Christmas day was a good un - our turkey cooked very well, complete with potatoes, zucchini and carrots. Christmas eve we had watched "National Lampoons Christmas Vacation" and started the day with "White Christmas" - classic. After lunch we watched the latest James Bond "Quantum of Solace" which starts in Siena. Some fantastic shots of Siena and chases across the rooftops (reminds me of a Corduroy song) and there was only one thing we took issue with which was a shot where Bond jumps onto the roof of a bus - no buses come into the centre of Siena as it is a tight as a twisty turny thing. Good start, but wasn't that impressed with the Bond film. In fact, whenever I was in the UK and I was asked "Where is Siena?" I used to ask to see if they had seen the latest James Bond film - but not a single person I asked had seen the film. Is James Bond crap and outdated now or is it trying to hard to be cool? I don't know, but it wasn't a great film.
Christmas presents were good. I had been shopping the day before in Siena and got a few things from Dawn and was pleasantly surprised when all the shops wrapped them - for free. And as a nice touch they put a sticker over the price tags and a bow on top. Result. Especially as I am a nightmare at wrapping. My parents had sent some parents over with me when I left which was a lovely thought and very well received. Hooray for Christmas! And we had Christmas socks on and had Tannaz's tiny pink Christmas tree and the Charlie Brown Christmas tree on the table too.
The weather in Siena was entertaining - whilst we were hearing tales of a white Christmas in the UK and treacherous conditions it was quite warm and a bit cloudy in Siena. Around midday the clouds came in, the sky started rumbling and before we knew it we had a huge thunder and lightning storm breaking above us, complete with another biblical hail storm - probably doesn't count as a white Christmas though :)
My parents had packed some Christmas crackers so we sported our Christmas paper hats all day. So much so, that when we went for an evening stroll around central Siena, we kept our Christmas paper hats on. I am not aware of every culture of the world, but from what little I know, Christmas crackers are another little ritual peculiar to the British Isles. As such, we looked like the King and Queen of Siena walking around Siena with our Christmas hats on. And, rather like the reaction that my little buddha has, the Italians were exactly the same again. EVERYONE was staring at us, one of the less subtle groups made an open comment which sounded, as it was said in Italian, like "look at those fools in the crowns" and not "look at the King and Queen of Siena" as we'd hoped. Siena was fairly busy, not very busy, and not many restaurants open, but plenty of people strolling up and down. Pleasant evening.
Vino di giorno was some rather nice prosecco, and post-walk it was back to the fizzy red, you can't beat lightly sparkling red grape juice!
Today I am liking the company disclaimer, certain phrases have been omitted to protect the identity of the individuals:
The foregoing release contains forward-looking statements that can be identified by terminology such as "can," "potentially," "could," "will," "suggest," "potential," "plans," "suggesting," or similar expressions, or by express or implied discussions regarding potential marketing approvals for xxxx, potential production timing and volumes for such vaccines or regarding potential future revenues from such xxxx. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements reflect the current views of management regarding future events, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements.
I like it and intend to use it oft if not always :)
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