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Tom:
For now we can forget the Gregorian calendar - the year is now 1932, and we wish you all a very happy new year! Two nights ago Nil and I had our very first Hindu new year, and it was pretty cool. Firstly we hadn't realised that loads of effigies had been made - we had 10ft she-devils, rats, an Avatar character, and one smaller effigy which starkly resembled Brain from "Pinky and Brain". We assembled in the local football field, where the music was semi-deafening, and followed a prossession of each one of these effigies to the Ubud Palace, where the carriers (20 per effegy) proceded to run around wildly, knocking into anyone and everyone in their way. The town cryer (or Balinese equivalent) then announced the new year and a fireworks display ensued, which, although beautiful, was aimed right above our heads, so we only caught the first few explosions before being blinded by ash! Anyway over to Nil for the "Day of Silence"...
Nilufer:
The Day of Silence which followed the day after wasn't as silent a day as we'd been expecting. The owners of our guesthouse carried on, business as usual. There was no spiritual meditation or introspective soul searching as far as I could see! Tom did have a go at looking at the main street, but couldn't get out of the building as it had been blocked up, but he could see on to the street and, yes, it did look like a ghost town.. so maybe there were other people meditating somewhere! To keep us happy the owners fed us well! Delicious meals were served at timely intervals, which served as happy diversions from Scrabble and our reading!
A note about Scrabble - I suck at it, Tom beats me hands down every time! And currently I'm reading Zola's "Nana", which is very dull (Sorry Pete Yardley, I just don't like 19th century literature), and Tom's reading 'IT', which sounds pretty scary.
Lots of love,
xxxxx
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