Tuesday 25th December 2018

Merry Christmas everyone! Well it's not a white one here but a very windy one instead, and that's nothing to do with the sprouts. I'm just waiting for the first spirals of smoke from my neighbour's chimney, signalling that she's up and about so I can go and wish her 'Vesela Koleda' and then it's time to wrap up warm and take the hounds on their much anticipated extra long Christmas walk.

On Saturday there was a Christmas concert in the village hall, put on by some of the children who used to attend school here. First there was the story of the Snow Queen, told through a mixture of acting and dance, and then they performed some traditional folk dances. The audience was full of children anticipating the arrival of Father Christmas, and eagerly eyeing the huge stack of presents under the tree, wondering which would be theirs. It seems traditional over here that parents stash a secret pressie under the tree, clearly labelled with their child's name, which Santa then hands out accompanied by 'Snezhanka' a kind of snowy fairy princess. I think she has her origins in Russian tradition where there was no Father Christmas but rather a Grandfather Frost and his daughter Snezhanka, but since the fall of communism here eastern and western traditions have merged.

As the time for presents arrived the children were encouraged to chant for Father Christmas, but several minutes went by and he still hadn't made an appearance. The chanting was on the verge of changing tone from excited childish anticipation to angry mob riot, when someone suggested maybe he'd been stopped by the police for speeding which made the children laugh. Luckily he arrived soon after and took his place up on stage, and one by one the children were called up and given their rather substantial bags of gifts. Bravo Dyado Koleda!

Jump forward several hours as it's now evening.

I popped round to see Baba Ivanka who seemed very pleased with the Christmas card and the wreath I made her (Christmas, not funeral) which is now hanging over the doorway to her living room. As always she panics that she hasn't got me anything, despite my protests that she gives me things all year round, so went out into the pantry to find something. I returned home with a bag of dried fruits which are traditional seasonal fare, and a big bottle of homemade wine. Normally the wine is one step away from vinegar, but this variety looked much paler in colour, and was a special kind, she told me, made with 'tok' which makes no sense to me as I understand tok to mean electricity. Unless this is some kind of wild stormy night Frankenstein creation. Anyway, to get into the festive spirit (literally) I poured us both a little glass, and do you know it's actually very tasty. On returning home I decanted it into glass bottles and ready for storage and steady consumption. Cheers Baba!

Christmas alone is a rather miserable affair, especially as the TV ads are fully of jolly holly families and crowds of friends all merrily partying, but luckily for me the neighbour next door but one is also on his own this year and was keen to come along on the dog walk. So this afternoon we set out with two dogs apiece to do the walk which heads down to the river Yantra and then returns via the forest at the top of the village. Once we were down in the valley it was remarkably sheltered, and we enjoyed quite a lot of sunshine en route. Back home the animals were all fed and watered and then we settled down to watch a film. Being sci-fi fans I chose 'Arrival' which was good if a little confusing, so if anyone else has seen it maybe you can enlighten me - were all the scenes with the little girl flash forwards brought on by heptapod language?? Ooops, should have said spoiler alert at the start for anyone who hasn't yet seen it.

Tomorrow I'm looking forward to lunch with a friend followed by a game of Upwords which I haven't played in years, but which my friend has never played, hopefully giving me an edge. Competitive much? Oh, hell yeah!