Christmas Village in Bath

When I came to the UK for the first time in 2001, I visited Bath for a week. Bath is only 40 miles from Bristol. I lived in Bristol for one year, and I managed to get to Bath one afternoon, late, in May when my folks were here. I really didn't do the city justice for their visit. Aside from the Georgian architecture, Roman history, and mineral springs ... it is an amazing city. Absolutely gorgeous. Busy. Easily reached from the likes of London-ers for a day, and thus it is frequently busy with one event or another. My neighbors in Bristol were always amazed that we didn't get the same tourist traffic in Bristol, only 13 minutes further up the train tracks. To me, it is easy. Bath wants visitors. Bristol wanted residents.


So there is a bit of a European tradition to visit Christmas villages whilst getting ready for Christmas. Their origin is Germany, but the villages are a part of getting ready for the holidays.


It's like going to a summer arts or crafts fair. The only difference being that the vendors are in small wooden chalets for their booths. It is interesting how this limits the number of potential customers a booth-minder can manage. If you intend to purchase something, you really need to be patient to catch the attention of the chalet-keeper.


Bath has their Christmas village surrounding the baths and the Cathedral. I think the village surrounding the cathedral is a normal thing. Makes sense that the church would have some role in sponsoring a Christmas sale / fund-raiser, I think.


The nice thing about Bath is that it has a "proper shopping district" in the centre of town. This was something that I really missed whilst I lived in Bristol. The high street finally opened a modern facility one month before I moved away. Anyway, it is possible that you could come down to the high street and achieve a major part of your Christmas shopping list.


It had the usual suspects. There were street entertainers looking for spare change for doing odd entertainment things ... like this guy who set up a tight [sort of] rope and balance on it whilst playing the fiddle. [I say "fiddle" because what he was playing would not be considered classical or violin-like.]


Of course, like any fair, there is food. I had a sausage [bratwurst] and a mulled wine [warm red wine with spices, such as allspice and cinnamon]. All very good. And I think you can tell that the weather cooperated. It is so much nicer this year.


2008 was an unprecedented year for rain in the UK. Something like once in a 100 years! I can take the cold and the wind, as long as there is a break from the rain. I realise that I experience the weather here like Seattle, but last year ... Wow! My toes have webs between them! It really was a nice day.

Ugly Car is Expensive!

Okay, so there is this thing called the MOT. It's an acronym for Ministry of Transportation. The Ministry no longer exists, but there is a painful [and expensive] process that your car must go through every year once a vehicle is three years old.

Coincidentally, my car was also due for it's 18,000 mile service. All of this, of course, fell about the same time that I was moving to London. I decided that before I moved, I should take my [very] ugly car to the dealership that I bought it at in Portishead. I dropped the car off at the dealership on 7 Nov when I left for my weekend in Paris.

Two days before I dropped it off, a light on the dash came on that said "service". There is also a countdown on the dash that tells me how many miles left before the car requires service.

So I drop the car off and tell them it needs service and the MOT and that I'll pick it up on Monday. Before I actually left for Paris, the dealership called me three times.

Call #1: in addition to what has been agreed, rear brakes and pads need replacing, plus two new rear tires, oil change & filter.

Fine.

Call #2: they let the engine cool and started it cold and there is a service light on the dash. Did I know that.

Yes...thought it was because service was due.

No...it's a bigger problem.

Call #3: both the driver side and rear window screen arms need replacement. Replacing the blades will only help the car pass the MOT, but doesn't fix the problem. They can order it, but it will be Tuesday when the part arrives. [I return from Paris on Monday and have to be in London on Tuesday for a meeting, but I will be back in Bristol on Wednesday for a meeting and can pick up the car then. I'll need a loaner. More on that in a minute.]

After this, I got on the plane and went to Paris. I had two more calls and subsequent voicemails.

Call #4: service light on the dash. Turns out, fault-to-glow- plug is faulty and needs replacement.
What the heck is that? And on the receipt, it's in French, so I really have no idea what it is, still.

Call #5: brake light is out. They've replaced it.

So on Monday, I arrive back in Bristol / Portishead and head to the dealership to pick up my loaner car. They gave me a 2008 Renault Twingo. Orange.

Oh. My. God. Are you kidding me? I had no idea that there was a car uglier than the one that I owned, and yet, I was proven wrong. Feisty. Practical. Connected. My colleagues seem to believe that this car described me. I plead to have my mustard yellow car returned to me and I'll bring it back on Wednesday. Nope. The wiper arms have to be replaced and the car can't pass the MOT without them and they can't release the car without it passing the MOT. Sigh.

I drive the ugly-er orange car to London on Monday. I drive the orange car back to Portishead and rescue my car for MOT jail for the bargain price of £911.26. Sigh.

Sadly, I am not finished.

And so, I've moved and I'm settling into my new place. And because it's been a year, I have received a notice from the Post Office that my auto insurance is going to automatically renew at the end of November. Great! One less thing I have to do for the ugly car.

And then I receive a notice that the tax disc [which I cannot pronounce] is going to expire on 30 November. Okay, that I can renew on-line. No big deal. Right. You may remember that I don't have a phone / broadband right now, which means my access to managing my life if fairly limited. By the time I am able I try to renew my tax disc on-line, it tells me that I can't because the my insurance hasn't renewed. Good news! I have my insurance through the Post Office. Wait...it will auto-renew on 3 Dec. The disc expires 30 Nov. This means that unless I can get to a Post Office that distributes tax discs, my car is parked...off road. If it's parked on the street, it can be toed and CRUSHED. Argh!