Silent Night

Remember the Christmas carol "Silent night, holy night, all is clear, all is quiet"? Well not in Buenos Aires it isn't.

It seems that here (as in many European countries) they give and receive presents on Christmas Eve and to mark the onset of Christmas, they have fireworks. So bang (no pun intended) goes my early night. I have children playing some sort of xylophone, a tinkly piano and lots of happy screaming, all accompanied by fireworks.

Let me tell you about the fireworks. It seeems it's not enough that they be brightly coloured (and beautiful they are too) but they must also be loud, very loud! In fact, so loud that I actually wondered if there was a gunfight going on earlier and quite a few car alarms have been set off. One of the neighbouring blocks had a banger party in their courtyard (and I don't mean sausages) which was so loud (and I can't think of another word for loud) and echoey, I couldn't hear the film I was watching on my laptop (and I was only about a foot away from the speakers).

However, this is not the closest I've ever been to fireworks. I remember being on holiday in Malta, standing on the ramparts of Mdina while fireworks were set off in the fields below - fireworks which exploded at my eyelevel. The dazzle lasted a good few hours and the smell of sulphur and saltpeter was incredible.

Here, they've been going on for about an hour but I think they're tailing off, so I might try to get some sleep.

Happy Chrimbo to you all and may you unwrap what you were hoping for.

PS, check out the post below