December, 2007
The festive season is now officially in full gear. In London, they even closed off Oxford Street, Piccadilly and Regent Street last weekend so shoppers could roam freely in their frantic holiday moods. I could not resist my annual visit to the magical toy store of Hamleys to rekindle memories of golden Christmases past.
In London, there are now more than five ice rinks dotted around the city. The most famous is at Somerset house, and there is a new setup outside the National History Museum, plus the largest ice rink in Europe resides in Hyde Park near the Serpentine. What fun on dark evenings to ride by this magical setting, and dark evenings are plentiful this time of year.
The smoking ban in the UK presents pubs in a different light as crowds spill out onto the street, enabling us at last to sit in a pub and not come out reeking as if we had smoked twenty cigarettes ourselves. The world is changing.
For all of us taking the Eurostar, time has shrunk between London and Paris. So much so that the mayor of London is taking about a green proposal to ban all air traffic between London and Paris, and London and Brussels because of the new train times. Two hours fifteen minutes to Paris and one hour fifty minutes to Brussels. All trains now depart from St. Pancras. The English no longer subject the French to ignominy of arriving at Waterloo and have emulated the French, although it did take them a long time, by relaying fast track through the east end of London to cope with the marvelous high speed Eurostar.
I was in London for our tour manager annual meeting, and was reminded of how lucky we are to have such amazing people working for us. In one room I think I counted more languages, and more eccentricity, more knowledge of history and more actors and performers than a room could possibly hold. It is so special to have all these wonderful people in one place, and listen to their stories, their recollections and their enthusiasm and belief in what they do. I am always deeply grateful for this partnership and always come away with a feeling of how fortunate we are to have this connection. So for all of you who have traveled with us and know about the magic of these people, we pass on their best wishes. For others, we hope you get to travel with us and enjoy the talents of our crew. They are brilliant and light up a room!
In the meantime, I brought back my Christmas pudding, a black soggy thing that tradition maintains we eat at the end of Christmas lunch. I also brought back Christmas crackers, things you pull like a firework that have all sorts of goodies inside them, notably a paper hat shaped like a crown that people in England wear on their heads to feel somewhat closer to the Queen of England than they ought to.
I wish you happy holidays and want to thank everyone who has traveled with us this year for your contributions, and we look forward to seeing you in the New Year out there somewhere.
Happy Holidays!
Peter Jones
President and Co-Founder, ACIS
