Auntie Did has just become a 'European Liaison', or something. Anyway, she's being paid to schmooze in the Old World. So what do you do with a weekend off in Brussels? Why, it's just six hours from the charming hypermarchés of central France!
Our poor Dickensian heroes were debating how seriously to tackle Christmas this year. They were even wondering whether to bother investing in a Christmas tree. Suddenly, with a glissando of chimes, Auntie Did swooshes in from magical Belgium and, with additional financial support from the Fairy Grandmother, furnishes them with a wondrous, marvellous, miraculous Christmas tree!
No, no, the other Christmas tree!!
Aww... With Tinkerbull, the tiresomely enthusiastic seasonal bovine.
So rather than take Did in our new car through the picturesque mountains of the Auvergne, we took her to two -- yes two -- hypermarchés in the fantastical heavy commercial districts of Lempdes and Le Brezet.
We'd been past the Marché St. Pierre in the old town with Jinu in the morning, but the dreary anorexic excuses for festivity that Mother Nature was offering us left us unispired. By comparison, the artificial conifers of the Retail Kingdom of Polymers were plump and voluptuous, right down to the imitation pine cones. And what variety! We were touched by the beauty of the simulated frosts. We were enthralled by the neo-industrial Orwellian anthracite grey tree, which would have been quite the statement decorated in silver tinsel and blanching neon lights. But of course, in the end, we went classic.
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| Man triumphs over Nature, with easy-to-follow assembly. |
Having adorned the dwelling, Auntie Did was not to stop there. The Clermont-Ferrand Christmas lights were fired up on Saturday evening, and Auntie Did took us there in her magical #9 bus. Sure it was cold and blowing a gale, with intermittent showers, but did that stop Auntie Did from taking us up in the Ferris Wheel? Rhetorical question, fool!!
I'm missing photographic evidence, though. You'll have to imagine us dangling fifteen storeys up in the gondola, with Jinu's pushbike and three screaming eleven-year olds on board, cross-winds spraying us in the face with a fine mist of drizzle, Jinu as still and silent as an undertaker. Image-wise all you get are mood-telling shots from Auntie Did's Blackberry down below.
The other big thing, of course, was for Auntie Did and Ian to meet. He was her youngest nephew to date -- she didn't meet Jinu till he was seven months. He smiled his coy smile at her, and was magically ungrizzly while supine in her presence for about half an hour. That's about twenty-five minutes more ungrizzliness than he can typically muster. Then he demanded pickles.
Hooray for Auntie Did!!
4 comments:
Hooray indeed! It's hard to work out who was having more fun.
I want to do it all over again! BTW, the shot of me and Jinu (looking excited) was before the ferris wheel. The shot of Bob and Jinu (looking dazed and bewildered) was _after_ the ferris wheel. Not entirely sure he enjoyed it, but I had a blast!
Merry Christmas!
I love the French yule log cake. Did you have one? Stands out in my memory from my only Christmas in France. Of course, I was very young, and pretty much all my memories from back then relate to sweet food.
The gold bauble ear-ring is phenomenal. Is it for real?
Also, I think unispired should be a word. Perhaps it could describe the rhinosaurus.
what a beautiful post. must really set up a notification or something on this blog.
agree on unispired - makes me think of a one wheeled bike that lost its seat though....
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