The Syrian and the Ice Skater

In January out came the beautiful brown leather boots made by Bottiers in St Moritz. The gold lettered name of the maker has almost disappeared. It looks like Lyberg Machers. They were bought from a Charity Shop in Beccles, Suffolk, England just after the Big Freeze of 1981 (?) when Sweetpea's family stood and skated on the River Waveney under the guidance and watchful eye of friends who had deemed the extremely thick ice to be safe. Then, it was a fantastic, eerie experience to listen to the creaking, cracking of the ice and the sploshing of the water beneath us and to know the proximity of danger.
In 2008 Sweetpea makes progress on the 2007 skating venture in more ways than one!!!

The attire doesn't change much, but a year ago she sported a wet bottom in front of Santa, and this year the Syrian converses in English!! ... and she only falls the once!
Meanwhile, on terra firma, Captain Sensible takes the camera, drinks "vin chaud" and visits the market stalls around the rink!

In discussion we identify that this father of two girls studied English literature in Syria but had lived in France for 15 years. He thinks that "The world is already a sad place without any of us adding to it's darkness".
After afternoon tea in the newly smoke free bars we watched the polychromie images on Notre Dame Poitiers. Very beautiful.