'Tis the season to be jolly...

The Christmas season has begun in earnest here in Karachi.

School finished on Tuesday after a very successful Inter house Bowling competition, the winner being the Green house, which is something of a departure from the norm, as apparently Red win everything and green always lose!

I spent Wednesday and Thursday at home and doing bits and pieces of shopping, including buying Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Still arriving here I have read all the Harry Potter novels in order and am half way through The Order of the Phoenix. I am also watching the films as I complete each of the novels. I am thoroughly enjoying the novels and find them hard to put down. I will be taking one of them to Egypt with me when I go, but of course we are now are the ‘thick’ end of the series which will make it very heavy to carry!!

Friday was Eid-uk-Ahza, which is also know as Bakra Eid here in Pakistan. This commemorates Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son and God’s provision of a lamb to replace him. It is celebrated by the sacrificing of a ‘bakra’ (Urdu for goat) or cow or camel, if you are very rich. Here, people are allowed to do this for themselves and so I placed myself under house arrest on Friday and remained inside, as the streets can literally flow with blood! Also there is the messy issue of ‘intestines’ which are left out ready for collection and apparently a camel contains a lot of inards!

Saturday was also a holiday, more in line with Boxing Day, so a few of the smaller shops were open, but all the big ones were closed and people were out on the beach. Now a word about the beach-it should be a definite bonus that we live 5 minutes drive form the beach and I would be wonderful to be able to walk on the sands and swim in the sea. Unfortunately, the beach at Clifton is not very clean, in fact it is very dirty and the advice is not to go into the water, which is a really shame. When we want to go to the beach we have to drive up the coast to Hawksbay or French Beach where the water is much much cleaner and the sands clear of rubbish.

I ended up driving alone the sea front yesterday because I had a problem starting my car. When I came to start it yesterday the battery was flat and it would not start. Thankfully, Farouk was able to give me a push and he knows how to ‘bump start’ the car. He really must despair of me and the car, because I never quite get the parking right on the drive. This is a matter of military precision as we have to get three cars into a very small space. This is perfectly possible but for the fact that yours truly is fairly useless when it comes to parking! After about 6 weeks of trying to get me to park in one spot, Farouk gave up and has come up with a different way of arranging things. Also apparently you can’t bump start a car in neutral!! Well how on earth was I supposed to know that, that’s why I am a member of Green Flag in the UK! I did at least know that I had to take it on a long drive to charge the battery up, so I’m not completely useless. (oi less of that I can hear you chuckling from here!)

Last night it was open house at Neil and Maroon’s (Neil is from the UK and Maroon is from Tanzania). We were there to celebrate Christmas and part of this was singing carols in the garden. Unfortunately, the keyboard wouldn’t work and someone was required to lead the singing!! Yep and you’ve guessed it dear reader the lot fell on me! Despite my protestations, Maroon was very insistent and so off we went. So if you are looking for surreal, you now should now have the image of me (lover of Christmas that I am) leading the singing of ‘Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer’, by candlelight, in the garden of a house in Pakistan and then to my surprise I received three separate compliments on my singing!

Last night also saw the rain I have experienced here in Pakistan and boy did it rain. There was also somewhere in the garden a metal tank or something that turned into a rather noisy drum. So at 5am I was wide awake and totally unable to get back to sleep because of the constant drumming. I really struggle to block out a noise, and something as simple as a dripping tap can get inside my head and stop me from sleeping. The rain has also returned this afternoon which means that the roads will become even more exciting to drive on, not only do we have the loony drivers and the potholes and demon road bumps, we now have flooding and concealed potholes to deal with as well!! All the fun of the fair!

This morning was also our Carol Service, which I was leading and which was recorded by Radio Pakistan, and will be broadcast at 12 noon on Christmas Eve to the nation. We were also due to have a Bonfire this evening with a meal, unfortunately, due to the rain it has had to be cancelled, and will now happen in the New Year.

Tomorrow we have Carols by Candlelight followed by Communion, and then on Christmas Day we have Communion at 9.30am. I then have two invitations for coffee and one for lunch (popular aren’t I). Each day I am here, I feel more and more at home here. Everything about my life here is wonderful, and I can’t get over it. I really do feel like the luckiest man alive and for the first time in a long time I do feel that this is the season to be jolly.

P.S. On a completely different note, if you haven't discovered Boston Legal or House yet give them a go. William Shatner in Boston Legal is hilarious and Hugh Laurie is great in House.