Anchors aweigh!!!
Now let's see here...oh i see it's a volcanically active zone....hmmm...
...and Kuta Beach may possibly be avoided with all those Mat Sallehs there as well....
Ah ha Johnny Depp, let me see what's behind your eye...
I see there be bounty...
...in the form of chocolate...
Peter left for the UNFCCC - the climate change negotiations. Ten years ago when you told people about it they looked at you as if you wee Chicken Little. Who's chicken now eh? Anyhow, last night after he took Oisin to Portglenone to see Santa - an experience which i am told has to be experienced to be appreciated - he packed, with assistance from Ghin who woke up, as if to have some time of his own with daddy as well. After perusing the guide the climcate change village in Bali, he attacked the somewhat unlikely Pirates of the Carribean advent calendar which he now know has chocolates in it. You'd think that at the very least they'd try and make the chocolate piratically themed if it is going to not only look so unseasonal on the outside but taste like yucks as well, but no. It's all the same Christams nonsense behind each advent calendar, be it Spiderman 3, Lassie or Strictly Come Dancing. Oisin however told Peter that he should take the calendar with him, in case he got hungry on the way there. It broke my heart really, having him so thoughtful. But i also had to laugh, he clearly had inherited that from my mother. Everywhere we went, my mother used to stock up on food in the car.
Occassionally the tackiness of Christmas will penetrate our defenses. For instance, Oisin was given a Cadbury's selection box of their most popular sweets. Now if you've ever eaten a Cadbury's chocolate then you will know how awful it is. It is inconceiveable to me, the food snob, that anyone would for our money while standing in line in a petrol station for any of these hediously packaged sucrose loaded slabs, but there you have it. And to add insult to injury, they put it into a large cardboard box which kills trees and adds to landfill for no good reason at all. You know, it's the WASTE that i object to. If you are going to use money, time, calories and children's expectations to make some mooolah, that let it at least be well made and tastefully done. No, not a chance. Rubbish. Rubbish, rubbish, rubbish. And this is where being in the Steiner school become a good idea. We are actually sheilded from the tackiest aspects of Christmas. Their Craft Fair is the most wonderful celebration of the season. And all the lead up to it - St Michael's, St Martin, Advent Garden, St Nicholas, and then the Advent Festival itself is all genuine and utterly unmaterialistic. In fact i'd go so far as to say that it's downright spiritual.
So, begins, my three week sojourn into mid winter with two children and Peter in Bali. I did get a bit stressed out thinking about it yesterday. It is a while, but you know, Oisin is so grown up and Ghin is so cute now, that three weeks will pass without us noticing. Famous last words. Already the calendar over the next week is full with parties, invitations and work with the school website. However, we'll see how we cope. It will be interesting, even to me.
