Christmas is a day that I spend with my family, but, of course, I’m very fond of my friends too, so I always like to have special “Christmas Days” with them before the actual Christmas itself. Today I’d like to talk about an especially nice couple of Christmas Days I had with some friends in 2012. This was actually exactly two years ago, I was pleasantly surprised to find when I just checked. So this was the 13th, 14th and 15th of December 2012.
Back then I was still studying on Bath Spa University’s Creative Writing course and it was just about the end of term. First, I went into Bath to meet up with my good friend David Tubb. We went to a very nice little restaurant not too far away from the university called The Globe. There was the most wonderfully Christmassy atmosphere in there; it was a little cold, both outside and in, but it was the crisp, exciting cold that you get near Christmas. When we sat down, we were beside a nice open fire place and were warmed up by the fire, which was really rather lovely. The whole place had a kind of old fashioned design and that coupled with the modest Christmas decorations conveyed the festive spirit very well.
We ordered some food and exchanged gifts while we waited. Of course we didn’t open the presents; that would have to wait until the twenty-fifth! But we wondered excitedly what the presents could be. David, I would later discover, had gotten me a lovely Fourth Doctor scarf (in collaboration with my other friend Naomi) and I had gotten him a pack of cards which I’d had especially made with a fancy image of him on them. I’m afraid I don’t remember what food David had, but I was very pleasantly surprised when our meals arrived because my one (a cheese and cranberry pie) might just be the most delicious thing I’ve ever eaten.
We were too full for deserts, so we left to walk off our Christmas lunches. The Globe isn’t too far away from the university so we had a nice walk up to the campus. While we were there, we photographed a couple of Finger Puppet Shows; one of which was a bit of a silly one in the library, though I still think of the other one as one of my all-time best. After this we had a nice bus ride into town and looked around book shops and toy shops as we very often did at the time. During this time, we actually had a rather unusual interaction with a charity collector, but I’ve already given that its own post.
That was about it for that day, so I said goodbye to David and I headed back home to Corsham. But, of course, I was back in Bath the following day for a similar meet up with my good friend Tülin, who, it so happens, was housemates with David. Quite nicely, just as I arrived I bumped into David as he was just leaving to go back to his family home for Christmas.
When I got in, however, Tülin had quite literally just gotten out of bed, so we didn’t do much for a while so she could have time to properly wake up. I remember that, shortly after I arrived she gave me a hug, and after a couple of seconds I let go, assuming that would be the natural end to it, but she didn’t let go, so, I thought I may as well resume and she told me that it was really nice to hug me, which I thought was nice.
As this one was due to be an overnight stay, I had brought my laptop along and so, shortly after I arrived we went onto my laptop and created Jeb. I have to admit, I actually don’t remember all the details of what we did, but we stayed at her house on the laptop for about three hours. The fact that I can’t remember, however, doesn’t mean that it wasn’t a three hours I enjoyed very much. After this we headed into town, but just before we left, I gave her her Christmas present (a personalised pocket watch) and, unlike David, she wanted to open it right away. She said we would get me my one in town.
It being the middle of December, all the Christmas lights were up around Bath and it was just about getting dark when we arrived, meaning they were all on. Those lights are so beautiful, and whenever I see them they always make me feel very Christmassy. We popped into a few shops, and eventually she revealed what my gift was to be; back then I would often mention how I always wished that I knew how to use a yo-yo, so she bought me a yo-yo and taught me how to use it. I actually made a blog post about that already too.
After this it was time for dinner and we ate at Nando’s. These days, Nando’s is one of my ‘go to’ special occasion restaurants, but back then I had only been there once or twice before. It was, perhaps, the positive association with this day that pushed me towards going there so regularly. As always at Nando’s, the food was very tasty, and after this we headed back to her home We watched an episode of Star Trek and then, after that we went up to her room for a while, then into my room (actually David’s room, but he was gone) for a while. Before bed she said she felt like I was a brother to her and she could always trust me, which I thought was very nice.
We didn’t do too much the next day, as I went back to Corsham quite early (though I remember she played a song several times, which I will always associate with those days). So, that was that. I have to say, that’s almost certainly been the nicest consecutive couple of days in my life so far. It makes me very happy to look back on them.(Don’t miss my latest article for SmartDating UK!)
