Happy New Year!!

Here we are, back in Europe. We had the most fabulous holiday in Goa, in spite of all my years in India I had never been but now I am converted! especially with a young child it is quite heavenly. We met up there with Lucas' dad and other friends, and spent over a week eating fabulous fish dishes (well, I did - Lucas survived on french fries, pizza and the occasional foray into Hakka noodles), hanging out on the beach, and driving around enjoying the stunning scenery. Lucas loved sitting in the front seat of the car and more often than not banished me to the back seat so he could be co-pilot all by himself. The smaller roads in Goa are quite safe, with so much to look at! As it was Christmas time and Goa is 50% roman-catholic, almost every house had a nativity scene in the garden. There were enormous ones that took up virtually all the garden. There were many nativity scenes along the side of the road, and on Christmas eve everyone switched on coloured lights in all the gardens. It was quite magical. Lucas liked the fact that even restaurants has nativities, and would spend ages pitting the animals against each other and moving the three kings to the side. In one cafe he beheaded Melchior, but fortunately there was a fourth king in the scene so I could stealthily move things around. We had lots of fun in the sea, Lucas loved riding the waves and even when we got pulled under by a rather large one he came up all splattering and coughing and shouted "More!". On the 29th we travelled back to Delhi where we spent one night with friends, and then on Dec 30th we boarded a Virgin flight back to London. Just as I was wondering how I would keep Lucas busy at Delhi airport before boarding I bumped into a student I hadn't seen for 10 years and he kept us company. The international airport is not yet as fancy as the domestic one, but there was a little play area and so that helped. I also with some glee (and compassion too of course) watched a Swedish mom frantically looking for one of her children, and though I of course felt sorry for her despair I was also a little bit pleased I am not the only one who regularly loses her child in busy places. That's one good thing about being stuck in an airplane for 10 hours - the scope for losing your kid is limited! We then spent one night in an airport hotel in Heathrow - I am just amazed at how flexible Lucas has become, one more hotel, no problem - and early Thursday we flew to Holland where my family were waiting for me at Schiphol. I had been promising Lucas fireworks for days but at 11.30pm on the 31st he crashed out, having been awake for over 20 hours, and I wasn't going to wake him up! I barely made it til 12 but it was lovely to be able to wish my dad and his wife a happy new year at midnight. Like the UK Holland is in the middle of a cold spell, it is in fact almost as cold as Madison but with considerably less snow! Still, all the iciness is causing travel upheaval but hopefully all will be well for the last leg of the journey - back home!