Christmas Lights

Many of us who live outside our "home" countries comment that it's hard to feel like Christmas is coming in our new country since all the things we associate with the build up to the Christmas festivities are different. The temperature is one of the biggest obstacles to those of us from the cold northern climes. I remember how strange it felt the first Christmas away from the UK in Guyana eating ice cream in Demico's with the air conditioning turned on full as a contrast to the the heat and very out of place snowmen stuck on the windows.

Christmas is a big deal in the Philippines and I have already had Christmas carols blaring out of shops and public areas for more than a month. I've only been here 2 months but even as a newbie I know Christmas is a BIG DEAL. Traffic is always bad in Manila but now it is worse than ever, today I spent over three and a half hours in the car going to 15km each way to work and back so we never went above 10km/h average! In some sections there is no doubt it would have been much faster to walk. If I ask why the traffic is SO bad I get told that now it's December it will be even worse than normal.

However what has really impressed me in a positive way are the beautiful Christmas lights that go up, in people's homes, shopping malls, residential areas and most impressive of all is the free public entry light display at the electricity company's, Meralco, premises about 15 minutes walk from my hotel. Manila may have only been ranked 128 out of a survey of around 200 cities on which were the best to live in, but it has managed to do something no other place I have lived in out of the UK has achieved, it has given me an excited anticipation for Christmas - and not simply to reduce the amount of traffic! On Wednesday night I walked through the Meralco display with a colleague commenting how much my dad and niece and nephew would enjoy it. My photos don't really do it justice but they are the best I can manage.