championship!
Two beers and a box of mint Matchmakers and life is good again :-)
A bit of a rollercoaster there, but christmas spirit seems to have won!
Have a lovely time with your family in the warm (and dry).
Keep safe 😊
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Thanks, I'm bearing up, although I haven't had the pleasure of my sister-in-law yet. That is always the acid test ;-)
You have a great holiday too :-)
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Is it really illegal to video kids in public now? 😲 So parents aren't allowed to video their own kids?
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There is no law against photographing children in public, although there is a moral panic about safeguarding.
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Absolutely right. It isn't illegal as long as photos are not deemed to be indecent and they have no legal rights to stop me or have me delete it. The only thing is if its private property where you can be asked to stop taking pictures and be removed as a trespasser! In schools, this is the way they can also legally enforce a ban on photos being taken. Anyway, it wasn't worth me kicking off as it could have caused problems. Its such a shame there is no common sense exercised in such situations and everyone, including my 35-year-old wife is a paedo unless proven innocent.
In schools, parents aren't allowed to film or take photos at school events without parents signing to say they give permission, or something similar. It all seems very complex and the usual case of taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut.
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Ah the dry sarcasm of a true brit, it always shows through :)
It's your intellectual property at this stage in the game. Even the cops cant make you delete it technically without a court involved. You probably shouldn't raise such things though if you want to keep the peace.
Matchmakers are all over the pound shops nowadays, at the amazing price of £1
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I wasn't going to raise a stink due to it being in church and the possible hassle it could have caused but I was really annoyed, especially as the guy was so rude to the wife and the implied insinuations. It's truly a ridiculous situation to be in.
And yes, thanks for the tip but I have already been in the pound shop for a dozen boxes of which 10 are in a box at the bottom of my pallet of books awaiting shipping back to Thailand!! I love the pound shop!
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No pound shops over there or no Matchmakers?
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Absolutely no mint matchmakers but we do have 20baht shops but they don't sell food. They sell absolute tat. Cheap plastic crap and chinese tools that break on first use. Poundland is like Harrods by comparison!
Food is always an issue to be honest, there are certain things I miss butmmostmof them I could buy but theyre hellishly expensive. My achilles heel is HP sauce which I buy at about 3.50 a bottle. Funnt thing is, I use i use it in my Thai cooking there as its nothing more than an expensive tamarind sauce so I throw it in a stir fry with pork and some red and spring onions and garlic and dried chilli and it suddenly becomes really authentic Thai!
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Wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas! I hope the remainder of your time with your family in in the UK is full of happy moments.
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What a lovely thing to say. Thank you, best wishes for Christmas and the New Year to you and yours too:-)
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