Awake early and it's sunny. Christmas mass is full, though probably not as full as midnight mass last night. The nativity scene - a large, sprawling amalgam of several crib sets of differing scales, which somehow works - has been moved to a front corner. Is this to keep the cattle out of the hands ofthe small boy who used to take them to play with during mass? The usual enthusiastic Philippino choir, and the standard Christmas carols with a slight twist. The Philippino pronunciation never quite anticipates slurred joining of syllables - as in "th'incarnate deity" - leading to lines of music ending before all of the words have been fitted in. However, a line with "Emanuel" in it has the opposite problem. Every Philippino knows that this is three syllables, pronounced Spanish style as "E-Manuel" - thus the words finish before the melody. But iti's all heart - and pretty good melody too.
Afternoon walk along the waterfront. What we first take to be the three ships of Christmas song at anchor turns out to be a single three masted ship broadside at a distance. Some families and tourists, but fewer than most years. The man roasting chestnuts and corn on the cob to order is doing business, but an elaborate toy display attracts little attention. The crowds haven't moved to the square by the Eleonora, either. It has a giant christmas tree sheltering a large and remarkably ugly nativity scene - still always a creche to the Quebecker in me, but that's not a usage the Anglo world seems to recognise. But no crowds, no people at all.
J does a chicken whole in the large pot and makes very nice gravy, so a lovely little Christmas dinner a deux, with surprisingl good cabernet. Followed by Love, Actually on the Dubai chanel. I've seen it before, though J says he hasn't, but I'm a Hugh Grant fan. Interesting ads accompanying it, Middle East style: garnier cream makes your skin two degrees lighter.
The other Christmas treat acquired yesterday at the charity shop across the back road is Alan Bennett's novella, The Uncommon Reader - just the right length for a little gem of a Christmas read.
JAWORSKI TRAVELS