December brought us around 2 weeks of bitterly cold weather with temperatures down to -6C and some days it didn’t rise above zero.  This is very unusual for Seaton as we are on the coast but it wasn’t as cold as some parts of the UK where it dropped to -15C.

It was now time to get into the spirit of Christmas.  The Gateway had asked us to help with a children’s seasonal activity day as well as promoting the pantomime which was scheduled the week before Christmas.  We teamed up with Liz and Graham from the gym and U3A to dress up as pantomime characters and, of course, Graham and Neil were ugly sisters, Liz played The Fairy Godmother and Cheryl was Principal Boy. 

Our initial job was to welcome the children to the entertainment, craft tables, and meeting Father Christmas before they sat down to watch a Christmas Film.  We encouraged a lot of silly photo opportunities for the kids and their families as well as having some ‘he’s behind you’ fun.   Then we set off for a wander through the town to hand out flyers for the panto.  We went into many of the businesses to jointly promote them and  The Gateway’s Pantomime  by getting them to take pictures of us and post the crazy pictures on their social media pages.  Of course we did find time to pop into a couple of hostelries for some well earned refreshments.  We definitely encouraged some additional ticket sales with our silly antics and it was a great way to spend an afternoon. 

Ever since we moved here, we have had at least one pheasant and sometimes two take up residence in the garden over the winter and spring.  Neil has been trying desperately hard to get them to be tame enough to feed from his hand.  Well, his patience paid off and Ringo finally took food from his hand and now each time he feeds him Neil takes just s few moments to keep him happy to feed from his palm.   

By now we were seriously into party mode.  Volunteering behind the bar at The Gateway for a matinee of The Nutcracker from The Royal Ballet, a Gateway volunteers beer and buffet evening, a Marlpit Lane Social Club Christmas Dinner at The Shed, dinner at our new Thai Restaurant with Eric Laila and a U3A wine circle Christmas lunch which got extended with Graham and Liz back at ours – and all this was in one week!  This was followed by a trip to Champneys for Cheryl and the girls whilst Neil had some time with his grandson. 

We had a brief visit back to Seaton when we managed a trip to The Gateway to see Dick Whittington, ‘oh yes we did’!  We love pantomime and it’s slapstick humour and the entire show of about 2hrs was put on by just 5 actors.  They worked really hard and made us laugh so much especially the Panto Dame who just happened to be a very tall Scotsman with fabulous outfits, drag queen make up and a booming voice.  As usual with panto the kids got really involved especially the little girl behind us who was frantically shouting ‘he’s behind you’, it was fantastic.    

We were soon back on the road to travel to June’s for Christmas.  Cheryl had started with a slight cough and cold a couple of days before we left but it didn’t bother her too much.  Neil, however, succumbed on Christmas Day of all days.  He was very unwell and spent most of the day in bed.  Still, it was great to see Anna looking so radiant and having such a good time.  Lisa was over from Oz with Callum and Jack so it was a very festive and loud Christmas Day which meant that whilst Neil was in bed feeling grotty he didn’t get much sleep. 

We drove back on Boxing Day and started back at the gym the following day.  By now we were on countdown for travelling to Goa and making sure that all the bins had been emptied, the fridge and freezer down to a minimum, the Christmas decorations packed away and the final batch of washing ready for packing. 

Just a few days before the end of year we booked a trip to cross off The Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis off both of our bucket lists.  We’re taking a 12 night cruise from Southampton with P&O later in the year and will spend Cheryl’s birthday in November 2023 taking in the Norwegian fjords.  It’s a long time off but as we will be crossing the North Sea during the winter we decided to go for it so that we could book a cabin with balcony midships to minimise the risk of Cheryl being sea sick. New Year’s Eve was spent with Marlpit Lane Social Club plus lots of friends from the gym at The Gateway.  We saw in the new year to a 12 piece big band who played two long sessions interspersed with disco and a buffet to get us in the mood.  It was a great night and by the end of the evening everyone was dancing and singing.  We even had a good old fashioned conga line lead by a Scottish friend with his kilt swinging. Neighbour Maureen wasn’t impressed with her Happy New Year kiss from Neil as he was a tad sweaty after all the dancing! 

New Year’s Day was Pat’s birthday and everyone was invited around for drinks and finger food in the afternoon.  It was a chance for us all to see her brand new kitchen and building alterations, wow, what a difference it made.  It was the usual jovial event with some fine food and wine. Monday brought us yet another social event, this time to Lisa and Sean’s house for drinks and food.  We know Lisa from the gym and also she works the check outs at Tesco one day a week for some extra money but also to help keep her brain in gear.   

Finally with all the partying done it’s time for us to set off for Goa.  As usual our trip to London is messed up with train strikes again so we’ve had to resort to taking another expensive taxi to the outskirts of London to enable us to catch the tube to get to Alex & Freddy’s house.  This time we will be catching the newly fully opened Elizabeth Line for the first time to spend a couple of days cuddling Luke and catching up with the boys before our flight to sunshine, 30C, Kingfisher beer, lots of friends behaving badly and delicious food.   It’s been over 3 years and we are so looking forward to it.   More to follow when we’ve settled in Benaulim.