Boxing day tiredness

We slept in late this morning and breakfasted slowly. Owain and I went for a walk in the park, ending up at Coffee #1, where Clare Anto and Rhiannon were meeting school friends Emma and Mandy with both their mothers. I stopped and chatted for a while over coffee and then returned home for a snack lunch of turkey leftovers. The girls walked into town to see the Christmas illuminations, then returned for tea and delicious Christmas cake made by Kath. 

Then Owain, Anto and I walked down to Blackweir before the sun set, and returned in time for a supper, of salmon and cold turkey rounded off by singing 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' together, struggling to remember all the verses and needing to resort to the internet for prompts. Kath and Anto talked about their Australian trip which starts in a couple of days time. After a couple of family festive days, that's where their attention is focused now, with a couple of reunions with friends lined up in Oz and south east Asian stopovers in Singapore and Dubai lined up coming and going. 

We watched a ridiculous cartoon fantasy sequel to the Aardman comedy 'Chicken Run', called 'Dawn of the Nugget' after supper. An over long satirical take on the fast food industry, then a Blackadder Christmas special, featuring Rowan Atkinson and a host of celebrity entertainers, in a rather unpleasant satire on the dickensian 'Christmas Carol' story. Neither of these movies were would be my entertainment choice, but I wasn't that interested in watching telly. I think we were all relaxing and starting to feel that tiredness that seeps out when you're no longer running to a work or travel schedule. Interesting to hear on the news that John Lewis and M&S haven't opened for Boxing Day sales, preferring to give their staff time off. 

There's no sign of the Israeli military relaxing the pressure on Gaza however, A hundred air strikes today and heaven knows how many more deaths. Bethlehem and other holy places in Jerusalem and the West Bank shut to visitors, but it didn't stop the inhabitants turning up for Midnight Mass. The Roman Catholic church of St Catherine is reported to have welcomed five thousand worshippers of all religious traditions, some are said to have travelled from other parts of the West Bank, braving the check points and security cordons for a common act of witness to what really matters to them all, unity in peace and dignity as God's people in the very place God's Son arrived to dwell among us.