Christmas Day

Early out of bed at first light. Was it to see if Santa had been? Excitement for the day? To put the turkey in the oven? No, none of the above. It was to get a good Skype connection before our families sat down to their lunch and before our American cousins hogged the bandwidth with their calls home. We called my parents and any friends who were athome to wish them a merry Christmas. We heard how cold it is this morning in Kenilworth and Todmorden, how bad the roads have been and the turkey to be eaten. Skype is great – if you haven't signed up for it yet, do and send us your contact address.
Although we thought yesterday was our Christmas lunch, we had a late invite to Inspiration Lady to share theirs.
Jackie cooked a turkey breast on the barbecue at the back of the boat because it was too hot to put the oven on in the galley and served it with stuffing and cranbery sauce, sprouts, swede and potatoes. I'd brought a fruit cake from the supermarket for pudding. However, only David could manage a slice, the rest of us were too full.

If we had one we could have spent the evening in front of the telly watching repeats of the Morecambe & Wise Christmas special and Dad's Army. Instead we hooked up with Jack, Chena and Will and the seven of us walked in to the Old Town. The town was alive and partying. There were street entertainers, dancers, mime, jugglers. The restaurants and bars were open and people sitting at the tables outside enjoying the evening. The Cathedral doors were wide open and we could hear a string quartet playing Jingle Bells and lots of people milling around. At the altar the priest was standing with a small group all dressed in white. It was a wedding. The bride pulled up in a horse drawn carriage and up the aisle to Handel's wedding march. We left the wedding and carried on walking and soaking up the atmosphere.
When our feet were tired we stopped for a drink at a bar in one of the squares. It was crowded with families and young people, more street entertainers and a small market selling trinkets and what we really noticed was that there wasn't one drunk person, no fighting, no graffiti and no one smoking. If Colombians can behave so well, why can't Brits? Walking home in the warm night air we reflected on how much we'd enjoyed our Christmas night – we hadn't expected much and were rewarded with many delights. Last year we were in Dominican Republic, this year Columbia. Where will we be in 2010?