Christmas in Canga

Well, if I'm to meet my goal of having a blog at least once a month, I'd better get cracking on December!

Life hasn't slowed down noticably in the last few weeks, although I suppose I could have made an effort.... whilst I was in Brisbane.  That was definitely a highlight, it had been nearly 2 years since I was last in Australia and exactly 5 since I was last home in Brisbane.  And I had a fantastic time catching up with people that I hadn't seen in ages, as well as just lazing around the pool, going for walks, reading a book etc.  And lots and lots of sleep.  Was a bit dissapointed in the weather though, apparently this was the first November in ages without a day over 30.

Then it was back to Mossley.  Trying to pack light for Brisbane in November, I'd just taken a light jacket - my Manchester summer jacket.  Yeah, not really thinking ahead there was I?  Because in three weeks Manchester had gone from bearable to frozen.... I could have skiied from the train station to my front door.  Still, all good, back home for a few days to meet my new (second) lodger, repack, catch up with a few friends and then it was off to Paris.

Paris in the snow was quite pretty, although the office is in the rather souless new (comparatively) business district of La Defense.  Absolutely freezing at night though with a cold breeze.  Still, I had a very nice time.

Then back to Canga again.  So, I lost and gained 40 degrees twice in 2 weeks!

Canga for Christmas was great fun.  There weren't very many people here, but it was a nice atmosphere anyway.  I went to my first ever Christmas midnight mass in the village, which was just awesome - the singing was superb. I  wish I'd taken a camera.  It wasn't a real church (they don't have one) but we had chairs outside someone's house.  The congragation was embarrassingly happy that we were there.

Then a game of cricket for xmas day itself (I'm still a bit sore, although I did manage to score a few runs.... we won't mention that other game of cricket going on at the moment) with the lighting pack running the beer fridge and the music.  All good :)

Now settling in to solve the week's problems before we do it all again for New Years!  A few more people coming back to camp this week, so it might be a little messy.  I've had my african shirt made up so I will have to make sure there's a camera this time.