Boxing Day

The Brits do make a big deal out of Christmas, but it's not exactly what I would call home. Going to Lee Abbey was a good idea, though. It worked out quite well. They have a warm community over there, much better than what we have at William Temple House. Plus, their "warden" isn't a Nazi as far as I can tell. On the way over, I passed the neighborhood Kabab shop (every neighborhood needs a kabab shop). I expected it to be closed for Christmas day, but not only was it open, it was packed! Do we really need to eat greasy, uncomfortably gut wrenching kababs on Christmas Day?


Now that Christmas is over, I have to say, I didn't have a bad Christmas. There were definitely many things I missed, but I did at least get to talk to part of the extended family which was necessary but not truly sufficient. That being said, here are a few things that I missed:


- The look of wonderment and awe on a certain little girl's face when she opens presents.
- Slaving over the oven and stove all day preparing a feast for all to enjoy.
- Lively conversation with family.
- Football and Basketball.
- Cranberry Bread (they don't have cranberries here, only North America).
- Christmas decorations and that "homey" feel that American's (or my family) seems to have squared away.


Today is "Boxing Day" in the UK. I'm wondering, is it Boxing Day because the Brits "box" up their trees and ornaments, or because they rush out to all the stores and buy box loads of discounted goods? I guess, that's one thing I'll never know. (The UK has two annual sales, one after Christmas, one in July - so I'm not exagerating here - they do buy loads of junk after Christmas.)

This morning, friends Eric and Lisa from New Jersey arrived. They took the overnight flight and got in around 800. It's a tough thing to do because when you arrive, you're ready to collapse, but to do so guarantees you'll have jet lag for days. Instead, the only solution is to stay active, get out and see the sights, and pass out in a heap around 8 pm. So that's what we did. We headed out to Knightsbridge hoping that Harrod's would be open. It was not. I guess Boxing Day for Harrod's starts tomorrow. We had planned on making a big loop through Harrod's, Hyde Park, St. James Park, Buckingham Palace, and Westminster, which is what we did after skipping Harrod's. Lots of walking and my feet are objecting, as usual. All in all a nice day.

They did get the rude welcome to London's finest public transportation, however. We caught the bus from Earl's Court (after waiting entirely too long) and had a smooth journey to Knightsbridge. Not so lucky were those at later stops that wanted on our bus. The driver decided that he was "full" and refused to let people on. If only I had my camera ready to see the look of disappointment and confusion on their faces when the bus drove away. Sadly, I was unprepared. Karma bit us in the hindquarters, however, as later in the day, we waited for a bus that never came at Victoria Station for about 45 minutes. Finally we gave up and took the tube (my preferred option, but they had purchased all day bus passes and I didn't want them to have to spend the extra pounds to get home).

Did I mention that London is back to being as cold as the 7th circle in Dante's Hell? Much of today was spent freezing our asses off. Tomorrow, we're going to the British Musuem. At least they have heat in there.