Q. What do I have in common with a Superhero? Ans. We get to do things only in the last minute. ;) As soon as I called up Kates dad, John, that I would be arriving at a certain time, the hands of my watch were on steroids. Counting out everything else, I had planned a quick packing in the last minute. Beep! Big Mistake. It was time for Murphy, not Santa to peek into my home at this Christmas Eve. I opened my apartment to find pitch darkness. Yes, we had forgotten to recharge our electricity. I knew I had to pack quickly as I was running out of time and luck. My bag nearly exploded with my (well, thats what I thought) essential belongings.
Im blazing into the Euston Station as my predetermined train mercilessly chugs away. Ah! Im so relaxed. All I have to do now is to inform them that Im late. I call up Kates Mom, Penny, to tell her that and also give a rough description of myself. She kindly accepted my apologies and said Kate might be as well do a bit more shopping meanwhile. As I sit in my first long distance train (in UK), I notice it looks slightly more homely than the underground (local) trains. I guess it must be due to the general Christmas attire and heavy bags overflowing with cakes and presents of my co-passengers. Fifty minutes later at Milton Keynes station, Kate and John were right at the entrance. John while driving through the countryside gave me an impressive historical background of the area. I remember wondering that he must be wonderfully well read. My doubts were soon to be confirmed.
Once home, I met Penny, Kates younger sister, Rebecca and her cousin Shelly. I also met Doe and Ben, their moms elderly relatives, whom they affectionately call Granny and Grandpa. Their immense warmth of reception put me at ease. Now with my adrenalin at normal levels, I proceeded to join the family in the Christmas preparations. I joined in the tradition of decorating holly leaves (the ones I remember seeing only in Christmas cards) all over the interiors. My height came in handy here (I knew it would, some day). Its a bit bristly but beautiful especially with cherries.
As I look around I realize that I had underestimated John, finding shelves of books neatly stacked to their capacities in almost every room. Soon enough the other members of the household started coyly appearing and nearly taking away my breath. We are talking about the light brown tomcat, Oliver and his dark female counterpart, Buttons. These cats had a personality of their own. They would ignore a stranger like me and yet love to be cuddled by family members.
Its dinnertime and a wonderful fish-in-vegetable delicacy is wafting its aroma in the air. Like most cusines. English cusine is quite suitable for the cold weather and quite healthy too. Jane, Kates aunt, joined us soon after. Professionally a psychologist, she visits India frequently. After a fair bit of chitchat, I proceeded to sleep. Tomorrow definitely looks promising!
