Contrasts for Christmas

I've just spent a really enjoyable Christmas week with friends in Bahrain. We enjoyed a brilliant ex-pat, family Christmas with turkey and all the trimmings courtesy of Waitrose, would you believe, though beyond 'the compound', the contrasting customs were fascinating. I've never spent Christmas time so close to the birthplace of Jesus in Bethlehem, yet felt so very far away. Lots of red and white decorations everywhere, not for Santa but to celebrate Bahrain's National Day in December. No Christmas carols or church bells ringing but the regular calls to prayer from so many mosques. No donkeys at the manger but rather 'nodding donkeys' in the sandy expanses between high rise building plots and camels tethered bleakly at the Janabiya Camel Farm. We visited the huge Al Fateh Mosque in Manama, without the usual Christian church adornments and embellishments, of course, and so all the more striking in its simplicity. I certainly didn't miss any Heathrow flight path disturbance which we do get here in Hanwell from time to time but instead became accustomed to the buzzing of helicopters overhead, keeping a watch on actual or potential anti-Government protest groups which seem to spring up on a regular basis. The times of uncertainty we certainly have in common so I wish a Peaceful New Year to all.