That's got it

A little something for your cough madam? Love the colourful med packets here

Oh! Calcutta!

So after a balmy Christmas 2012 in Singapore, this year's (somewhat unlikely) destination was Calcutta. The boys were both a wee bit excited as they are totally and utterly in love with Romilly and Tess. They also got to use their early Christmas presents, rolly cases from GG (Great Granny). Here's Josh in the airport when our flight was called....

Josh, with a pink case of course

Felix looking smart

We stayed with Liz and Scott, in Alipore, Calcutta. We all had a fantastic time; I was so relieved because the last few Christmases have been sub-optimal for me. 

So what did we do? We took the kids to the Victoria Memorial, where they attracted a lot of attention, and featured in lots of strangers' photos.

J & F had a great time playing with the upstairs neighbours. Their grandparents came to stay, and the boys played cricket for the first time in India, which is rather sweet! The boys upstairs played, as well as their grandpa, Ross, and the driver Bidur.

We also had a lovely party on the 23rd, met some of Calutta's movers and shakers, and the kids stayed up to enjoy the fun. A couple of guys spent most of the day decking out the garden in fairy lights, which made it look very magical.

On Christmas Eve, we went to the Calcutta Club's Christmas Carol Concert. Felix got a bit worried that they had forgotten his favourite carol, but Jingle Bells made an appearance right at the end. Again we attracted a bit of attention with our little blondies, and Scott tells me we appeared in the Telegraph a week later! The Calcutta Club was founded in 1907, partly in response to The Bengal Club's "whites only" admission policy - at the Calcutta Club, British and Indians were admitted on equal terms.

We also had fireworks on Christmas Eve before bedtime, left over from Diwali. The boys' first time with sparklers. 

We spent a lot of time just hanging out, playing with Bernadette, watching Madagascar, and chatting (while Tess led the kids' games). 

Scott was intent on adopting one of the street dogs, a rather sweet black and white(ish) mongrel. After finding a book on Freddie's bookshelf, we thought maybe it should be named Harry. Freddie very kindly let us use his room while we were staying, poor little monkey is not spending much time in his room at the moment, as we were part of a long line of guests! 

We spent an afternoon at the delightful Tollygunge Club, where we swam, ate yummy dhosas and got caught up watching a puissance competition that was part of the Junior National Equestrian Championships. There's a wonderfully eloquent article about the Championships in The Times of India.

We had such a great time, and we can't wait to see all the FW's (especially my godson Freddie!) again very soon. Fingers crossed they might stop off in HK in April on the way to Japan....otherwise they might be here for Durga Puja in October.

What's in a name?

Here are some of the more inventive names I've come across recently.

Collar, who works at Hysan Place
Likey, Milk, Creamy and Yogurt who are all fans of The Hong Kong Ballet on Facebook (bit of a dairy theme there)
Echo, who works in Jason's

Money, a waitress at pizza express

Wasabi and Peggi (a guy) who work at Lab ice cream
762 who is a videographer with a brother called Buffet (allegedly)
Paprika, who advertised for an English proof-reader
Walkman, a partner at PWC
I have also been served in shops and restaurants by people called Champagne and Purple.
I had an email the other day from Cannes, and there are people at the office named Idy, Vency, Yoyo and Swani.
Bingo, who works at Hong Kong cultural centre
Circle

I'm going to ask my Canto tutor (whose name, boringly, is Joey) all about names this week. Some of the odd names have come about because people choose their own names when they are kids.

The boys using the straws that we got at the Science Museum

Making bread rolls

Mid-autumn festival - Victoria Park