travelling with laughter

Though i was far from that scene, instead i had a roaring hot sun, the sea close by and a variety of friends that i had met along my travels and been reunited with to set off the festivities quite perfectly. I must admit that it did feel slightly odd being in Pondicherry, India instead of nippy Macclesfield wrapped up in sweaters with my mum and sister. Luckily i was in good company and each and everyone of them made my Christmas wonderful, full of laughs, silly games and of course the odd tiple or two!

In fact i was doubly lucky as i actually got two Christmas days. Though the reason why wasn't the best at all, two of the eight of us poor Pam and Rachel got a nasty dose of sickness rendering them bed ridden on Christmas day, so we planned to do it all again on Boxing day, it would officially be named 'Christmas day take two'!

"And the bells are ringing out for Chistmas day".
On the morning of the 25th Sharon, Ant and i woke up to find stockings at the end of our beds, 'Merry Christmas love Santa and Rudolph' it read. How they had found us i have yet to establish, we must have all been very good this year. Hastily opening them we found a delicous selection of chocolates and of course a traditional satsuma...what a lovely way to start the day! Maureen, Steve, Sharon, Ant and i exchanged Christmas hugs and kisses and perched ourselves outside on the porch, coffees in hand, ciggies at the ready, it seemed like the smokers corner had become a popular hang out like the kitchen at a party. We shared our gifts and headed to the beachfront for brunch, it was a scorcher of a day and even though it was boiling, there were still Santas parading along the sea front fully dressed up even wearing 'authentic' very scary masks. It certainly was different!

We spent the day entertaining ourselves, Sharon and i making home movies, trying to sing Christmas songs and remember all of the words, la la la-ing it when we weren't sure, dancing to jingle bells with Sharon and i doing the jingle bit by waggling our bracelets on our wrists whilst Ant sang into a makeshift microphone. It was all very amusing..... Later on in the afternoon Ant and i went in search for a room, sadly Maureen and Steve were leaving us on the 27th and we were going to be homeless once again, so taking on the nativity play in a real sense we walked around repeatidly getting a "No room at the inn" response. It seemed like the world and his wife had descended into Pondicherry. Christmas dinner approaching we abandoned our mission leaving it for another day and met everyone at a local restaurant.

Needless to say the traditional lunch wasn't on the menu so instead i opted for aubergine and cheese, it was very good and what made it even better was the two glasses of wine i treated myself with. What a treat! We did have a giggle and a half at the table especially when the story of the previous night was regaled. As Maureen, Steve and Ant had returned from midnight mass they had passed as Maureen described " a man getting comfy under his blanket", however on closer inspection it became clear that there were two of them under there getting cosy.. right outside the apartment...lovely! After our meal we headed back to the apartment, picking up some booze on route and merrily played cards and games whist singing along with a newly purchased Christmas cd.

"Oh i wish it could be Christmas every day"
'Christmas day take two' and we made our way over to Andrew and Rachels, five of us cramming into tuk tuk with a dozen balloons as well for brunch, opened our secret santas and continued on with the festivities. Sharon and i had our own little secret to share, we had bought everyone a silly gift, a mask! We did look a right state, Father Christmas alongside a lion and a Tely tubby....the only problem being was that the eye holes were too far apart to see and some didn't have any aur hole so you just ended up getting steamed up and seating underneath. Needless to say they stayed on long enough for photos, which we were all smiling for....ridiculous when you couldn't even see our mouths and then were flung off! We had a lovely day together, more games, food and sillyness, it really reminded me of home.In the evening Ant, Sharon and i were the entertainment...we sang, danced and finally showed our rendition of the navity story using balloons as props, i bet you can imagine how good that was! Nothing like totally embarressing yourself!All in all though i was really glad that i had ventured south to spend it with good friends.

It was sad to see Maureen and Steve leave, they had become like surrogate family and were my faithful smoking buddies. So it left us back down to six, but not for long as John (met in Tibet and again in Nepal) made the trek from Goa to jion us for the New Year. It wasn't the drunken party that i am used to, instead we had beers and bacardi sitting cross legged on the floor eating pizza out of a box and listening to music. We then headed down to the seafront passing locals producing some amazing art work using powdered paint, decorations and designs galore all to celebrate the New Year. What greeted us at the sea front was more than i think we had all imagined, huge cowds of men gathered, the odd sprinkling of women, cheering and noise, hand shaking and exclamations of Happy new yaer even though we weren't even there yet. It was quite intimidating, so we stuck together tight as a group. It seemed we weren't too get the big ben countdown, instead we relied on Rachels watch, 10, 9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1..HAPPY NEW YEAR! Hugs and kisses were shared between us and then pure madness...a surge of Indian men raced towards us, hands out streched to wish us well but it seemed that wasn't what they all wished for as both Rachel and Sharon got groped in the process. Absolute nightmare. We quickly extracted ourselves from the crowds and headed back to safety. Not the best way to bring in the new year....

Once we had reached a quiet area we grouped together, holding hands and sang 'Auld Lang Syne'....it just had to be done. Later reaching the apartment we chatted fro a while before we all gave in and went to bed. It was certainly a night to remembwe, at least this year i had managed not to burst into tears and not drink a copious amount of alcohol.....this was one year when i would be waking up without a hangover!

So Christmas done, the new year brought in, whats next?.....Onward planning, maybe a beach or two? Being away from home was very different, i did miss everyone immensely and i though of you all. So i wish you all a very happy new year and may the year 2008 bring you lots of happiness!