Family Christmas
For the first time since 2009 I spent Christmas in Austria with my family, and Mark came along for the ride.
The trip itself was a bit tedious this time, as our flight was delayed by nearly two hours, but we coped.
We arrived very late and fell straight into bed. As usual our first night wasn't very restful as my old mattress seems very hard and uncomfortable in hindsight. (Possibly a sign of my increased age.) I've also noticed that my brain always seems to go particularly nuts during my visits in terms of what happens in my dreams.
My home district is changing more and more every time I re-visit. This time the biggest revelation was that the supermarket just across the road that has been there pretty much all my life had closed down. Fortunately it reopened only a few metres down the road in a new building with more floorspace, so it's still convenient for my mother to get to if not more so (since they have a bigger selection now) but it still felt very weird.
In the afternoon Mark and I went to buy a Christmas tree, also the first one for me and my Mum in many years (as she stopped getting them after I moved). The place where we bought it, a little bit down the road, has also changed immensely. A whole load of new blocks of flats were completed there recently, creating several new side streets in the process as well as completely transforming that particular corner of the neighbourhood. It felt very alien.
In the evening my Mum got the bad news that one of our neighbours, the mother of my childhood best friend, had died from an embolysm. For me it had obviously been a long time since I'd last seen her, but since she often oversaw me and my friend playing, the news still made me feel quite somber. At the same time I was all the more glad that we were there so my Mum at least wouldn't be sitting in the flat all alone with yet more news about the death of a friend (it's been a bad year for her in that regard).
Fortunately the next day brought us in contact with some new life, as Chrisi visited with her little baby boy (yes, it was a boy after all) Philipp. We spent some time sitting around him and chatting, and he seemed quite happy and cheerful throughout. "A beginner's model" as Chrisi said.
In the evening Mark and I went to the Christkindlmarkt in the inner city and admired the local light displays.
Christmas Eve started with my Mum and me getting into an argument (family tradition?) because I had misunderstood her plans for the day, but fortunately we managed to put it to rest quickly. Mark and I passed the afternoon lazily by watching some episodes of Person of Interest on his laptop. (It seems that the only time we get to watch TV together is when we're abroad.)
The family get-together in the evening was peaceful enough, if slightly awkward at times, as these things always get when my mother and my brother talk past each other. We had British Christmas pudding for dessert, as Mark had insisted on buying some at the airport or else "it wouldn't feel like Christmas".
On Christmas Day we paid a visit to the cemetery. It was very foggy so that we couldn't see very far. I also woke up with a major muscle ache on the left side of my jaw, which made it painful to eat. It's still not fully gone several days later, and like my mysterious back ache in summer I couldn't make out any obvious reason for it.
The trip back on Boxing Day was smooth, fortunately. While booking the flights I had made the mistake of not realising that there are still no trains running in England on the 26th, so I'd had to also book a taxi to take us back home. Fortunately that all went well, though there was a bit of confusion immediately after landing as they had deposited us at the North instead of the South terminal with no prior notice.
Now I look forward to another week of holiday at home!
The trip itself was a bit tedious this time, as our flight was delayed by nearly two hours, but we coped.
We arrived very late and fell straight into bed. As usual our first night wasn't very restful as my old mattress seems very hard and uncomfortable in hindsight. (Possibly a sign of my increased age.) I've also noticed that my brain always seems to go particularly nuts during my visits in terms of what happens in my dreams.
My home district is changing more and more every time I re-visit. This time the biggest revelation was that the supermarket just across the road that has been there pretty much all my life had closed down. Fortunately it reopened only a few metres down the road in a new building with more floorspace, so it's still convenient for my mother to get to if not more so (since they have a bigger selection now) but it still felt very weird.
In the afternoon Mark and I went to buy a Christmas tree, also the first one for me and my Mum in many years (as she stopped getting them after I moved). The place where we bought it, a little bit down the road, has also changed immensely. A whole load of new blocks of flats were completed there recently, creating several new side streets in the process as well as completely transforming that particular corner of the neighbourhood. It felt very alien.
In the evening my Mum got the bad news that one of our neighbours, the mother of my childhood best friend, had died from an embolysm. For me it had obviously been a long time since I'd last seen her, but since she often oversaw me and my friend playing, the news still made me feel quite somber. At the same time I was all the more glad that we were there so my Mum at least wouldn't be sitting in the flat all alone with yet more news about the death of a friend (it's been a bad year for her in that regard).
Fortunately the next day brought us in contact with some new life, as Chrisi visited with her little baby boy (yes, it was a boy after all) Philipp. We spent some time sitting around him and chatting, and he seemed quite happy and cheerful throughout. "A beginner's model" as Chrisi said.
In the evening Mark and I went to the Christkindlmarkt in the inner city and admired the local light displays.
Christmas Eve started with my Mum and me getting into an argument (family tradition?) because I had misunderstood her plans for the day, but fortunately we managed to put it to rest quickly. Mark and I passed the afternoon lazily by watching some episodes of Person of Interest on his laptop. (It seems that the only time we get to watch TV together is when we're abroad.)
The family get-together in the evening was peaceful enough, if slightly awkward at times, as these things always get when my mother and my brother talk past each other. We had British Christmas pudding for dessert, as Mark had insisted on buying some at the airport or else "it wouldn't feel like Christmas".
On Christmas Day we paid a visit to the cemetery. It was very foggy so that we couldn't see very far. I also woke up with a major muscle ache on the left side of my jaw, which made it painful to eat. It's still not fully gone several days later, and like my mysterious back ache in summer I couldn't make out any obvious reason for it.
The trip back on Boxing Day was smooth, fortunately. While booking the flights I had made the mistake of not realising that there are still no trains running in England on the 26th, so I'd had to also book a taxi to take us back home. Fortunately that all went well, though there was a bit of confusion immediately after landing as they had deposited us at the North instead of the South terminal with no prior notice.
Now I look forward to another week of holiday at home!