Walking Before Everyone Is Awake.

 A beautiful Christmas morning.

Having a dog has many advantages and one of them is walking early in the morning, before everyone is awake. Even better during winter as the feeling of owning the dark along with stars, planes and the moon is priceless.

This morning, despite it being bitterly cold, was delightful. The stars were en masse, the odd plane reflected its beacon along the way and the street lights provided a modicum of safety. Seeing the village asleep like this was wonderfully peaceful.

A lot of the houses along our round were clad in Christmas lights and took turns to sparkle and create a modern version of an age old story. Maxi of course was only interested in the various smells encountering his nostrils and it was quite nice when he paused for a moment as it gave me a chance to contemplate the various sparkles in the sky which made me realize how nice our surrounds are.

A few of the houses were rubbing the sleep from their eyes or rather having their shutters raised. It is a local custom to have shutters on most windows which makes for total darkness, but I find that windows should be there to witness the world go by and of course to let light in. Perhaps the rising electricity prices will have more locals raise their shutters permanently.

Christmas crept up on us at an incredible speed and now that it is here a feeling of nostalgia alongside a childlike giddy expectation has appeared. I look forward to this festive season and hope that all of us manage to relax, recharge and rewire our stretched nerves back to normal.

Biggi