Our first Christmas in Bristol

Well I did it. I managed to get an English bug two days before the end of work and have coughed and sneezed my way through Christmas and Boxing day to the next weekend. The doc said that it could last a month - and what did I expect coming to a country with 60 million people living in one island. Where was that English sympathy? At least the cough medicine worked so should be grateful for some things from the National Health Service - and of course it is free if you don't count the tax you pay. The few days I was in bed before Christmas were sunny but icy. As I lay in the bedroom in the sun I noticed that our car windows had continued to remain icy all through the day and so was slightly sympathetic when Harry came home from work saying it was cold out there - about 2 degrees at 4.00. One day when I was feeling not too bad we went for a short walk around where we live. Rugby was on (Bristol is sitting top equal on the Heineken Cup ladder) and so we walked with lots of fans along a number of streets. We weren't really dressed for 2 hours sitting in the cold so didn't go into the stadium but will one day. Our walk wasn't through a very exciting part really (the houses were pre/post war prefabs and apparently are being demolished due to anti social behaviour). They are little one bedroom prefabs with a little garden etc more than what so many people have in Bristol. Went to the new swimming pool - nice complex, but again realised that this is one of probably only 2 swimming pools in Bristol that is available for public use compared to how many we have in Wellington - our children seem to have so many more opportunities.

Mike and Becks arrived on Christmas Eve and that cheered me up no end. It was somehow very comforting to have familiar voices around the house when I wasn't feeling too good. We ate alot over the next 3 days and managed to show them a bit of the city between raindrops. On Christmas day Haz acted as tour guide while I spent the afternoon in bed. They went to the floating dock and suspension bridge and Harry surprised himself on how much he knew about Brunel and the river etc and how he could get to places now without getting lost. Becks had a great time in Bangkok and we enjoyed looking at her photos (got some nice suits made there too) and Michael talked about his trip to Munich, his visit to see Manuel and the upcoming New Years Eve party (not sure I really want to know the details). Christmas evening we played cards and 'trivial pursuit' with chocolates (a birthday present for Harry). With questions like 'What bar did Mary meet Frederick in?' and 'What colour was Christopher Columbus's hair?' it is hardly surprising we took a long time to win a chocolate each!!!

Boxing Day - Mike wanted to see Stonehenge. Becks spent her 12th birthday there. Still a fascinating sight the second time round for us. It seems to be a place where there will always be people no matter what the weather - in some ways its the intrigue for me of 'why is it really there'. We couldn't resist showing Mike and Becks Avebury as well - not quite as spectacular stone wise but covers a rather larger area with the little village inside. Mike amused himself with taking a video and providing a commentary while we walked around (it is on his facebook if anyone is interested interested)


Day three of Mike and Becks visit was a quiet day, Becks went to see some relatives at the zoo (they live in Bath but were showing some littlies the animals) and we took Mike for a bit more a tiki tour. It was sad waving goodbye to them but we got ourselves busy and went home to open our christmas presents from New Zealand (I didn't want to open them till I felt better and could enjoy them) and it was good timing as it helped us to occupy those first few minutes when we realised some special people had gone.

Anyway this Christmas holiday we learnt a few things. English spent £84 million online on Christmas Day alone. Harrods sold £10,000 worth of goods every minute in the first hour of the boxing day sales. We washed our new dark brown sheets with towels, pillow cases, tops and socks and now everything except the sheets are mauve!