This is a normal work day for most people. I'm sure it wasn't like this years ago. Wasn't Christmas Eve a holiday?

In most of Europe Christmas Eve AND Christmas Day are holidays.

In the UK this is just a normal day. The shops are open, people are working, (although many knock-off early) and people are shopping. Boy, are they shopping!

Found an old photo of Dick and me in Penang in mid-December 1980. The three of us (including Sue) hired a car for a day to drive around the island. Whilst listening to the radio in that car we heard for the first time that John Lennon had been shot.

Dick and I look painfully thin. We'd travelled overland from London to Kathmandu via Syria, Pakistan, India and Nepal. Both of us had picked up quite severe bugs en route and, even by the time we started our Himalayan trip, we were both severely under weight. A further month at high altitude left us as just skin and bones.

The picture you see here is after approximately three weeks of constant eating in Kathmandu pie shops and Thai restaurants.

From what Eric has told me about Penang now, it seems to be a very different place.