Thread:Chillilala/@comment-33611550-20191102174230/@comment-33611550-20191105163105

Not much now, we have my partner’s 91 year old Mum over and cook a small part of a turkey or get a 3-Bird roast which is turkey, goose and I think duck. We used to play Dominoes 12, AKA Mexican Train, when my partner’s Dad was still alive, but haven’t done so for a long time as his Mum wouldn’t remember how to play now.

Sadly, I’ve fallen out with my sister and haven’t spoken to her for 6 months now. The relationship wasn’t great even when it existed so I’m not that bothered really. It was always me who kept in touch, never her, and she’s the only one out of the 3 of us who had children, who now have children of their own.

In Kenya Christmas was going into our summer of January to March and we always spent Christmas on Diani Beach which is 22 miles north of Mombasa which is on an island like New York. The coast has now become derelict with hotels lying in waste but it was thriving when I left Kenya for good in 1992. English families had houses on Diani Beach and you could rent them for very cheap. My two aunts and uncles would also rent houses nearby so there were 8 of us cousins, with about a year’s difference going down from me to one of my cousins. My sister was the second youngest. We used to hang out together.

Our Christmas tree consisted of finding a palm frond and decorating it with bougainvillea and frangipani flowers.

The local fishermen and fruit vendors would bring fish and fruit right up to the door.

We were like fish in the water and very strong swimmers then. We used to body surf in quite high waves but not as high as those of Oz. I’ve always wondered what happens if you take one of those waves where you are surfing inside the curl of the wave, and something went wrong. Sometimes even the smaller waves we took would have a double current and you’d get sucked under and churned around like being in a washing machine and you had to hold your breath and hang on to your surf board or else it could clobber your head. However, we were tough and used to go straight back in again to catch another wave.

Do you know how to ski or will Snow teach you? Provided you are well wrapped up, you’ll have a wonderful time.

Hugs from the UK