Christmas holiday 22 Dec 2012 - 1 Jan 2013

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My parents-in-law, John & Mary Goddard offered us comfortable and relaxing Christmas holiday at their 10 star class country house in the heart of Suffolk. Like many of places in Britain, it was mostly raining over the Christmas period. We managed to do a bit of the village walk, strolling around Lavenham, one of the most attractive villages in Suffolk, during the damp Christmas. I spent a lot of time reading even till the midnight, and finished reading Hilary Mantel’s “Bring up the bodies” and Alexandre Dumas’ “The man in the iron mask”, both of which I started around my birthday. When I came back to work at Oxfam, I realised that it wasn’t only myself who was hooked on reading during the wet Christmas. There were massive volumes of fiction books sold during the Christmas, and my manager had to get a couple of volunteers fill the gaps before my arrival. I still had to fill the gaps on the shelves on the New Year’s Eve.



Both Mark and I were awoken by the bright sunshine on 1 January 2013. As planned, we headed to Green Park. Upon the arrival, the New Year’s parade seemed to be kicked in on the Piccadilly. We saw group of people wearing patriotic costumes, riding horses, and practising music. We followed the footpath towards the Buckingham Palace and St James Park. The grounds looked so soggy and wet that we didn’t feel like stepping on.



We entered St James Park from the Mall. There were a huge variety of waterfowls including African pelicans swimming in the lake or wandering around the banks. Pelicans looked settled and tame so that they didn’t seem to be afraid of people or being photographed. Sunny weather seemed to have encouraged lots of Londoners and tourists to walk through the parks. We ate cooked lunch at the restaurant overlooking the lake. It wasn’t terribly cold, and there were several customers eating at the table on the balcony. We chose to eat inside. I was relieved with my decision, as we saw a very greedy pigeon continuously eating bits of food remained on the tables and floor.



The footpath along the lake led us to Horseguard’s Parade. We went to the Mall and Whitehall. The New Year’s Parade was in progress, and hordes of the crowds were standing along the pavements or sitting on the roofs of the bus stops to see the parade. We were a little annoyed with the crowds, as we had to walk in the noisy environment until we reached the subway of Westminster station.



The noise seemed to have disappeared after arriving at the bankside. Tourists’ places, e.g. ticketing stores for boats, souvenir shops, were opened and sightseeing buses were running as well. We reached Victoria Embankment and strolled through the garden with some interesting statues, e. g. Robert Burns (Scottish Poet). There were a lot of tourists walking on the Hungerford Bridge between Embankment station to Southbank centre. I found a very unique Christmas tree decorated with colourful bicycles. I rode on one of the bikes and it allowed the light to flash on the tree. Most of the cafes, restaurants were opened in the southbank and I was pleased to be able to use the free toilet at Royal Festival Hall.



We enjoyed the Christmas Holiday and walk on the New Year’s Day.

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