Chapter 31: Winter Wonderland

It was the last week in November, and exactly a month until Christmas Eve. Diego and I were on our way into town for food, and unbeknown to us, the Gibraltarians were having a party.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We had noticed the Christmas lights on the drive into town, and apparently tonight was the official switch on. I would have expected the lights to have been turned on during the first weekend in December. But I guess November makes sense, when in the western world Christmas is a 3 month long retail festival. As we got to Casemates Square we could hear carol signing, and saw a bunch of kids performing on stage. The square was packed with families, the busiest I've seen it since National Day.

Christmas Lights.

We got into our favourite restaurant Café Solo, but all the tables had been reserved. Or rather the tables had been reserved but there was no one sitting at them. We sat at the bar and ordered. The waitress told us that the event had been organised by Gibraltar cultural services, and that there was the switching on of the lights tonight, and a concert tomorrow. Though I didn't know then, I would be at that concert.

Reserved by ghosts?

I got a last minute text from my mate Jen, asking if I wanted to come along to the Christmas concert in Casemates Square. It turned out that the remaining singer of Boney M was performing with her new band members, and that the concert was free. Boney M are a German disco group from the 1970s. I think they are good fun, and free is my favourite price, so I said I'd go along. I arrived just in time for the start of the concert. The remaining singer was in her 70s, but still put on a great performance. The new band members fitted in well, and were faithful to the original style of the band. As a history student my favourite song is 'Ra-Ra-Rasputin' (Rasputin a figure from Russian history, who led to the downfall of the last Russian Tsar, prior to the 1917 revolution). The song in the video below is also famous, particularly in car commercials.


The band played all their hits, and then played 'Mary's Boy Child', because of Christmas (day! - if you know the song you'll find that funny). As their final song they played 'Gotta Go Home' as a subtle way of telling the audience, show's over, time to go home. This was the most popular song with younger members of the crowd, who remembered a recent dance song by the DJ duo Duck Sauce that sampled 'Gotta Go Home' in their abysmal track 'Barbra Streisand'. When I say recent, 'Barbra Streisand' was actually released in 2010, but any music after the millennium is recent to me! If you want a laugh, here is Boney M in all their original glory in the year 1979. 



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