Tis the Season

3 things to post today,

The first is inspired by what I watched last night before heading off to bed. It was a special report on the BBC's News channel showing an interview with Alan Johnston of the BBC and Ingrid Betancourt. Alan Johnston was held hostage in Gaza for four months, Ingrid Betancourt survived 6 years of captivity and torture in the Columbian jungle in the hands of FARC guerillas. Here's the Wiki page on Ingrid Betancourt.

What a woman !

I'd turned over from Sky news because they were showing USA stories, which fell into the "Don't need to know right now" category (sorry USA people!). Over to BBC News, who were showing this half hour piece. By the end, we had a visibly shaken Alan Johnston being emotionally picked up by Ms Betancourt. I was absolutely captivated by Ms Betancourt's quiet strength and compassion. Her message is not one of anger, it is one of forgiveness. Her ability to forgive her kidnappers and everyone involved in that phase of her life gives her the strength to put that phase of her life behind her.

A truly inspirational lady.

Second thing for today is the Xmas, sorry Midwinter Festival :-), news. I'm not a particularly religious person but try to respect other people's beliefs. And December 25th is a great excuse for parties and presents.

I've almost got all the presents for this year, although a few of them still need wrapping. The ones that are left are for the Crazie Christmas gathering on the 28th, so a little more time still for those ones. Looks like the shopping people have come out in force, Bristol city centre was pretty well packed yesterday afternoon and the reports on the radio were encouraging me to chicken out on a trip to the Cribbs Causeway Mall. Good option too, as I think it would have taken a huge amount of time to get in and out, judging by the mile or so of queue on the Motorway before the junction to Cribbs at about 6.15 last night.

Third (and last :-) thing for today is cricket. England's tour of India just finished, they'll be getting the flights home pretty soon to get them back to their families for Xmas. It finished 1-0 to India, with the result coming in the last game where India, courtesy of the Little Master Sachin Tendulkar (cricinfo link), came from behind to snatch a well earned win. Although the result wasn't in favour of the touring team, the quality and spirit of the play coupled with the eagerness of the crowds to come out vindicates the decision to head out there in the face of events in Mumbai in November.

That's it for me for a few days - I'll see everyone in a little while after the holiday season enters the New Year stage :-)