Categories: uncategorized
Date: 22 December 2005 22:41:26
I can't believe I forgot to post this bit of blogging. I am the proud wearer today of a sticker which declares "I met Santa at Havenstreet". If I had got the hang of this fancy linking business, I would provide a handy link to http://www.iwsteamrailway.co.uk/ but as it is, I won't. If you want to look, you can jolly well cut and paste ;)
It was an extraordinarily magical afternoon out, as it generally is. Christmas dinner in the station cafe - a delicious plateful, served by a past pupil from work! Thence to the grotto. It's a fantastic grotto, with numerous moving toys and spinning lights. I was disappointed that they were not doing the little bottles of sherry (one of my few alcoholic indulgences of the year) as we always take these home to use for Santa's tray. This year he'll have to do without sherry and we're planning to leave a flask of coffee instead - much safer not to drink and drive!. But, once reassured that I was indeed over eighteen (just), the kindly elf gave me a rather delicious cup of mulled wine. I declined a full cup, knowing full well that an inch of wine would be perfectly adequate to bring a rosy glow to my cheeks and my brain.
Then in to see The Man In Red. We're incredibly lucky on the Island that it's actually the REAL Father Christmas who comes to see us at Havenstreet, rather than the helpers who fill in for him in all the other grottos. You could tell he was the real thing because a) his beard was real, b) he recognised the boys from last year and knew which village they lived in and c) the gifts he gave the Smudgelets were precisely what they wanted: a set of cars for Smudgelet and a radio-pen and Beano diary for Tiddles. We remembered to let him know that we'd be at Auntie Mal's for Christmas and he made a special note.
Then, to round off our visit, a ride on the train. We try to go at least twice a year, always at Christmas and then sometimes when Thomas the Tank Engine comes to visit or when the Steam Festival is on. Funnily enough, I could use the steam railway to travel to work if I could afford it - it runs between our village and where I work! We still love to make oooooooooo-ing noises as we go through the tunnel, to wave at all the passers-by, to gaze out of the window to see the engine go past as it changes end, to spot the crocodiles in the swamp and gaze through the woods to spot a peasant or red squirrel. Pure magic.
Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a visit to see Santa.