p’s request was to do nothing but hang out today. we went for a walk through the fields. it has snowed so much in england that we will have a white christmas. this is not normal at all for them.
in the evening, we went to a town event. it was a torch parade, bonfire, and carols. they have been selling torches in the town hardware store for weeks in anticipation of this event. everyone met at the top of the town with their lit torches and walked down the main street, across the river and to a field. it was amazing. the street was quite long and it was packed full as far as you could see, with lit torches. it was also bizarre. i kept thinking of all the old monster movies when all the townspeople have torches and pitchforks to kill the monster. i was aware of the lack of pitchforks. also, as a good neurotic new yorker, it seemed extremely dangerous for all these people to be walking around with a big flame in their hands. it was bad enough with the little kids waving them around , but even the adults would be looking one way, and their flame would be leaning down the other way. this is in a very crowded street. in spite of these fears and being on high alert, it was really beautiful and felt very traditional. we finally arrived at the field without having gone up in flames, and there was a big bon fire which helped warm us, and a brass band accompanying our carols. we were handed a sheet with the words for the carols. it really was cold, and we left before it was all finished.
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